Good afternoon to you all! I wanted to share a little of what's on my mind today.
Yesterday I really enjoyed Richard "RB" Botto's webinar. It was super informative and I'm glad I was able to attend. One out of the numerous things he discussed was having a daily morning routine. Doing something productive just for yourself. Well apart of my morning routine is creating loglines. I create one every morning to enhance my ability to create strong substantial loglines. Loglines I don't plan to write scripts for actually. I give myself a time limit of 20 minutes to create the logline. Just an idea of cool stories I would like to see or want to know more about. These loglines I now use for sharing purposes with family and friends. Now I feel it's time to share some with screenwriters, producers, and the general public. If I'm being honest, as a writer whose starting off in this industry it's nerve wrecking to share. I used to get advice all the time to share my ideas, but it would suck to wake up years from now and have many people succeeding off of my idea while I'm over here in NJ broke as hell. LOL I hear it all the time how writers don't receive the credit and/or residuals they deserve. I know I have to start somewhere though, right? I can't keep everything to myself because how would I really know if my ideas appeal to an audience without testing the audience? I wanted to figure out how I can hear the truth from professionals in the industry but not to feel discouraged if an idea was taken. So, I created this productive challenge to do for myself every day. So, if it was to happen, I had a plethora of other story ideas to write. Does any screenwriter think my idea of doing this is effective or should I take another approach? - Netti
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Writing a logline each morning sounds like a great idea, Cinette C Clark. I might try it.
I wouldn't let fear of someone stealing loglines hold me back from sharing them. One reason is if someone took your idea (which is rare when you look at the industry as a whole), they can't write the script like you can write it.
If you still have reservations about sharing your loglines, wait until after you've finished the scripts and registered them with the U.S. Copyright Office, then share your loglines.
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Writing loglines regardless if you plan on making a story out of it sounds like an excellent idea for practice. It will definitely serve as a confidence booster.
I also understand being nervous about sharing ideas. I'm still working on this too. Maybe we should make this a mutual goal or area of improvement.
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At a screenwriter and filmmaker expo several years ago, I listened to screenwriter Paul Haggis (back-to-back oscars for Million Dollar Baby and Crash) answer someone's question about idea stealing and his answer was simple: "It's amateur thinking." As Maurice stated earlier your script can only be written by you. How someone interprets your idea won't remotely resemble yours. The advice I've read is to pitch your ideas to people, even strangers in line at the grocery store, as a way of gauging its value. If you can't get someone interested by expressing your idea or logline it allows you to refine it until they say those magical words, "Tell me more."
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Ty Strange Yeah, I had to admit to myself that I do have "amateur thinking". I'm just crossing the bridge of sharing my ideas. Hearing other screenwriter's experiences can sometimes cloud my judgement in my career because I want to avoid "bad experiences" as much as possible. I had to realize that I won't know until I try. Thank you for commenting!
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Samuel Lebow Thank you! It's been going well for me, and I feel my creatives juices are always active. Yes, when it comes to sharing, let's make this a goal to step out of our comfort zone.
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Maurice Vaughan Thank you for the advice on registering my scripts. I agreed I shouldn't let the fear of striking out keep me from playing the game.
You're welcome, Cinette. Sorry for the late reply. I just saw your comment. How's your Logline Morning Routine going?