WIthout going into too much detail, what happens when you thin of a concept for a movie, and then--bam--a major studio comes out with a movie that's amazingly too close for comfort to your idea? How do you feel? How do you deal with it? Any thoughts? I had this happen to me on more than one occasion and it kind of makes me feel like, well, giving up. How does getting beaten to the punch make ya'll feel? I feel kind of hopeless.
Screenwriting : When you're beaten to the punch... by G.R. Barnett
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Stinks. It has happened to me. The meager bright side: in a decade or so, your concept may be fresh again.
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LOL Jim! Great advice. … I'm with you, but wouldn't call it shit, just crazy stuff.
The thing is, my idea was pretty obscure... sigh. This really, really stinks. :(
Happened to me several years ago: had a killer concept & was halfway through the second draft when out of the blue came a mini-series built around the exact same concept. My stuff was dead in the water. I realised that there was nothing I could do about it, so I just stuffed it in my desk drawer & moved on to the next thing. Don't give up though - with all those writers out there, there's bound to be a few coincidences.
Once I'd got over the initial "how the hell...?" shock, I realised that a) I couldn't prove that I'd had the idea first, and b) even if I could, the mini-series couldn't be un-made or un-shown. The script is still in my desk drawer - one day, perhaps.
Some thief posted a logline on here last year that had an exact, and obscure, title and story almost exactly the same as my novel. I spat chips, albeit with tongue in cheek as I get this shit can happen, and he took exception to my humour and thought i was accusing him of stealing (which I did jokingly and everyone else got it, but him). I still wish a pox on him, but I do know that strangely obscure ideas can be created simultaneously from across continents and there's nothing you can do, but put a tin foil hat on.
@Sam You can copyright a script treatment? Can you do that on protectrite.com? As like a placeholder> (I guess I could email them and ask but I thought you might now) I didn't know you could copyright treatments. How would one go about doing that? (If not through protectrite.)
sometimes there is a variation between the 2 so that both movies can be made. Lots of times when a hot movie like Lincoln Vampire Hunter came out, there was a movie about Lincoln as a zombie killer
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Happens constantly. Be happy that you're coming up with commercial ideas and are on the right track. now start working on the next one.
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The so-called Fashion plays out in screenwriting and filmmaking as it has for years in the visual arts with creators who don't even know of each other coming up with nearly identical concepts at the same time. So it's probably right to work on the assumption that the awesomely unique idea for a screenplay we had last night is being written by half-a-dozen other screenwriters or has just been sold or has just gone into production. It's a good reason not to spend your entire life honing that one screenplay. On the up side, for decades there's been a copycat mentality operating in Hollywood so if somebody else turns that concept you had into an amazingly successful film, you may find interest in your version.
@Richard and Danny: this sounds as one has to write quick with ideas that could be popular or just wait long enough until someone became successful with something similar and the production companies love to make a remake. Hm. Good to know. :))
My feeling on this is it's just the nature of the beast - and not unusual. I remember when I was with Disney story ideas would come in chunks, like all of a sudden every writer wanted to do a story about grapes, lol. Just got to roll with it and write the story you want to write.
No matter what, don't give up. Just keep working on new ideas. Eventually, you'll beat the studios to the punch. The only thing that can stop you for sure is quitting. It's not easy, but I think it's worth persevering if it's what you love.
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When movies came out with concepts similar to mine, it used to make me sick. But now I realize that even if the concepts are the same, the execution won't be. So I keep on writing. The other thing...is this screenplay your first? And are you pretty far? Can't you use it as a business card.? It may never get produced, but it could prove your a good writer. I hear its good to have at least 3 done scripts while looking to sell or land a writing gig.
Don't be a tease - give us the details! :)
I really think it just comes with the territory and is something you have to learn to roll with. Ideally, you are constantly coming up with new ideas and the loss of one or two or three is not going to rock your world. I do appreciate, however, that particularly in cases where you have spent a lot of time fleshing an idea out and perhaps even have an early draft of a screenplay, this can feel devastating. As though you have completely wasted your time. Even here, though, I think you have to consider that in completing a screenplay, you have improved your skill set and you are not precluded (in my opinion) from using this screenplay as a calling card of your work. You're in a world of creative people. Revel in that and don't worry too much about individual ideas. You will have others. Good luck!
How's the saying go. The first million words are you just paying your dues.
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@Bill Cstantini My concept is about a farm girl who's swept into another world and must go to the wizard to get back home. The premise is so original I know producers will be beating a path to my door.
The story I was planning for my third script was going to climax with a transport plane dropping a pallet full of 100-dollar bills that radiate out from it as it drops. That's how the trailer for the upcoming reboot of Point Break starts. Everything I had in Act 2, was setting up that visual. Sigh. Start over.
when i'm beaten to the punch I just make more. ;)
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Luck and Timing have equal importance as Talent. I had THREE clients from diff parts of the country all write biopics on the same man. A story for that mans life was just sold to HBO as a movie by James Pickens Jr & Morgan Freeman. My clients had the right guy, right idea, but not the right timing & not enough clout to sell it. welcome to hwood.
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This is what actually spurred me to get writing and try getting my writing out there. I remember coming up with a TV show but didn't do anything about it for years. I then started watching a the TV and my show was on the box (obviously not the exact same but amazingly similar concept). Just made me think "Damn! This isn't happening again!!" and I've been writing/developing my ideas/concepts ever since.
Happens all the time pal. That's what separates the pros from the rest. Next.
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I now have a perfectly good script I can no longer develop because someone else made a perfectly awful movie with the same title and premise.
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@ G. R. Barnett-You can copyright anything written in a tangible (on paper) form, but you can't copyright an idea. With an estimated 250,000 scripts floating around, there's bound to be some duplication of ideas. But imagine if your script gets produced as a major motion picture, but gets released after another film comes out with the same premise. It's happened before. Think "Olympus Has Fallen" versus "White House Down." White House Down lost tons of money, according to IMDb. With all the breakdown services that go around town, I'm really surprised that some exec didn't pull the plug on WHD.
Ideas float in the ether and many people come up with similar ideas, it's all in how they are executed and your characters. Wait a bit and see how this studio one goes. If it goes well, they will clamor for others like it, but different. If not, wait a bit and make some modificatons in your story and resubmit under a different title.
Hello G. R Barnett; I recommend you not be concerned that your effort is wasted. What ever you were working on should be finished in your voice with your original theme. There are several recent comic book action hero films with similar/same themes. Here's films with the same themes: The Killers (1946, and 1964), L.A. Confidential (1997 movie, 2003 TV movie, and LA Confidential 2002 TV series). Don't worry, there are hundreds of methods of telling us the same story as told by someone else. What ever you do, FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED, put it on the shelf with the others: it's part of your repertoire and can be something to return to as the films I mentioned were returned to, so keep writing, everyday. Even the Wizard of Oz has been told in film more than once. It's not a problem. What is a problem is the possibility you may not overcome disappointment and stop writing YOUR story. Finish and you never know but that it may become important down the road. The most important thing to do now is, finish what you started and make it one more completed work in your story telling archive of ideas. Don't quit. Ever.
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A comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, struck Jupiter in 1994 and the visuals were some of the most spectacular that NASA ever published. Three years later two films about comets hitting the Earth, Deep Impact and Armageddon, were both released within six weeks of each other. Same concept, different films - in the same season. In 1989, James Cameron made The Abyss, aliens at the bottom of the sea. That summer saw the release of both Deep Star Six (aliens at the bottom of the sea) and Leviathan (aliens at the bottom of the sea). Whenever I see my great idea up in lights I remember these two stories. Success in movies doesn't rely on being first to market or being especially original. Success is about doing what you do well - mostly - with money being a poor substitute used by some. Make your screenplay the best you can and let others worry about originality. Heck, when was the last time Hollywood came up with a truly original idea? It's almost all adaptations and reboots these days anyway.
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Wowzer. Attention black S32 members, we have a white idiot in need of rescuing. Any takers?
Whoa, Dennis, I think that's a bit of a bold statement. I presume you're talking about pretty much any recent film with Kevin Hart lol
This kind of thing has happened to me many times. Everything from an idea of what to put in an empty retail store to oatmeal in Styrofoam cups. Look at it this way - you have a creative mind that knows what other people want or like. It confirms that your idea wasn't out in left field, that someone else thought enough of it to take a chance. That's a good thing, although don't you wish you had gotten there first? Recently happened to me with script I'm working on right now, but doesn't stop me from finishing it. It means I'm in the right ball park and someone might want to play ball. Take it as a compliment and keep going.
That has recently happened to me. Stick to it. If you really think your characters or story is worth writing, continue writing it. If you are really concerned about it being very close, you can either shelf it, keep it as it is, or re-write the things that may make it less like the film that has been released. But don't let it get you down. Original thought is very rarely that, and it is one thing that can keep people from writing.
Oh, yeah it's happened to me more than once. It's called "THE SPECTER OF SIMILAR IDEAS." Check out my article on my blog about his harsh reality: https://scriptcat.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/the-specter-of-similar-ideas/
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Don't take it personally. In fact - use it as motivation. A sort of psychic pat on the back. If you keep coming up with ideas that Hollywood is making - then you're on the right track and thinking commercially. Just get more sleep and come up with the ideas a bit quicker. The business has a habit of finding things in the ozone all at the same time - so you end up with 3 movies about farmers suffering through floods or 3 with kids transferring into the Dad's bodies. Usually the first one before the camera gets made - and the rest fade away. But don't give up. It's been said that there are only a half a dozen original plots - and everything else is the original spin you put on something. Different seasoning. West Side Story is Romeo & Juliet set to music and a gang background. That sort of thing. I had a teacher in film school who claimed that a very famous scene from a very famous movie was ripped off from one of his scripts. He wasn't mad about it - he said he was flattered - and it told him that he was on the right track. If they were stealing from him - he was doing it right. That would NOT apply to getting a whole screenplay ripped off - but you get the gist.
The good news is: you are writing what they are making. The better news is: you now know what their version is, so that you can rewrite yours to be unique. Have you ever noticed that there are 2 movies made about volcanoes, 2 movies made about cut talking bugs, 2 movies made about outbreaks, 2 movies made about.... Your script could be the second one. Actually, there was only 1 movie made about outbreaks because CRISIS IN THE HOT ZONE (the first sale with that story) lost its star and crashed and burned and the 2 version OUTBREAK was the only one they made. Yours could be the one that makes it to the screen, too!