Think you have what it takes to come up with 30 movie ideas in 30 days?
All you need is a friend, a month, and a phone.
The Setup
Choose your friend(s) and month wisely.
This is a movie idea marathon – will your friend(s) be able to keep up?
Will they keep you motivated?
Or give up after a few days of phoning in Tremors sequels?
Make sure the month you choose is relatively clear of big work deadlines, vacations, and Mafia baby showers.
Life happens, but you don’t want it to totally derail the challenge.
You can, however, be more cavalier about the phone you choose.
It just needs to be able to let you text, email, or voicemail your pitch to your friend(s) before midnight each day.
Bang!
And they’re off!
Every day you need to think up a movie idea.
Not a log-line, not a “this-plus-that”, not some snarky gripe about being stuck in a movie pitch challenge.
It needs to be an honest-to-god thought out movie.
Beginning – middle – end. With character arcs.
Now, this doesn’t have to be a three-page treatment.
It can be an embarrassingly long text message or a few short paragraphs in an email.
It just needs to be something you could pitch to an executive in an elevator or a bathysphere.
By the time your Vacheron Constantin hits midnight, send your pitch to your friend(s).
All the middle needs is twists
Here’s where the fun begins.
When you swap pitches with your friend(s), give feedback.
What if the spy was actually a monkey?
Could the murder weapon be a dish towel?
Now that Donald Pleasence is dead, who would play grizzled Bavarian priest?
These conversations are as important – and enjoyable – as coming up with the ideas themselves.
If you’re struggling to come up with ideas a week or so in, add some mini-challenges:
Sequel Saturday.
Terror Tuesday.
Superhero Thursday.
Force each other to do genre mash-ups or films in a single location.
Remember, creativity thrives on limitation – so box yourself in!
The bitter(sweet) end
Well, did you make it?
If you’re anything like Dave B & Casey, submitting that last pitch on the 30th day is wild.
Exhilarating. Exhausting. Bewildering.
Did you really just come up with 30 movie ideas in four weeks?
Sure, some will be bad. Some will be meh. But a few will be great.
And you’ll come out the other side with a new appreciation for your brain.
Imagine a world where you’re not trying to endlessly perfect that one movie idea.
Where you find a deep wellspring of creativity you can tap into anytime.
It’s all just a 30 day movie pitch challenge away.
Go ahead, take the challenge…
And then tell us about it.