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Your Idea Machine
Where Do You Get Your Ideas? Your screenplay is going to begin with an idea. There are good ideas and bad ideas and commercial ideas and personal ideas. But where do you find ideas in the first place? This handbook explores different methods for finding or generating ideas, and combining those ideas into concepts that sell. Almost 200 pages filled with idea generation techniques! The Idea Bank, Fifteen Places To Find Ideas, Good Ideas And Bad Ideas, Ideas From Locations And Elements, Keeping Track Of Your Ideas, Idea Theft - What Can You Do? Weird Ways To Connect Ideas, Combing Ideas To Create Concepts, High Concepts - What Are They? Creating The Killer Concept, Substitution - Lion Tamers & Hitmen, Creating Blockbuster Concepts, Magnification And The Matrix, Conflict Within Concept, Concepts With Visual Conflict, Avoiding Episodic Concepts, much more! Professional Screenwriter William C. Martell (19 produced films) takes you into the world of ideas and high concepts, showing you step-by-step how to find the best idea for your script.
- GenresWritingNonfiction
236 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 24, 2011
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About the author
William C. Martell
33 books27 followersWilliam C. Martell has written nineteen produced films, including three HBO World Premiere movies: the Tom Clancy style techno-thriller STEEL SHARKS (filmed with full U.S. Navy cooperation) with Gary Busey, Billy Dee Williams, and Billy Warlock, the submarine thriller CRASH DIVE! starring Frederic Forrest, Catherine Bell, Chris Titus, and Michael Dudikoff (also with Navy cooperation), and the sci-fi actioner GRID RUNNERS starring Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Michael Dorn and Athena Massey (all three produced by Ashok Amritraj, producer of the Bruce Willis Comedy BANDITS and the Steve Martin - Queen Latifah comedy BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE.)
His two Showtime Films include BLACK THUNDER, about a stolen stealth fighter plane, starring Michael Dudikoff and Richard Norton and a sci-fi film (both produced by Andrew Stevens, producer of Jack Nicholson's THE PLEDGE and the Bruce Willis-Matthew Perry film THE WHOLE 9 YARDS and its sequel). He has written a couple of CineMax Premieres like action-thriller TREACHEROUS which stars Tia Carrere, C. Thomas Howell, and Adam Baldwin (from 20th Century Fox), the martial arts vampire flick NIGHT HUNTER and military action flick THE BASE (starring Mark Dacascos), plus a USA Network thriller.
His noir thriller HARD EVIDENCE (starring Gregory Harrison and Joan Severance - from Warner Bros.) was "video pick of the week" in over two dozen newspapers, was a Blockbuster featured new release, and beat the Julia Roberts film "Something To Talk About" in video rentals when both debuted the same week.
He is the West Coast Editor of Scr(i)pt Magazine (the largest circulation screenwriting magazine in the world) where he has written the "Independents" screenwriting column for over a decade, a contributor to Writer's Digest Magazine and a past columnist for The Hollywood Scriptwriter Magazine. He was Entertainment News Editor for Dean (INDEPENDENCE DAY) Devlin's Eon Magazine, wrote the Screenwriting 101 column for the Independent Film Channel Magazine, and was the only non-nominated screenwriter mentioned on "Siskel & Ebert's If We Picked The Winners" Oscar show in 1997. He is a frequent contributor to Ebert's Movie Answer Man syndicated column and Ebert's annual Year In Film books. He was on the jury of the Raindance Film Festival (London) in 2001 (with director Mike Figgis and actress Saffron Burrows) and again in 2004 (with actor Lennie James and director Edgar Wright) and just returned from 2009 "jury duty".
His two Showtime Films include BLACK THUNDER, about a stolen stealth fighter plane, starring Michael Dudikoff and Richard Norton and a sci-fi film (both produced by Andrew Stevens, producer of Jack Nicholson's THE PLEDGE and the Bruce Willis-Matthew Perry film THE WHOLE 9 YARDS and its sequel). He has written a couple of CineMax Premieres like action-thriller TREACHEROUS which stars Tia Carrere, C. Thomas Howell, and Adam Baldwin (from 20th Century Fox), the martial arts vampire flick NIGHT HUNTER and military action flick THE BASE (starring Mark Dacascos), plus a USA Network thriller.
His noir thriller HARD EVIDENCE (starring Gregory Harrison and Joan Severance - from Warner Bros.) was "video pick of the week" in over two dozen newspapers, was a Blockbuster featured new release, and beat the Julia Roberts film "Something To Talk About" in video rentals when both debuted the same week.
He is the West Coast Editor of Scr(i)pt Magazine (the largest circulation screenwriting magazine in the world) where he has written the "Independents" screenwriting column for over a decade, a contributor to Writer's Digest Magazine and a past columnist for The Hollywood Scriptwriter Magazine. He was Entertainment News Editor for Dean (INDEPENDENCE DAY) Devlin's Eon Magazine, wrote the Screenwriting 101 column for the Independent Film Channel Magazine, and was the only non-nominated screenwriter mentioned on "Siskel & Ebert's If We Picked The Winners" Oscar show in 1997. He is a frequent contributor to Ebert's Movie Answer Man syndicated column and Ebert's annual Year In Film books. He was on the jury of the Raindance Film Festival (London) in 2001 (with director Mike Figgis and actress Saffron Burrows) and again in 2004 (with actor Lennie James and director Edgar Wright) and just returned from 2009 "jury duty".
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 18, 2015
You might not guess it from the covers or the (lack of) proofreading, but Martell’s books are absolute gems. Although aimed at screenwriters, the vast majority of what he suggests is just as pertinent to novelists as well. Here, he offers wonderful tips on not just optimizing the ability to come up with ideas, but also on figuring out what a good idea is and how to hammer it into a unique and viable story premise.
May 8, 2017
Yet another great, informative (and quick) read from screenwriting guru William C. Martell. "Your Idea Machine" offers several ways that you, the Writer, can brainstorm story ideas for your screenplay (or novel or play or whatever). There are tips on where to find ideas and how to determine if they satisfy the rule of the "Two Ewes" — are they both Unique and Universal? This is the third of Martell's famous Blue Books that I've read, and it is yet another invaluable resource for those who are looking to write a story that will have a wide appeal to audiences.
April 11, 2019
I found this to be a wonderful book on where to find new ideas for screenplays/novels.
So far, I've read four books in this series and can apply everything I've learned so far to my creative writing.
Would definitely recommend this series of books. This particular book offers an in-depth look at where to find ideas, how to generate your own and different processes that generate ideas in general.
I'm not sure if I can do this series justice with this hastily written review but trust me, if you'd like an in-depth look at screenwriting/storytelling, then this series is a goldmine.
So far, I've read four books in this series and can apply everything I've learned so far to my creative writing.
Would definitely recommend this series of books. This particular book offers an in-depth look at where to find ideas, how to generate your own and different processes that generate ideas in general.
I'm not sure if I can do this series justice with this hastily written review but trust me, if you'd like an in-depth look at screenwriting/storytelling, then this series is a goldmine.
September 28, 2024
This was a really great book. I have purchased quite a few, if not all of his Blue Book series on Kindle at this point and I really do love them all. Highly recommend. Full of practical advice and great examples of each thing he's teaching.
January 11, 2019
This guy has a lot of knowledge about screenwriting and is very entertaining to read. Love all his books.
January 9, 2014
Insightful and engaged, this book exceeded my expectations! Rather than some generalized fluff about coming up with story ideas, William Martell, an accomplished screenwriter, tells you in concrete terms how he came up with his ideas for his screenplays. He gives useful tips on how to come up with new story ideas every day, and shows you how you can take existing stories and add twists to create fresh, original stories.
Although this book references screenplays, since this is what the author writes, I found almost everything application to any form of fiction.
Although this book references screenplays, since this is what the author writes, I found almost everything application to any form of fiction.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews