Tell your stories

The great thing about chucking around concepts for films is that you can talk through your ideas with others. Reading scripts takes a lot of effort. Chuck an idea in someone's face and they can immediately get involved. And every time you tell the story to someone it gets refined, you learn to tell the story better, people throw things back at you - 'why doesn't this happen?', 'couldn't she be a suspect', 'I'm not sure about the ending, but if they did escape...' The film starts to evolve. You find yourself thinking out aloud, adding new parts, cutting back on stuff if it gets a bad reception. Its a tradition of oral storytelling. Keep someone's attention in a busy pub for five minutes and you could probably entertain them on film. And the great thing there's no budget to worry about.

Occasionally you meet people who can spot an idea a mile off - 'No, its been done - have you ever seen 'Assault on Precinct 13'. Don't let them worry you. Remember, your idea is your idea. Make the film and it will be different, because its your film. Although I would recommend that you avoid watching the other movie until you've finished it.