I recently started working on a new short film, collaborating with my friend and screenwriter, Shamar Curry.

Getting back into shorts and developing a film we can actually make brought back a lot of memories. It also revealed some sorely neglected idea muscles.

Today you and I will talk about how we can strengthen that idea muscle, and use it to unleash a new level of creativity.

Let’s dig in.

How to find the sauce

Working with a collaborator is one of my favorite ways to shape a story. When Shamar and I started developing the short, he brought an idea to the table. It was fun, it was producible and we were both exited about prodding it to find something we both love. We had the building blocks of a short film.

But we were missing the sauce.

We needed that thing that makes you go “I have to watch this.” The #1 thing you need at this part of the process is openness. You have to be open to new ideas, different opinions and difficult questions. Leading with this kind of openness we were able to have a process that served our story, and not our egos.

This is key.

What fascinated me the most was how far from the original idea we ventured. Eventually we came up with ways to integrate the short into a larger fantasy world I’d been working on separately.

The lesson I’m taking from this is the importance of embracing the process. You don’t find the sauce while thinking about cooking, you find it while combining ingredients, tasting and testing. Sometimes it’s a mess. Often it’s very hard to keep our personal feelings out of it. But the story is always better for it.

The Power of Bad Ideas

A long, long time ago, in a galax… I mean in Norway, I served my year of mandatory military service. It was the most different year of my life in so many ways. After about half a year of being told what to do, I noticed how much less creative I felt. I wasn’t having any ideas of my own, and I started to doubt if I could become a filmmaker at all.

The following year I started film school, and ideas were flowing again.

It was like I’d let my idea muscle get weak, and I needed to start exercising it again to gain back my creative abilities. James Altucher has a great article about how to become an idea machine. I want to show you how we can use his ideas to improve our directing abilities.

First we need to get one thing out of the way: our fear of bad ideas.

Have you ever tried to come up with ideas for a story, but as soon as an idea surfaces you judge it and squash it? I have. It’s almost impossible to come up with anything when working this way. What I’ve learned is embracing ideas in any shape, way or form and take note of them.

We’re not very good judges of what makes an idea good to begin with, so let’s fire ourselves from the job of judging ideas. Instead we’ll open our idea inboxes and be open to what they can reveal.

Often times when writing with a collaborator, one of us will pitch “the bad version” or lead with “this is a bad idea, but” and it always kickstarts something. New ideas form on the back of “the bad version” or we find ways to make it work better. It doesn’t always mean it ends up in the final film, but it acts as a catalyst for new ideas and perspectives. Think about bad ideas the same way the old maxim about asking questions goes: it’s better to ask a question and look like a fool for a moment, than not ask and be a fool forever.

Overcoming the fear of bad ideas is the first step to becoming a prolific creator of ideas, but it’s going to take more. A lot more.

A method for becoming an idea machine

Ideas tend to show up in two ways:

• at times of high stress, when we’re under pressure to find a solution
• at times of total serenity, when we let go and think of nothing

If we go along with the concept of the idea muscle, the next logical step is we need to train this muscle. Without a strong muscle, we won’t be able to perform under pressure. Training the idea muscle is a volume game. We need to put in the reps, consistently have ideas. So when the need arises and we’re under pressure, or at peace, having ideas comes as natural as breathing.

James Altucher suggests a simple routine for growing your idea muscle.

Come up with 10 ideas every day.

Doesn’t matter what ideas, if they’re good or bad, write down 10 ideas for anything every single day. The only purpose of this exercise is to train ourselves to come up with ideas. The number 10 is important. The first 5-6 will come easy, but as you hit 7, 8, you’ll start to struggle.

That’s where the magic happens.

To grow we need to push past the comfort zone and push ourselves. I’ve found using lists helps me, “10 ways to do X”, “10 ideas for how to make X better.” It gives me a focus and it’s actually easier than coming up with 10 random ideas. These lists can also become new prompts for digging deeper.

And remember; no censoring, embrace good and bad ideas alike. Don’t try to save the world.

When done you can throw away the ideas, keep them and review them, make paper airplanes, you do you. I write mine on a card every day, keep them until I do my weekly review, and then transfer any ideas that resonate into my note taking system.

Ideas are the #1 currency of the creative world, becoming a person that has lots of them all the time, is a superpower.

Conclusion

Becoming a fountain of ideas is a skill that will serve you in every part of the filmmaking process.

Here’s my recipe for becoming an idea machine:

• Train the idea muscle so you become someone who has lots of ideas
• Embrace both good and bad ideas, don’t be quick to judge
• Bounce ideas off collaborators to test them, and encourage them to help you make them better.
• Come up with 10 ideas every day to strengthen your idea muscle.

Next week I’ll take you behind the scenes on how we launched Wild Boys last year. I'll share all the things I’ve learned about marketing and distribution since.

See you then,

Morten