how to come up with a genre film.
this is really simple. Takes less than five minutes.
1) pick a villain. Anything, don't try to be too clever. Let's say - bully, ghost, doppleganger. Don't start with the hero - rookie error - the villain brings the story.
2) think of the villain's plan. Story doesn't start till the villain starts moving. So, for the above - this is off the top of my head... a bully wants to lock a victim in a cave for kicks. A ghost wants to revenge himself on the ancestors of the people who killed him. A doppleganger wants to take over a guy's identity then get all his doppleganger mates to come and take over everyone else in the town.
3) Is it time for the hero? No, this is the cunning bit. Think of the theme. It's one word. So for the bully one, let's say brutalisation, for the ghost one, revenge, for the doppleganger, identity. This is going to influence the way you tell the story and the way you pick a hero.
4) Okay, now, bearing your theme in mind, pick a hero who will get in the way of, or be the object of, the villain's plan. So for the bully one, it's going to be his victim. And for the ghost one, it's going to be the ancestor. For the doppleganger, a guy who finds his identity stolen. The hero needs to be active, to be in the way, and less powerful than the villain.
5) now, bearing the theme in mind, kick it about, develop it a bit - put some moral dilemmas in there, take it for a walk, build some twists...
* - a bully locks the hero in a cave, to kill him for kicks. The bully is himself brutalised by a horrible stepdad. The hero escapes and in the last act the hero and the bully collaborate to lock the brutal stepdad in the cave.
* A ghost is haunting the ancestors of the man who killed him. The descendants are innocent but not in the hero's mind. The hero realises that to break the curse he must prove that his ancestor was innocent.... but that means the ghost will instead start haunting the descendant of the real killer... and she happens to be a girl he's just fallen in love with. How can they break the curse before it kills her?
* a man has his identity stolen by a doppleganger - a creature who can impersonate him perfectly. He had a shit life anyway, and he enjoys this chance at a fresh start. But when he realises that the doppleganger has a wider plan - to breed lots more dopplegangers - he has to fight the guy. But that means retaking his identity.
Well, it's all pretty rough. But that took less than ten minutes and that's three ideas that could be easily worked up into films - because they have a solid foundation - antagonist, protagonist, villain's plan that has to be thwarted.
See how easy it is - and understand why writers roll their eyes when someone says, 'oh I have this great idea for a film...'
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