Let's face it. Everybody has an idea for a movie. We've all seen many films and television movies. We can imagine a story, a character, or an imaginary world that would be just as good as some of the movies we have seen. Now is the time to look more closely at what it means to conceive and write a feature film or a long-form television script. Many dream of a concept, but not many have the perseverance to write a 2-hour screenplay. Even if you can complete a screenplay, the fact is that many write but few are chosen. Hollywood buys 10 times more scripts than are ever produced. The lure is the lucrative fees that are paid for good scripts and even for some not-so-good scripts. Most professionals would agree that there is always room for good writing and original ideas.

The market changes constantly. Unknown writers and directors sometimes strike a chord that resonates with the public imagination and see their creation soar into the spotlight. Some low-budget movies such as The Blair Witch Project (1999) have grossed millions. In 1969, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda made a low-budget movie, Easy Rider, that spoke to a generation and threw Hollywood into confusion in an era when it was making big budget musicals and spectaculars that lost money. The studios at that time did not understand...