And now, a day devoted to continuing Peggy Bechko’s discusson of where ideas come from…cuz let’s face it, for most of us getting great ideas sounds a lot easier than it is.
by Tambay A. Obenson
Recalling my recent interview with Ernest Dickerson, and the part of the conversation about black filmmakers dipping into a broader pool of stories as well as genres, taking risks, tackling material that’s off the beaten path, instead of following to the so-called path of least resistance when it comes to what Hollywood expects of black cinema (assuming Hollywood is your eventual goal)…
It all got me thinking about how we (black filmmakers) settle on the stories that we want to tell; what inspires them; where we look to find them, etc…
It’s been about 10 years since I last directed a film, and I plan to finally get behind the camera again this year, and make another film after so long. I have an idea of what I want to do that I’m working on currently.
So, speaking for myself, in answering the question about how I come up with stories that I’d like to tell, this is how it usually goes for me…
What happens most often is that I have a theme or a specific subject that I’d like to tackle on film. That’s usually where it starts. For example, I’d tell myself that I’d like to tell a story about greed (which is central to one of the scripts I’m working on right now). And then I’d build a story around that, which I think is where the fun really begins for me, because the story you come up with can be as imaginative as you allow your imagination to run.
Why be restricting – especially at the very start? When I sit and begin to think up the story that I want to tell based on the theme/subject that I initially choose, I let my imagination run wild, and, no matter how crazy, absurd or fantastical an idea might seem, I write it down anyway.