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Most of the screenwriters I've met aren't interested in writing what's come to be known as the "summer blockbuster." This is good because it's really hard to come up with an idea for one. The basic problem with blockbuster movies is simply whether or not the idea is big enough. Finding original ideas that are big enough is the challenge. That's why Hollywood has been relying so much on comic book characters and famous sci-fi short stories. The hero and concept are already established. All they have to do is find the right storyline. M-hmm. That's ALL they have to do. And that's the problem: think Daredevil and The Hulk.
Originalideas are riskier for Hollywood. Take The Day After Tomorrow, for instance. Major director with a proven track record. Lots of special effects. But a story that is so-so and plastic characters straight out of a 70s disaster movie (but without the star-studded cast).
I actually love a good blockbuster summer film and I especially enjoy something original rather than a flick inspired by something else.
But writing these things gets riskier and riskier because they inevitably cost so much that studios balk at taking on a project that isn't grounded in something well known.
However, not to be negative, but rather cynically optimistic, if you have an idea brewing that's big enough to make a jaded studio executive smile and/or drool at the thought of financing it, go for it.
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