The Curse of Too Many Great Ideas… Proliferation Equals Indecision

Chris Jones lays out the steps his team used to pick which projects they wanted to develop in the coming year.

Yesterday I spent the whole day locked in a hotel suite with the Living Spirit team, discussing what feature project we should pursue in 2013. So why did we need to got to such extreme lengths as to lock our selves away to decide?

Editor Simon Reglar commented half way through the day that he could now see my problem. We had 21 very strong projects, at various levels of development. Like dating 21 different but equally intoxicating people at once, the dilemma was which to settle down with and wave goodbye (for now at least) to the others.

The Strategy – the overall plan, problem and solution

1. Too much choice equals indecision. Success lies in laser vision on a single project. It’s time to remove those other terrific projects from the consciousness. They will always be there in the future. It’s time to fall head over heels and monogamously in love with a single project.
2. Choosing a project came down to a number of factors for us;
   a) How much do we love the idea? That love will get us out of bed each morning
   b) How fundable / financeable is the film? Can we get the budget covered?
   c) What’s the desired outcome? Critical success? Commercial success? Industry regard? Springboard to next film?
   d) How do theses three factors interact?

Chris Jones Blog | Read the Full Article