Have I had an experience like Paul? Yeah. The EXACT same experience. Superhero retirement home was one of the ideas I was messing with a few years back. I ended up putting it aside with the intention of getting back to it, but never did. (It actually began life as "James Bond in a retirement home" but I never could quite make that one work.)

I know it's happened at least one other time, but I seem to have blocked it out. Fortunately, I've yet to be beaten on a story I actually took to script stage. Most often, I get killed while still in the treament/outline area.

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that the world needs now more than another comic book movie.

I'm going to move to Sri Lanka. maybe someone can email me when they start making films for people who've outgrown acne and felt their lives were quite fulfilled without having to live vicariously through drawings of grown-ass men in tights.

It's happened to me to one degree or another 5 times. Most recently I lost out to Andrew Niccol's "Now". Both of our scripts are about a future where your time left to live is used as currency.

Needless to say, I have one dead spec script now. It was one of our better ones too. I loved that script. But we didn't sell it fast enough, so...

It happens. You just have to keep going.

I wrote something called Buddy for Owen Wilson (in my mind - not literally for Owen Wilson) and finished about a month before I saw the trailer for You, Me, and Dupree. Essentially the same flick.

I worked with a partner for a few months this past summer on what I thought was a slam-bang, sell-it-in-the-room idea: two secret agents in love with the same woman. In the end we just couldn't get it to work, and put it aside. I'm pretty glad we gave up, because that's the exact plot of the upcoming McG / Chris Pine flick, "This Means War."

(To make matters worse, it had already been announced before we started writing. Should've paid more attention.)

“Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.” So what if someone sells a script with the same general plot as the one you’re working on. Every writer has a different voice and hot topics tend to cycle, (e.g. Vampires, Superheroes, Sports, Fantasy). Selling a script is about timing. I say, finish the script you're writing. When you’re done if the timing isn’t right for you to sell then stash it away for the future because when the dust settles on the next hot topic, (e.g. Sports) the industry will be ready for another go around with Superheroes.

I published a comic book called King of Pain. It was about a working class kid in a city of superheroes. By the time it came out everyone was comparing it to Kick Ass—which I had never read!

Yeah, sheeeeit.

What if the Momento app is linked to an executive in Hollywood, who culls ideas from clueless screenwriters in order to hoard ideas for him/herself?

You know what Paul? Write that bad boy. I have seen time and again how there will be a hit movie (somewhat) and then other movies will follow with the same premise. But every now and then a 'copycat' movie will be better then the hit. Seems that RED didn't stop Vaughn from coming up with this idea.

If you don't think it would be a waste of time then I agree with 'Zetta' write it and try it out or save it for later.

Personally I think you were heading in an interesting direction. Sounds like it would make a good comic plot too. Stay strong brother.

Agreed. I like the original idea. Very cool.

I was writing a script partly based on Alice In Wonderland. There was a character inspired by Lewis Carroll, kinda like an alter ego of an alter ego. I wrote the part with Marilyn Manson in mind. Then I read that Marilyn Manson was working on a movie and he was playing Lewis Carroll. I never finished that script. I'm sure my take on the subject was very different but I ran out of juice with it.

That would be terrible! Thankfully I haven't had that happen (yet) but I hope I would still keep the script on the back burner. That way when I learn more about it I could see if my script was different enough, or if there was another direction I could take it.