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> So I’d like to ask GITS readers: What other sources do you use for finding or generating story ideas? I'm happy to share three great newsletters that feed my brain and provide a wealth of story ideas: 1. Next Draft 2. Now I know 3. Futility Closet

Here's a thought. Take any mundane idea you have, then switch genders.

Brain Pickings is also excellent

I find ideas crop up from anywhere and everywhere. It might be things surrounding family life. Current events - locally or global. Places I've been - shopping, sporting events, day to day travels. Vacations are especially great for springing up ideas. Historical figures and events from old news articles, books etc... I've not yet read all the posts, but I think this is an excellent method of sharpening the noodle in recognizing opportunities for that next great screenplay. Thankyou Scott

Another great source, "Weird News." Practically every major network has a section devoted to it: ABC http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/ CBS http://www.cbsnews.com/strange/ NBC http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weird-news Reuters http://www.reuters.com/news/oddlyEnough Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/weird-news/ Live Science has got some truly thought provoking strangeness, http://www.livescience.com/strange-news/ Even National Geographic is getting in on it, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/archives/weird/ Plus, there's dozens (if not hundreds) of Twitter feeds you can follow, https://twitter.com/weirdnews If you let your imagination run wild on these sites, you could easily get 5-10 ideas every day. Besides, nobody wants normal, right? [the answer's no, b/c normal's boring]

All excellent suggestions. As I mentioned in one of the posts in this recent series, I used to subscribe to Weekly World News, a tabloid, precisely BECAUSE of its weird new. But the suggestions above make that process much broader in scope and deeper in content. Think this is worthy of a blog post. Thanks to you all for your comments.

Great and fun series. I didn't fall madly in love with most of the stories, but I approached A.S.I.E.F.D.F.A.M. as an exercise focusing on two aspects: 1)As if they were ideas form a producer that wanted a screenplay. Hopefully someday I will be hired by a producer for a project and maybe I will, maybe I'm not going to fall in love with his concept. Maybe I'll even think it's a bad one. So I will need to explore it and find a connection with it. Something that means something to me and turn an unexciting project into something that at least will make it a bearable experience and not months of misery because I need the money. Or, for example there's a newsletter called "InkTip" where producers ask for screenplays and sometimes they're ultra-specific. Things like "We are looking for a screenplay about a ten year old boy that is the son of the CEO of a recycling plant in Nova Scotia and goes on a camping trip where he'll discover a unicorn with blue dots". (OK, I'm exaggerating but sometimes they're pretty specific) 2) Sometimes It's really strange how the final product ends up being far, far away from the original idea. It will be a silly example, but maybe you read the article of the British Officer who saved V.W. but then you start exploring the idea, mixing and matching stuff around so after many iterations instead of V.W. he saves the earth and it's not a British Officer but a cleaning robot. (and you got Wall-E) And unless you're hired by a producer and he wants some specific elements to remain, you're pretty much free to change anything.

Oh... I forgot something. In the first days of this year's series you said another option would be to become a producer, generating ideas for others to develop. I'd appreciate any additional info about it.

I didn't fall madly in love with the stories either or else I would have kept them to write myself! It really is more of an exercise in reminding people to be looking for ideas and to do what you did really well, Alejandro: Brainstorm possibilities. Re your question about producing: I was thinking more about the Zallian, Kurtzman & Orci model, writers who get so well established, they become producers and generate original ideas, working with other writers who write the scripts, etc. That said, if a person finds him/herself more suited toward sourcing and developing ideas, rather than writing them, then it's a matter of finding talented writers who would be willing to work with you (as producer) and them write script on spec with you attached.