This isn't my idea, but one Blake Snyder recommended in his screenwriting book "Save the Cat." He suggests aspiring screenwriters come up with a killer logline for their proposed movie and then pitch strangers in the coffee shop on line at the post office, etc. You do need to be somewhat comfortable approaching strangers, and it's possible people might think you were crazy or whatever, but it's worth a shot, and you will get a (hopefully) honest opinion from a member of the unbiased public. Friends and relatives are more likely to be too encouraging even if an idea is really stupid.

You HAVE to play with the idea to see if it's worthy of being a movie. You CAN have a familiar idea and just execute it in a better way that makes it work.

It's all about what YOU can do with a concept. Not the concept itself.

Consider the movie "13 Going on 30." Concept: 13 year old is flash forwarded in her life to age of 30 so she can learn the lesson that she's about to close the on the man who is the great love in her life. Personally, I don't thing that's a very story concept. It's NOT one that I would persue. BUT watch that show, it is executed to perfection. The writers and developers honed the idea, and made it memorible.

Worthy concepts ARE THE IDEAS THAT YOU LIKE TO PLAY WITH. Period.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

It's an interesting phenomenon. I know I struggle to choose which of my ideas are the ones to go for, and yet when I hear other people's ideas it seems obvious which to choose. You get that 'Oh I wish I had of thought of that!' reaction. I tend to run ideas past a varied group of friends and see what grabs them. (Although I'm also guilty of sometimes disregarding feedback and going with my gut on occasion, too.)