Filmmaking Inspiration: Why I chose UFOs and Aliens

How do storytellers, screenwriters, and filmmakers come up with new ideas? Where do they get their inspiration from? How does filmmaking inspiration work? I’ll explain where I get my ideas from—and I’ll give specific examples—in this video.

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It’s not as mysterious as you might think. And by the end of this video, you might be inspired to write your own screenplay or make your own film.

My name is Jay Sherer and I’m a screenwriter, a director, and a film producer. I recently directed a paranormal thriller about UFOs titled DISCLOSURE that’s coming out on this channel on Nov. 1. In today’s video, I’ll share the inspiration behind DISCLOSURE and how I come up with new ideas for films—and how you can, too.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Why make a video on this topic? Why talk about filmmaking inspiration at all?

In my opinion, it’s worth considering how movies get made. How do studios or investors choose to make films?

If you’re in the filmmaking industry or just a film fan, one of the things you hear all the time is: “We want new, original film ideas.”

And yet… Hollywood continues to make sequels, prequels, remakes, or films based off successful video games or books.

So, what can independent filmmakers or filmmakers with original concepts do to alleviate this problem?

BE RELEVANT
One good option is to base your film concept or idea on something popular.

What do I mean? Well, with DISCLOSURE, I found myself listening to hours upon hours of podcasts talking about UFOs, UAPs, aliens, and all of the associated paranormal phenomena.

And it’s not just podcasters talking about UFOs and aliens. Even political figures are holding hearings about what critical figures know about the topic.

Not to mention that aliens and UFOs have been popular for decades. When I was a kid we had The X-Files, Independence Day, and Men in Black, just to name a few.

I grew up around the topic, and the topic is still popular today.

The key question to ask yourself if you’re looking for inspiration for a film project: What’s a topic that millions—or maybe even billions—of people care about that also inspires me?

LOOK FOR A COMPELLING STORY
Now, how do you take a popular topic and form a story around it? This is where the work of storytelling takes over.

Can you take a popular topic and ensure that you can craft a narrative around it? Look for things like:

A shared human experience. Does the topic excite, thrill, or rile people up? What’s the shared human experience related to the topic?
Conflict. What drives the conflict in the story? Do people have conflicting goals or objectives? What does that look like?
Character development. Can you showcase a character arc given the topic? If so, how does the character develop?
Structure. Is there a way to have a beginning, a middle, and an end? Can there be a 3-act structure applied to the topic?

WRITE FILMS THAT LESS EXPENSIVE TO SHOOT
Another key strategy here is to go after the economic side of the equation. If a film costs $100M to make and makes $100M dollars at the box office… that’s not a profitable film. But if a film cost $10M and made $100M, that’s a film that made 10x its production budget.

Another way storytellers can reduce studio or investor risk while still going after original ideas is by reducing the production budget of their project.

Some ways to do that might include:

Writing with fewer locations in mind.
Reducing the number of characters in the script.
Setting the story in a contemporary setting that doesn’t require building sets or getting a huge budget dedicated to wardrobe or costuming.
Limiting the number of special effects required.

CONCLUSION – FILMMAKING INSPIRATION
You can’t make a film that includes Marvel characters or Star Wars characters. I can’t either.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t write stories with a built-in audience. We just need to shape narratives around a shared human experience and a compelling, popular topic.

Did I miss anything about filmmaking inspiration?

Thanks for watching! And when it comes to UFO disclosure… who knows the truth? DISCLOSURE is coming… November 1st!