The Stakes Have Never Been Lower...
...for the small.
What I mean by that: it used to be very, very expensive and costly to follow through on bad ideas. Now, you don't need to be sure you have a great idea before you start testing it out. Now, you can do a lot for little monetary cost and see if any mud sticks to the wall.
Musical idea? Don't write an album and try to get a record company to distribute it for you. Write one song and throw it up on MySpace.
Something you want to write? Don't spend weeks writing a book and then shop around for a publisher. Start blogging it one day at a time.
I'm not the most authoritative person in the world, so in the realm of film, I'll defer to the advice that Quentin Tarantino offers to aspiring directors. To paraphrase: if you want to be a film director, go get a camera and some people and start filming a story. Once you've done that, then you're a director. The only issue that remains at that point is how much money you'll get in exchange for your time spent, which is either matter of imagination or negotiation on your part.
"Bad" ideas come with inherently more risk, so in the past, they were less valuable. With the "publish, then filter" model of the Internet, trade-off shifted. You might still waste time, but it doesn't have to be a lot of time, and it certainly costs less money than ever before...sometimes it's $0. That's your opportunity.
What I mean by that: it used to be very, very expensive and costly to follow through on bad ideas. Now, you don't need to be sure you have a great idea before you start testing it out. Now, you can do a lot for little monetary cost and see if any mud sticks to the wall.
Musical idea? Don't write an album and try to get a record company to distribute it for you. Write one song and throw it up on MySpace.
Something you want to write? Don't spend weeks writing a book and then shop around for a publisher. Start blogging it one day at a time.
I'm not the most authoritative person in the world, so in the realm of film, I'll defer to the advice that Quentin Tarantino offers to aspiring directors. To paraphrase: if you want to be a film director, go get a camera and some people and start filming a story. Once you've done that, then you're a director. The only issue that remains at that point is how much money you'll get in exchange for your time spent, which is either matter of imagination or negotiation on your part.
"Bad" ideas come with inherently more risk, so in the past, they were less valuable. With the "publish, then filter" model of the Internet, trade-off shifted. You might still waste time, but it doesn't have to be a lot of time, and it certainly costs less money than ever before...sometimes it's $0. That's your opportunity.