TITLE: "I Just Need a Programmer", Screenplay Edition
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: June 02, 2015  1:46 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Noted TV writer, director, producer, and blogger Ken Levine
takes on a frequently-asked question in
<A HREF="http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2015/05/friday-questions_29.html">
   the latest edition</A>
of his "Friday Questions" feature:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 I have a great idea for a movie, but I'm not a writer,
 I'm not in show biz, and I don't live in New York or LA.
 What do I do with this great idea?  (And I'm sure you've
 never heard this question before, right?)
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Levine is gentle in response:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 This question does come up frequently.  I wish I had a
 more optimistic answer.  But the truth is execution is
 more valued than ideas.  ...
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Is there any domain where this isn't true?  Yet professionals
in every domain seem to receive this question all the time.
I certainly receive the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-12.html#e2010-12-01T15_45_40.htm">
   "I just need a programmer..."</A>
phone call or e-mail every month.  If I went to cocktail parties,
maybe I'd hear it at them, too.

The bigger the gap between idea and product, the more valuable,
relatively speaking, execution is than having ideas.  For many
app ideas, executing the idea is not all that far beyond the
reach of many people.  Learn a little Objective C, and away
you go.  In three or four years, you'll be set!  By comparison,
writing a screenplay that anyone in Hollywood will look at (let
alone turn into a blockbuster film) seems like Mount Everest.
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