Not sure if this has been discussed before but as you might know, there are some websites that claim that it's possible to sell your idea instead of a whole script.

It would be pretty cool IF this would really work, but I'm sure it doesn't. I just can't imagine that producers are ready to pay money for a logline and a synopsis, even if it's a great idea. Most producers are probably not even willing to read that stuff.

What do you think about that? Any experiences?

Ideas are a dime a dozen. It's what you do with that idea that matters.

Well, I think that good ideas are definitely not dime a dozen, especially when you keep in mind how much crap Hollywood produces each year.

Quoted from BenL Not sure if this has been discussed before but as you might know, there are some websites that claim that it's possible to sell your idea instead of a whole script. It would be pretty cool IF this would really work, but I'm sure it doesn't. I just can't imagine that producers are ready to pay money for a logline and a synopsis, even if it's a great idea. Most producers are probably not even willing to read that stuff. What do you think about that? Any experiences?

Sounds like a really bad concept.

I don't think you can protect or copyright an idea.  If someone likes your idea I do not believe there are any barriers to them simply hiring someone to write a script based on that idea.

I stick with my opinion. A bad idea can be told in such a way that the readers are drawn in and mesmerized by it while a seemingly good idea can be told in a really boring awful uninteresting way. Besides, what I think is a good idea, might be something you would deem a horrible idea.

I agree with Pia.

Also, I don't know how many companies are in the business of simply buying ideas.  Even if you have an idea, they want a full, detailed treatment in place.  As Pia pointed out: they want to know you can execute said idea.

Writers in Hollywood have become subservient to pushing out garbage based on control from the six major media corporations. They (media whores) are selling an agenda and, if your ideology is not congruent with their propaganda… your chances are very slim.

I’m talking ‘Hollywood’ here, not independent film makers.

Here’s a weird example, but it works for me to understand that something went wrong along the way.

I was born and raised in Canada yet, even at the age of four (1973) I had this incredible shiny happy belief system that I lived in the greatest country on Earth… America.  I’m talking stars, stripes and a larger than life Uncle Sam pointing at me with his crooked finger.

How is this even possible? I never stepped foot on American soil until I was about 17. Well, outside of the fact that Canadian/American cross culture is superficial… It was the message that was embedded in the media of my generation. Saturday morning cartoons were a perfect breeding ground for ideology patterns to be sent out to shape Generation X. They have always called it ‘Network Programming’. Movie houses were no different in retrospect. Well into the 80s I felt this ideology.

But today, I no longer see, hear, or feel that same emotion after watching any form of their controlled media, not like I did back then. It appears as if the message has become tragically skewed or hideously perverse.  It’s telling me that there is something wrong with the world and, that all my previous belief systems mean nothing to me (or my belief system might hurt some liberal asshole’s feelings) and that the boogeymen are around every damn corner.

Long story short - you may have a better chance selling your idea (script) if you find out what they’re selling first. Take a story you wrote, punch it full of holes, and then fill in the gaps with their twisted ideology…  

I miss the old message; it was so pure and simple.

Retro programming at its finest hour…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTUq8r-RGdM

Quoted from BenL there are some websites that claim that it's possible to sell your idea instead of a whole script

If somebody will pay you for just an idea, absolutely take the cash.

A "service" like this, however, sounds like utter B.S.

Caution is advised.