At a tech event the other night, I heard someone describe their company as “LinkedIn for writers.” Really? It reminded me of pitch meetings at the studios when I first arrived in Los Angeles. Original ideas? They were too hard to explain but Gone with the Wind meets The Terminator, the executives got it. It was a quick yes/no. (OK, no one ever pitched that but you get the idea…)

I’m sorry to say that we’ve arrived at the age of “derivatives” where original ideas are shunned in favor of “high concept.”

I get the idea of an elevator pitch. After all, I was a development executive and a producer so I’ve been on both sides. But sometimes, good ideas, the really original kind, take time to explain. And to find their way.

Reading scripts, you can usually tell if it’s any good by page 10. With consumer web companies, sometimes it takes time for the idea to catch on. Look at Pinterest for example. It’s no overnight success and yet it found millions of (addicted) users.

The moral of the story? Sometimes you just have to keep going. Even if no one is getting it.