Will Vendors "BUY" ideas?

[annarchy]

I once read, not all that long ago, where someone suggested that perhaps vendors could "buy" or pay royalties to Haunters who present them with new, innovative ideas. I'm thinking it was Larry in H/W mag...? Regardless...has then been any more discussion about this?
I, like many of you, create new things not seen in the industry market place (or at least at Transworld, the internet or mountains of old catalogs). I have no desire to produce, market, or distribute any of these ideas; this is not my passion. So I would much rather "sell' the idea to someone who is passionate about this area of the market.
Any feedback?
Thanks

[Darksidestew]

I for one would pay for a great idea. But I see an issue.

For me to pay you for an idea, you need to tell me the idea.

Then, what if I do not like the idea? So now I pay nothing beause I do not like it, but now I know the idea.

You see where Im going with this. Someone could still pretend not to like it and then still use it.........

Stew

[Allen H]

The issue is that the value of the idea is unknown until you tell the buyer. Dont take this the wrong way, but odds are really good that your idea is bad or flawed. Why not give the idea away as opposed to try to sell it? profit comes from work- no one makes money from ideas alone. you have to make them or put in the effort. knowledge of materials and design theory are great big deals in this industry.
It would be a great idea to have an actor be invisible, then appear again in front of the group, or to have an actor that is 12ft tall. While they would be scary they are impractical or have details that need to be worked out before they are practical.
It is possible to work with a vendor and perhaps receive a small fee for each item you designed that sold. But if you are caplable of having good ideas on a regular basis then you should become or at least consult with a vendor.
I give ideas to vendors all the time, not for profit but to help them or the industry in a small way. If you give away a good idea then the odds of selling one later increase.
Allen H

[Greg Chrise]

I just saw two of my ideas I had 8 months ago that were cutting edge, completely reproduced and already on a shelf from China and they are half the cost and actually better made. So ideas move pretty fast around here. And they seem to pay maybe $20 a pop if you actually DO something for quite a few hours.

The entire haunt culture is just giving ideas even making prototypes and visual aids such as sketches, models, illustrations and such, doing market research to insure this isn't really being done somewhere else and if it is does anyone care? Now just because some manufacturer took my idea and developed $300,000 worth of inventory doesn't mean it isn't still a loser idea and the customers aren't going for it.

It's all some grand experiment of whether the home boys can make a marginal seasonal gain or if some corporate finder went nuts with something. So who are these mystery shoppers and who pays their salary? You could make an income being an industry spy or you can just whip the ideas out there unfleshed and let the home boys run with it until it is imitated and turned to crap.

Now, were my ideas really original or did they come from the grand ethernet while meditating or are they kind of obvious because certain materials are affordable to use these days (or as of this month)? Aren't there 4,000 people that are thinking the same thing? Yes. So only doers get one season of fame. A limited income and so the value isn't much to begin with. Perhaps satisfaction of that's what it looks like and it was or was not very popular and then if that worked how about this. Now do that for 20 years and you might have an idea that is properly developed.

You should be able to come up with at least 4 ideas an hour. You better start posting now before you forget what they were!

[Greg Chrise]

In fact one of the things that is on a shelf right now for $19.99 left here in only an iphone picture of my drawing on a sesame street sketch book. It went viral to costume shops and got picked up and made in a matter of months. Meanwhile I got too physically beat by the day business to actually make the damn thing. It isn't totally fleshed out like I would have tried to sell it. The image is spot on to my drawing. Still I had 3 different people share their drawings with me and they all came out conceptually the same for this is what they thought the character might look like. So how original is an idea.

If I had made the thing I would have expected $100 to $200, maybe added some features to it. Then this thing is available for $20. So does that make me a thief? Uncompetitive? Lazy? Nope. People are watching us. Maybe we need to put out some crap for a few years and they will duplicate that and kill themselves? They will see we made it so it must be popular but they will be wrong, run off to China and have it made, get stuck with trailer loads of inventoty that won't sell.

Chances are they are already loser products. They just don't know it yet. Maybe I'll go buy some at 50% off time. Things it took us $30 to make probably got made for $3 in materials. Not to mention our time invested, out hands moving and hurting. Still, I'm watching them too. Go ahead and develop a market and I already know what that next thing is.

If ideas actually pay money, I have books full of them. I think it is more the idea on TVs inventors, taking some old ladies bed spread idea to Bed Bath and Beyond makes her a million dollar contract doesn't happen in the haunt industry. Nothing is worth even copywriting, you just have to do it or have it fleshed out in some media or prototype and make someone some money rather than just get paid. You can always ask the person you made rich for $30. Then there is usually the half hour conversation about how you don't look like you are really starving just yet as defined by a medical condion, that conversation is worth $15 to $1500 depending on if they owe you money or not.