At Imagi-Ne’er-Do-Wells, about 50 people gathered to pitch ridiculous terrible ideas that they thought up in only about 15 minutes, based off a single prompt provided by the organizers.
Emcee’d by Brett Jackson, this monthly event brings together the community of Los Angeles immersive entertainment and asks everyone attending to spend some time just thinking up a weird idea.
On our recent trip to Los Angeles, our group of primarily self-described “not particularly creative” individuals enjoyed the networking, and yes, also creating!
Structure & Gameplay
Brett set the scene and gave everyone a prompt and some tips. We all immediately put marker to paper.
After 15 minutes, Brett collected the pitches to review them with the guest judges.
While they reviewed the submissions, we shared our ideas with others. This was a great opportunity to hone our pitches. We also got to meet a lot of other folks in attendance.
When it was time to announce the 10 winners, we all sat back down to hear the pitches. As Brett announced each winner, that person came up on stage to pitch their wacko idea for 2 minutes.
The audience peppered the presenter with ridiculous questions.
Tips for Playing
The prompt is broad. You won’t feel boxed in. Anything goes. Seriously.
Brett reminded everyone that it’s easiest to start with the name. I fully agree. Our prompt was around centered around a “zoo” and I latched onto the first word I could think of with the syllable “zoo” in it. For me, this happened to be bazooka bubble gum. Sure!
Commit to your idea. I immediately wondered if I could think of something better than bubble gum. But no, it’s only 15 minutes, just commit! Now I had bubble gum as the lens through which I was imagining, which was good, because it gave me direction.
Draw a picture or a diagram. I can’t draw… like, not at all, but I followed this advice. It helps you (and the judges!) picture the idea. So I drew some scratches that looked a bit like zoo animals. I also drew a fish, which is not a zoo animal, but was an animal that I knew I could draw. Then I annotated my drawings, rather than writing paragraphs or bullets.
Don’t be embarrassed. All the ideas are bad. That’s why it’s fun!
Imagi-Ne’er-Do-Wells takes place Two Bit Circus once a month. If you’re a Los Angeles local, or if there’s one running next time you’re in town, check it out!
