> that has the ability to produce, advertise and cast a movie with talented actors.

Isn’t that most of the work?

You get: A lumpsum for your initial research that ended up as a character that people like,

They get: The idea of a character, but then they have to invest billions, build projects that work, tie relationships with cinemas and actors, advertise worldwide and maybe they make billions if they worked properly, but sometimes they make losses. Sounds like they worked for it, and building the initial character is like 0.0…1% of the talent involved.

Unionist gets: A nice story about how it’s always multibillion dollars companies that have all the money.

Maybe ideas are free and implementation is everything?

For over one decade now, maybe two, seemingly every big (or mid?) budget movie Hollywood has produced is based on existing IP: a comic book, novel, previous movie, TV show, or even non fiction article. I’ve been surprised many times by movies which seem original but are actually based on a French comic, or some other semi-obscure (internationally) source.

That tells me that ideas aren’t free. There’s a value to a fully cooked, ready to wear, tried and tested ideas.

As a second point, many good Hollywood pitches remain in development hell, unable to get a satisfying script, or a “second act that works”.