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Five Questions With.
Charles McCarthy
What do slot machines with foot massagers, dinner cereal and product placement in porn have in common? Charles McCarthy, that's who. He's the mastermind behind Ideas By Chuck, an irreverent, insightful and slightly insane blog he launched this year. Most inventors are concerned about intellectual property rights, patents and such. Not Chuck. The 29-year-old film and television production worker gives his ideas away. "I don't have the resources or passion to make these ideas a reality," he concedes. If any of you make a mint on an idea he has posted, he requests that you send him a small percentage of your profits. Visit www.ideasbychuck.com.
ID: Where do you get your ideas?
CM: I come up with most of my ideas while working in film and television production. I constantly find myself in different situations and in contact with different people, problems and products. I talk to people and think about things. Most of my ideas come from trying to entertain myself and the people around me.
I am constantly meeting new people, but I hate small talk, so I would rather talk about ridiculous or funny concepts to pass the time. Sometimes these concepts start off as pure fantasy but keep getting refined and end up as something, as an idea that has everyone kind of nodding their heads and saying, "That's an interesting idea." Most of the time I am the one that pushes and pulls the plausible idea out of the ridiculousness, and I keep thinking about the problem or idea until I refine it further. I wouldn't say that I am an aggregator, but more so the instigator and leader of many group think sessions. Of course, I have some ideas by myself sitting around watching TV or trying to clean my windshield, but most of my ideas stem from random conversations with strangers while standing in the middle of a freeway at 4 a.m., a cup of hot chocolate in my hand.
ID: What's the best idea you've ever had?
CM: As far as inventions go, I think that the self-charging cell phone is pretty great because it would reach and help the largest amount of people. I would have to say that of the best ideas I ever had, and this has been proven by its over exploitation, was my idea in college to take pictures of people at my fake fraternity parties and then give people the address of our Web site to go check them out at, driving people to our Web site and growing our exposure and image on campus. This idea has become almost a standard practice.
ID: On the off-hand chance an inventor made tons of money using one of your ideas and actually paid you a percentage, what would you do with the money?
CM: When, not 'if' but when, someone makes billions of dollars off of one of my ideas and gives me a cut, I will first use the money to pay off my debt and buy a new car. Then I will found a company to develop my other ideas. I also will finance the production of my movie scripts. Maybe I will have them all be released on the same day, so people will have to choose which Chuck McCarthy movie they want to see. The rest of the billions of dollars will go into cancer research, so that I can have something to talk to my dad about since he is always getting new and exciting forms of cancer.
ID: Your growing list of ideas has its share of soft-porn related concepts. The CheerleaderCab.com Web site idea, the product placement in porn films idea and the Drink or Cane television show come to mind. Is there a theme here or are we just reading something into this?
CM: I am a big fan of pornography. If you want to talk about an industry full of innovators, porn is the place to start. Pornographers don't just try to appeal to niche markets; they create them by coming up with new and interesting fetishes. They ask "what if?" and then they answer. Plus, I am a guy. What guy do you know who doesn't like porn?
ID: If you could invent and bring to market anything what would it be and why?
CM: The hover board. I think I have it worked out and everyone I know has wanted a hover-board ever since Back to the Future Part II came out. Don't you want a hover board? |
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