In the beginning, the title "Star Wars" was spelled "Flash Gordon". Despite having created the original "THX 1138" as a college film and then "American Graffitti", George Lucas preferred to do anything but think up an idea for a film. Or rather, for a story: Lucas kept thinking up visual movie ideas but not story ones.
But when he was refused the rights to "Flash Gordon" and was still determined to film a space epic, he went home and dashed off the idea of "Star Wars" over several years. The famous opening line "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" didn't appear until the fourth draft of the entire script.
What he did have early on, and what he took to studios, was this: Page 1, line 1 laid out the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi-bendu of Opuchi who was related to Usby C J Thape, padawaan learned to the famed Jedi.
"Cheers, George," was the general reaction. "Very interesting. And how is American Graffiti II coming along?"
Lucas still struggles to come up with ideas: even after slogging through a huge false start, "The Journal of the Whills", raiding that for ideas and then creating three blockbuster movies, he still took two years to write "The Phantom Menace".
You can argue that "The Phantom Menace" is Lucas finally getting his original idea down on film because it features Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson). Lucas doesn't let anything go once he has thought it up and though you can say that sometimes he ought to - anybody thinking of Jar Jar Binks now? - it is a testament to how difficult ideas are.
Go to Factory Line - Part 1: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Got to Factory Line - Part 2: I've Got This Great Story, George Clooney's Practically Signed.
Sources:
"Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace" screenplay, George Lucas
"The Making of The Phantom Menace", by Bouzereau and Duncan, Ebury Press, ISBN 0-09-186867-X
"Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays" edited by Bouzereau, Titan Books, ISBN 1-85286-923-2
"The Art of Star Wars", edited by C Titleman, Ballantyne Books ISBN 0-345-27666-3
Internet Movie Database
Star Wars history, William Gallagher,
