Every Good Story Deserves a Franchise
When I was younger, nothing was more offensive to me than the idea of a movie deriving from a video game, or a book deriving from a movie. Adaptations were to flow in only one direction: first the book, then the movie, then the Sunday morning cartoons, then the video game, and then the action figures. From the purity of the written word to the soullessness of fake plastic consumer goods. Any deviation from this seemed utterly profane. But ideally there would be no chain of adaptations, no this-turning-into-that, no franchises. Each piece of media, I believed, should exist as its own stand-alone world. Otherwise, it was somehow spiritually impure and not to be taken seriously as art.
I’ve now done a complete 180 on this perspective. Far from being offended by adaptations and franchises, I’m now enthusiastic about them. I no longer see adaptations and franchises as projects for soulless corporations to increase profits. Rather, adaptations and franchises are inherent aspects of the create process. A great story never begins as a novel — it begins as an idea. That idea can be translated into any number of media types. No story is too dumb for a novel nor too lofty for a t-shirt. Every good story deserves a franchise.
