What Makes a Story Adaptable?

Hello creatives,

Today’s blog will be an exploration of what makes a story adaptable? In previous blog posts I’ve talked about the foundations of intellectual property law that supports the development of multimedia franchises, but these legal frameworks are only one pice of the puzzle to the industry that has emerged to churn out multibillion dollar stories that transcend books, film, video games and more.

The Burning Question: What Makes a Story Adaptable?

So, this begs the question: “what makes story adaptable?” I’ve pondered this for years - literally half my life! While writing in whatever form is very much an art, there is some type of science in the matter as well. The psychology of stories has been studied for decades.

Many of these stories have familiar storytelling archetypes, developed by literary theorist Christopher Baker: the quest, the rebirth, overcoming the monster, rags to riches, tragedy, voyage and return, and the comedy. Moreover, “Save the Cat!” is a popular self-help novel touted by scriptwriters  as the paramount advice for how to write a strong story for the screen. I theorize that there may be some archetypes and story structures that are easier to adapt than others.

This formulaic attempt at understanding WHY certain stories have struck the hearts of people for centuries has amounted to a whole subsection of books on the subject. But many of these books fail to account for the industry gatekeepers that drive decisions behind intellectual property acquisition and development.

The Gatekeepers Behind Multimedia Franchises

You see, there are a handful of career paths in the creative industries that act as gatekeepers or tastemakers in the media and entertainment industry. In publishing they are literary agents and publishing house editors who broker deals amongst each other and in tandem with film gatekeepers to bring books to life. In filmmaking, it’s talent scouts, studios, director, and producers who are all searching for stories to turn into the next big thing. For video games, it’s development studios, who financially back the creation of a game by hiring the teams involved to bring it to life.

It takes an industrial village to create a multimedia franchise. And a very thorough legal team. While a number of people are involved with scouring the creative field for the next gold mine for intellectual property development, it’s still highly highly subjective as to what stories exactly get “discovered” and thus a small army of business and legal experts swoop in to secure a deal between the creator and the financiers who will make multimedia franchises out of the story.

You can find plenty of webinars or articles about what a good pitch looks like for each industry. There have been entire services dedicated to teaching writers how to write a query letter to a literary agent, how to craft a show bible that will get an executive interested in your concept, and how to catch the eye of financiers for your video game.

But much of this advice is more or less the same: it’s subjective, dependent on building a good repertoire, and having a solid portfolio already. In some cases, creators are passed up for not having a strong enough online presence and followings.

The Problem with Most Pitching Advice

When all the gatekeepers are saying the same vague cop-out advice across every industry, there’s an underlying element that is not being addressed. A lack of transparency.

This means that the process oof developing the intellectual property behind stories has become black box. The embodiment of that Hamilton song “The Room Where It Happens”.

And for me, it begs the questions: What matters more, the art or the artist? The story or the storyteller? Does an artist’s ability to become an influencer with a large following beat their ability to create a quality story?

With the public’s critical eye on every single franchise lately, IP fatigue is real. But who is driving the demand for these types of stories? Is it the audience, the artists or the executives?

So many questions. I’d love to sit down with professionals across industries and ask these questions for myself and analyze the answers.

Maybe I will. But for now, I’ll keep pressing on in my pursuit to adapt my novel across different mediums.

Until Next Time,

Rochele Rosa