4 ms·

Another important and frightening thing about franchises is that they decouple the movie from the creators who produce it. You can buy the rights to a franchise

by a3_nm 12y ago

Another important and frightening thing about franchises is that they decouple the movie from the creators who produce it. You can buy the rights to a franchise and make something that people will want to watch, no matter who is being commissioned to make it. This is very strange, both because it assumes that anyone can continue anyone else's work, and because it implies that the "right" to create the "official" sequel to a work of fiction is something that you should be able to buy and sell.

achamayou 12y ago
But would franchises be so successful commercially if that wasn't even somewhat true ? Hollywood is going down that path because it seems to work quite well financially, if it's fundamentally flawed then the problem will sort itself out quite quickly. Could it be that this tendency, and the success of TV series (at a time when TV isn't doing particularly well) actually points to a difficulty with the traditional movie format ? Maybe it's just the case that universes/longer time frames afforded by franchises and series make for easier storytelling than the constrained 2/3h continuous cinema sitting ?
seizethecheese 12y ago
This isn't frightening to me. If you own the rights to your work, then you should be able to sell it to whomever. If you don't own the rights, then you are most likely being paid by someone else to produce the work, in which case this also isn't scary. If I paid someone to produce a work, I would surely want to be able to sell the rights in the future. It would be scarier to me if this wasn't the case. Imagine writing your first novel, and then a large corporation hires a writer to produce a sequel. How many Game of Thrones sequels would there be already? I'd rather George R.R. Martin have the time to create instead of having to compete.
- a3_nm 12y ago
  > How many Game of Thrones sequels would there be already? I don't find this scary. Presumably people should favor the ones written by the original author, because they would expect it to be more true to the spirit that they liked in the earlier works. However, if some people prefer to read works by competing authors, then that would be good for them, and too bad for Martin. The notion of being able to assess property rights over a universe of fiction (beyond the original copyright interpretation of ownership of the actual work and adaptations of the work in its fixed form) are a new and dangerous notion, I think. Lots of artistic creativity is discouraged or impossible today because of the unclear legal status of fan fiction, or of works that are inspired by another work but cannot afford to pay a license for them. I find this far more worrying than the consequences of depriving rightholders from exclusivity rights on the universes created by authors.
- icebraining 12y ago
  If I paid someone to produce a work, I would surely want to be able to sell the rights in the future. You can sell the copyright, but you can't sell your creativity, life experiences, or anything else which allowed you to make that work of art. Having the money to buy the rights to make a sequel doesn't grant you the ability of making a good one, but it does prevent everyone else from trying, even if they might be better at it.
dragonwriter 12y ago
I don't think that's very true -- franchises that have been wildly successful under one creative team can be less successful under a new team, and vice versa. Sure, as with any brand, a franchise has some (positive or negative) value attached to it, but its absolutely not the case that "you can buy a franchise and make something that people will want to watch, no matter who is being commissioned to make it". Even with franchise films, there is often a lot of marketing around producers, directors, and cast -- because who is making the work is still important to whether people want to watch it, and which people want to watch it.

by a3_nm 12y ago

achamayou 12y ago

But would franchises be so successful commercially if that wasn't even somewhat true ? Hollywood is going down that path because it seems to work quite well financially, if it's fundamentally flawed then the problem will sort itself out quite quickly. Could it be that this tendency, and the success of TV series (at a time when TV isn't doing particularly well) actually points to a difficulty with the traditional movie format ? Maybe it's just the case that universes/longer time frames afforded by franchises and series make for easier storytelling than the constrained 2/3h continuous cinema sitting ?

seizethecheese 12y ago

This isn't frightening to me. If you own the rights to your work, then you should be able to sell it to whomever. If you don't own the rights, then you are most likely being paid by someone else to produce the work, in which case this also isn't scary. If I paid someone to produce a work, I would surely want to be able to sell the rights in the future. It would be scarier to me if this wasn't the case. Imagine writing your first novel, and then a large corporation hires a writer to produce a sequel. How many Game of Thrones sequels would there be already? I'd rather George R.R. Martin have the time to create instead of having to compete.

a3_nm 12y ago
> How many Game of Thrones sequels would there be already? I don't find this scary. Presumably people should favor the ones written by the original author, because they would expect it to be more true to the spirit that they liked in the earlier works. However, if some people prefer to read works by competing authors, then that would be good for them, and too bad for Martin. The notion of being able to assess property rights over a universe of fiction (beyond the original copyright interpretation of ownership of the actual work and adaptations of the work in its fixed form) are a new and dangerous notion, I think. Lots of artistic creativity is discouraged or impossible today because of the unclear legal status of fan fiction, or of works that are inspired by another work but cannot afford to pay a license for them. I find this far more worrying than the consequences of depriving rightholders from exclusivity rights on the universes created by authors.
icebraining 12y ago
If I paid someone to produce a work, I would surely want to be able to sell the rights in the future. You can sell the copyright, but you can't sell your creativity, life experiences, or anything else which allowed you to make that work of art. Having the money to buy the rights to make a sequel doesn't grant you the ability of making a good one, but it does prevent everyone else from trying, even if they might be better at it.

dragonwriter 12y ago

I don't think that's very true -- franchises that have been wildly successful under one creative team can be less successful under a new team, and vice versa. Sure, as with any brand, a franchise has some (positive or negative) value attached to it, but its absolutely not the case that "you can buy a franchise and make something that people will want to watch, no matter who is being commissioned to make it". Even with franchise films, there is often a lot of marketing around producers, directors, and cast -- because who is making the work is still important to whether people want to watch it, and which people want to watch it.