Take Nickelodeon and Spongebob for example. The late Stephen Hillenburg created the show and even had a set number of seasons he wanted before ending the show but ultimately Nick/Viacom had complete control and milked it for all it’s worth. I admit, I am ignorant to the business but if I’m the one creating the content why does the network/company get more of a say over what is done with my creation than I do?
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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started out as a pretty dark, if somewhat self-consciously absurd retelling of Japanese samurai stories/movies.
The creators were offered ridiculous amounts of money for selling the IP to BigCorporateEntertainment. Now they ride skate boards, talk like surfers, break dance, and like pizza.
Eastman and Laird don’t care. They’re sitting on hundred million dollar piles of cash each. Authors write books, and unless they’re Harry Potter or the Tolkien estate…being a starving writer with a good IP that has integrity isn’t the goal.
My wife assures me that the book it was based on was profoundly good. The movie, City Of Bones, was one of the worst pieces of crap I’ve ever seen. If you’re a big famous star, you can afford to hold out for more money and creative control. If you’re living in a crappy apartment and your car is breaking down and your new wife is pregnant…10 million dollars for full rights and creative control sounds good.
Also…you can’t fathom what Hollywood will do to your plot. All of those “based on a true story” movies? No one would recognize themselves in one. The Bourne Ultimatium and that whole series are…not the greatest books. Not bad, but not exactly enthralling to read either. They took the good ideas from the book, chopped out most of the boring stuff, rewrote the dead dialogue and the first one at least was a blockbuster movie.
Then we could talk about Shakespeare and West Side Story…but there’s much worse examples where an author wrote a love story about a guy and his dog in the great depression Hollywood turns it into a space opera musicial about two alien octopi.
If you love it, don’t give up creative control. If you want to get rich and have an idea that appeals to pop culture…give up on any creative control.
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