Best line in the whole blog: "Nobody remembers high concept. People remember how something made them feel."
This is why movies like Transformers LOOK great, but that's about it. If you don't have characters that are going to tug at the heartstrings, and that people want to root for, what are you even doing, right?
And I fully agree about making what you're making RIGHT NOW the best possible thing (comics, music, prose, animation, whatever). Not just a vehicle to get to the NEXT thing. If people aren't entertained right now but what you're making, by what's in their hands or on the digital screens, then why in the world would they ever want something more?
More than $5.4 billion at the worldwide box office suggests that IP may be the single most powerful force in modern entertainment. Audiences keep showing up because they love Transformers. Whether each individual story is great seems to matter far less than many writers would like to believe.
I think what Travis is trying to say (and what I am saying here as well) is that the massive financial success IPs didn't just materialize. How many of them started as small stories, that then found footing years later and became what they are today?
For creators to be like 'here's my creation, designed to be the next big IP' is putting the cart before the horse. We as creators don't get to decide that. Make the best possible creation that you can, and then let the cards fall as they may. If an audience resonates with it, and something more happens, awesome. Most likely, whatever medium you write your story in, will only ever be in that medium, so make it the best you can for that audience.
Great points to remember Travis! Mike Zapcic and I said we wanted to write a story that we would want to read! That was the crux of it. Something deep and personal about loss and what the path of revenge does to a man’s soul!
Best line in the whole blog: "Nobody remembers high concept. People remember how something made them feel."
This is why movies like Transformers LOOK great, but that's about it. If you don't have characters that are going to tug at the heartstrings, and that people want to root for, what are you even doing, right?
And I fully agree about making what you're making RIGHT NOW the best possible thing (comics, music, prose, animation, whatever). Not just a vehicle to get to the NEXT thing. If people aren't entertained right now but what you're making, by what's in their hands or on the digital screens, then why in the world would they ever want something more?
More than $5.4 billion at the worldwide box office suggests that IP may be the single most powerful force in modern entertainment. Audiences keep showing up because they love Transformers. Whether each individual story is great seems to matter far less than many writers would like to believe.
I think what Travis is trying to say (and what I am saying here as well) is that the massive financial success IPs didn't just materialize. How many of them started as small stories, that then found footing years later and became what they are today?
For creators to be like 'here's my creation, designed to be the next big IP' is putting the cart before the horse. We as creators don't get to decide that. Make the best possible creation that you can, and then let the cards fall as they may. If an audience resonates with it, and something more happens, awesome. Most likely, whatever medium you write your story in, will only ever be in that medium, so make it the best you can for that audience.
I love this too. I have such a take on this, that it sparked an article idea lol. I am going to gather my thoughts and write them out for Thursday.
Well now you just made me subscribe to your substack because of this :-) Well done haha
And I just subscribed to you. I think we just became Best friends =)
Great points to remember Travis! Mike Zapcic and I said we wanted to write a story that we would want to read! That was the crux of it. Something deep and personal about loss and what the path of revenge does to a man’s soul!
Exactly!