Good ideas are a dime a dozen. I could give you 20 exciting original loglines by lunch and it’s almost lunch. But picking what idea gets your years of sweat, blood, and money is a tough decision. Do you like it? Will they like it? Will they watch it? That last one is probably the toughest. Unfortunately, marketing and eyeballs are important. You can make something wonderful, but if nobody sees it then it’s hard to get to make the next wonderful thing.
I’m very excited about your original idea and I can’t wait to see it. But there is another option. And it’s totally valid and actually pretty smart. While I agree with you that every new reboot of Spiderman and Fantastic 4 is a terrible idea there is a rich and wonderful history of piggybacking on other people’s talent, downright plagiarizing, and getting praised for it. Adapt a classic.
As anyone familiar with classical theatre knows there is a lot of room for originality in a reproduction. I will watch every singe version of Jane Eyre that the BBC can throw at a screen. Lego Jane Eyre? I’ll watch it. So if you love a classic property and you think it has the name recognition to make other people click then maybe you already have your idea.
You don’t have to make a true adaptation of a period piece. Although that is awesome, it’s pretty expensive. You can place your story anywhere. Including your own apartment.
Mounting some version of a classic has the thing that every executive planting their soul in a franchise wants. It has name recognition. There are many ways for the modern self-producer to do this. Here are some great examples
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries Pride and Prejudice in a transmedia smorgasbord. They’ve really built an audience and have been able to crowdfund very successfully because of it. Their new series Emma Approved will make OK Cupid obsolete.
Lil Women: The Series brings the March girls into the vlogosphere. RIP Beth. I love how they do have a period set and costumes but it’s shot vlog style on the cheap. Brilliant.
https://youtu.be/p1zuyfYRYkk
Green Gables Fables takes puffy sleeves into the modern era. Again, with the mostly vlog style shooting something like this is a little easier to make than something shot in the traditional way.
In Ernest emphasizes the Importance of great branding and an excellent title sequence to bringing your simple vlog series up a notch.
The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy has amazing lighting and costumes and some professional video effects, and these look great (and don’t they make a difference). But you too can totally do this kind of thing yourself with some help.
Here is a great master list I found of Literary Web Series. I’m sure there are even more out there by now.
So scour your bookshelf and especially those school reading lists (if everybody had to read it then everybody will know it) and see if there is somebody you want to be. Just not Spiderman, please. I feel like we’ve explored that enough. We get it!