The asset-class-ification of leisure has tended to scale back artwork to content material made solely to ensnare views, which lends itself to generative AI uptake. Nevertheless, in a digital economic system more and more wanting in the direction of fandom for options, this surroundings has not precisely fostered the event of concepts, tales, and artwork price being a fan of. 

Regardless of this, there are notable exceptions – and these display that creators mustn’t fear an excessive amount of about substitute. 

A few of the greatest successes of the previous decade or so — Recreation of Thrones, Bridgerton, Dune, The Witcher — faucet right into a story world, permitting completely different POVs, strategies of engagement, and factors of sale. That is additionally true of the most lasting successes: Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars. Apparently, the frequent denominator for many of those franchises is that they’re primarily based on books. 

There’s a specific irony on this, given there have been as soon as fears that TV would kill books altogether. And but right here books are, their audio variations thriving and their storylines underpinning a number of the most profitable franchises to-date. It appears that evidently regardless of how a lot cash you throw at a manufacturing, you simply can’t beat good writing. 

The reason being not a lot about format as it’s about basis. Recreation of Thrones was arguably some of the impactful sequence of its period, however the previous few seasons are thought of a bungle of tragi-comedic proportions. Notably, it went downhill after they ran out of books to make use of (and the lead writers bought distracted by a contract with Disney on the horizon). 

Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons aren’t primarily based on books, however there was a lot artistic effort put into constructing out the worlds behind them that many e-book sequence emerged to flesh them out. Each official and fan-made, these books look at completely different eras, factors of view, political occasions, and canonical truths that inform occasions inside the official instalments. In different phrases, the creator economic system will not be new, it’s now simply uploaded to TikTok as an alternative of doodled within the margins of notebooks.

Sturdy supply materials will not be the one ingredient, nonetheless, and right here is the place the ‘asset-class-ification’ of those tales is available in. The belief is commonly that the IP is inherently precious; purchase it, make a manufacturing, and followers will comply with. IP is all. By this logic, AI can be utilized to fill within the gaps on command, with out investing time or sources into doing so. But it isn’t solely the usage of the fabric by itself however the manner it’s used – which might be good or unhealthy (or comical, because the 1984 model of Dune will attest) – that appears to make a distinction. Or, put one other manner, good artwork is a labour of affection, not finance and expertise. 

Peter Jackson’s unique Lord of the Rings movies took almost half a decade to make, and interviews with forged and crew affirm that it was the expertise of a lifetime. Jackson was reluctant to make the Hobbit films, and when he did find yourself directing the movies almost a decade later, the supply was comparatively underwhelming, not least due to the over-reliance on CGI. Ian McKlellan reportedly cried of despair on set. The Rings of Energy relied on actual units, however its script was lacklustre. Regardless of preexisting, ardent fandom round Tolkein’s Center-earth, the present was deemed a disappointment: it has a median 38% viewers rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For context, the primary Hobbit movie has 83%, the Fellowship of the Ring sits at 95%, and Open Water – a shark horror from 2003 with a script written in six days and an estimated price range of $500,000 – has a extra comparative 33%. 

In fact, the Center-earth franchise has modified studios, budgets, and administrators – however different examples show the rule. The Witcher has been a runaway success, transferring from books, to video games, to the present TV present. Nevertheless, the lead actor Henry Cavill, an enormous fan of the unique sequence, is now leaving Netflix’s The Witcher sequence – reportedly because of disagreements with the showrunners over the portrayal of his character, which hints that followers will not be happy with the approaching seasons. Bridgerton, however, has stayed trustworthy to its supply materials whereas placing its personal spin on it, which means followers can take pleasure in studying the books and watching the sequence on the identical time. 

Riot Video games has fleshed out its on-line multiplayer recreation League of Legends by story constructing. This consists of two different video games in the identical universe, the TV present Arcane (96% on Rotten Tomatoes), and a plethora of different printed content material, from video shorts, to interactive maps, to written brief tales. All of those flesh out the characters and storylines with specific consideration paid to which means and high quality, which provides audiences one thing to determine with and care about past simply the sport mechanics. 

Certainly, it appears that evidently all of the bells and whistles of high-budget productions might be fully pointless. The self-titled ‘BookTok’ neighborhood is a big and devoted group of followers of assorted e-book sequence, who interact far past TikTok – from dwell occasions, to podcasts, to fan-run accounts creating their very own short-form diversifications. 

The costliest IP can yield poor outcomes if the best way it’s used is unsatisfactory to followers. In the meantime, essentially the most sudden creations can turn out to be in a single day successes (or no less than subculture icons, like The Room) if they’re fully dedicated acts of artistic ardour. Books are a robust option to fill out these artistic worlds; in spite of everything, there aren’t any frills for the standard of the story itself to cover behind. Nevertheless, this isn’t unique. On the finish of the day, it isn’t simply the ideas behind the tales themselves, however quite how they’re executed, that makes the distinction. 

As generative AI threatens to flesh out concepts with out the ‘creator’ needing or understanding the abilities required for the artistic course of, that is price remembering. It’s not simply the what however the how; not simply the usage of any in style iconography however why and when they’re used, that set successes aside from high-budget flops… and these are issues AI continues to be an extended, great distance from having the ability to exchange.