What Makes an IP Adaptable?

It’s no secret that Hollywood is obsessed with established intellectual property. Making something out of a known entity, whether that’s a book, a viral true story, or even a board game, makes sense. Not only does it mitigate financial risk by banking on a built-in audience, but it allows studios to generate even more revenue with branded products. But how do studios decide which IP is worth developing? Is there a magic formula where you can input an IP and see how it will perform as a film or series? Unfortunately, no (although I’m sure Sam Altman would have something snarky to say about that), but there are certain indicators of an IP’s adaptation potential if you know what to look for.

Over the last fifteen years, I’ve analyzed a lot of different IP in my capacity as a story analyst, like the Percy Jackson book series for Disney and the Tower of God series for Webtoon. And what I’ve learned is that there are basically three elements to consider when adapting intellectual property.

But first, a disclaimer in the form of a quote from The Wolf of Wall Street:

"Nobody—I don’t care if you’re Warren Buffett or Jimmy Buffett—nobody knows if a stock is going to go up, down, sideways, or in fucking circles." 

This is true of intellectual property as well. Nobody knows if an IP is going to translate to the screen or if it will resonate with audiences. There are just too many moving pieces regarding the execution of the adaptation, and fans are notoriously picky about their favorite characters. Just look at the original design for the first Sonic movie and the uproar that caused Paramount to spend $5 million to fix it.

But back to my point. The three elements.

The first and most obvious element is the quality of the story itself. Who are the characters and why are their stories compelling? What are the themes and why would they feel powerful today? What genre is the IP, and if there is no genre (like for a board game) what genre would feel appropraite? Sadly, story quality gets overlooked the most often if the IP is popular enough, which is how garbage fires like The Emoji Movie end up making a profit at the box office.

The second element is more logistical and concerns how smooth the transition would be from the IP’s original medium to the screen. If the IP is a book, is there a ton of internal monologuing? How would that be handled? If it’s a toy or game, is there enough backstory to the world to cobble together a story, or would one need to be invented from scratch? Does the story’s structure lend itself more to film, TV, or a limited series? This is often of vital importance, as certain companies are only interested in certain formats. This element is also one of the main reasons companies shy away from adapting certain properties. If the adaptation is perceived to be too complicated (i.e. expensive) it won’t be as attractive of an option.

One of my favorite book series of all time is The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. It’s a four book science fiction epic (dare I say, masterpiece?) that has been stuck in the Hollywood churn for over 15 years and has been described as “unfilmable” 

I can understand this, to a point. The first book is told from seven different points of view and reads almost like an anthology of different sci-fi concepts. If the goal is to translate that sprawling, complex web of narratives into a single film, any filmmaker is going to face an uphill battle. But in a world where The Hobbit can be split into three movies, and Game of Thrones created the blueprint on adapting a multi point of view story in an epic world, I don’t see why Hyperion can’t find success as a streaming series.

The final element I consider is what the established audience is like for the property. Are they children and teens who will beg their parents to take them to see these characters on the big screen? Does the IP appeal more to older viewers who might prefer to take their time exploring the world over 10 streaming episodes? Can the IP generate a cultural moment where people go see a movie just to meme a certain scene, like the Minecraft Movie? Is there potential to sell merch to the target audience (hats, hoodies, etc.). Lastly, are there other projects competing for their limited attention and money, or does this adaptation fill a lucrative and underserved niche?

There are many more points to consider when making a huge financial decision like acquiring an IP, but these three elements form the basic litmus test that an IP must pass for me to dig deeper into it and generate an adaptation plan.