Hollywood is in a situation where the money men are in control and they are going with the safe option. They look at percentages rather than content. That is why almost every movie being churned out is either a sequel or a reboot. Nothing new has come through their doors in over a decade and it’s beginning to show in their profits.

Rather than take a chance on a new idea they would rather keep milking a cash cow trying to squeeze every last drop of revenue out of it. This is beginning to finally filter through to audience figures. People are finally voting with tickets, rather the lack of to show their interest. At one time audiences would gobble up any new content on their favourite franchise, regardless of the quality. Loyalty to a franchise plays a huge part in this. I went to see The Force Awakens when it first came out because I’m a huge Star Wars fan but I came out of the cinema with a bad taste in my mouth. I felt cheated because I’d seen it all before in A New Hope, which Force was, in every aspect it was an inferior retelling of the same story with a few additions to try and fool the audience it was something new.

Look at the Disney troubles, they are losing money hand over fist simply because they chose quantity over quality. A lot of talk has been said over the message, the diversity and gender issues whereby certain characters have been gender swopped and this plays its part as well. Too many fans have seen their beloved characters destroyed in this way and disrespected and have turned away. Viewing figures on Disney+ have plummeted and its reported that subscribers have left the streaming service because of what Disney have done with their own films as well as Marvel and Star Wars and who can blame them. You can only take so much beore you decide enough is enough and you’re not interested in seeing anything more.

Working in this environment must be challenging for creators at the very least, at the most it can destroy any spark of inspiration you may have. It can be the same in the publishing industry as well. Writers often look at what others in their field are doing to see what sells and what doesn’t and in particular the thriller genre there is an absolute gigantic amount you have to go through to check them all out. There are similarities here as well. You can break it down into several different sub genres such as revenge, archeological such as those written by Cussler or Berry, military action such as Chris Ryan, espionage such as the Bourne series and so forth. Within these it is difficult to find a new story though, the elements are all the same just prepared a little differently.

FInding something new is the hardest part of story telling, finding that new story is like searching for the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end, ephemeral and always just that little bit out of reach.

The struggle is real, it’s a challenge to be sure and it’s one I face every day.