Netflix is making a lot more original shows and movies based on books

Netflix has purchased the rights to make movies and TV shows from more than 50 literary properties in 2018.

Netflix has been on a buying spree of literature properties in pursuit of more original content, The Bookseller reports.

It’s well known that there is an age-old adage that “great artists steal the best ideas.”

This is even more true for film where it is not uncommon for there to be multiple adaptations of films that are basically the same thing. One such example could be said with John Krasinki’s hit film A Quiet Place and the Netflix equivalent The Silence. They are both films that follow the same premise, and unfortunately, Netflix was on the losing end of this one.

Film and literature have been sharing this belief of stealing ideas since the incarnation of film. Films often add a new element to stories that is extremely stimulating. In the same way, a novel adaptation of a film offers more insight into a story. This allows for both to basically share an audience with mutual benefits.

Netflix is really digging into this belief, too. They have purchased the film and TV rights to numerous works of literature, and they have already confirmed as many as 50 future projects involving said works of literature based on what Publishers Weekly has reported.

This is good news for fans of both literature and Netflix. It’s not uncommon for film adaptations of literature to be really good. The reason for this is usually because the film will be able to draw on a very fleshed out idea already. This helps with the development of a film or TV series. Such examples are the Harry Potter series, the Lord of the Rings series, The Green Mile, and The Godfather.

Recent Netflix adaptations of young adult books has proven to be successful with 13 Reasons Why, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. That is very encouraging to fans of both literature and original content.

These successes have led Netflix to begin working with authors and publishers to try and get the leg up on the competition. This is how they are able to create so much more original content than what is available for other networks.

This news is very exciting for both markets.

Other than just giving both more exposure, having more literature get bought up by Netflix, it allows book publishers to take more risks on writers. This was the case with the Harry Potter books. They had been turned down multiple times before a publisher decided there might be something there in the book series idea. It has since become the best selling fiction book series of all time. And, it’s gone on to become one of the biggest movie franchises in the world.

With more authors getting picked up by more publishers, it helps writing books become a more viable career option. This would then lead to more quality books, in turn, would lead to more quality movie and TV series adaptations.

Netflix benefits from this by the obvious of getting more content to turn into shows or movies. The more creative the books that are getting published are, the more creative the original content will be. Sometimes this will be a total miss, but other times you get Game of Thrones-quality content.

I am extremely anxious to see how this turns out. It seems Netflix is totally changing the game of what it means to be a streaming service. They have been the most evolutionary market wise, starting with streaming online, all the way to working with movie theaters and book publishers. It can only be assumed that other streaming services will follow suit. Hulu has already started their venture with A Handmaid’s Tale, but Amazon Prime seems to be trying to just create original content on their own.

The best person to be in the midst of all this evolution is a fan of both original series and movies and literature. Us fans of both will be able to benefit from new books and new shows to be extremely entertained.