Why Does Everything Need a Reboot? Give Us Something New to Watch

I have a question for Hollywood.

Are we out of ideas?

Because every time I turn around, somebody is announcing a reboot, remake, revival, prequel, sequel—or a sequel to something I could've sworn already had enough sequels.

And listen, I'm not completely against it.

I love nostalgia just like everybody else. There are movies I grew up watching that I will stop what I'm doing to watch again. There are shows that could announce a reunion tomorrow and I'd probably be sitting there on premiere night with my snacks ready.

But as a writer and filmmaker, I also look at it from another side.

And sometimes I'm sitting there thinking:

Can we please get some new people with some new problems? 😂

As a Writer, This Is the Part That Gets Me

I know what it's like to start with a blank page.

You have an idea that sounds amazing in your head, and then you actually have to turn that idea into characters, dialogue, scenes and an entire story that hopefully makes somebody care.

It's not easy.

But that's also one of my favorite parts of writing.

Creating somebody who didn't exist before you sat down.

Building their world.

Giving them problems.

Making their problems worse—because apparently that's what we writers enjoy doing to people. 😂

Then watching that story slowly become something real.

So when I see another reboot announcement, part of me understands why it happens.

A familiar title already has an audience.

People recognize it.

There's nostalgia attached to it.

From a business standpoint, I get it.

But the writer in me is also thinking:

Somebody has a brand-new script sitting on their laptop right now that could be the next thing we can't stop talking about.

I want to see that too.

Some Stories Can Just...End

I'm going to say something that might hurt a few feelings.

Sometimes I don't need to know what happened next.

I really don't.

The couple finally got together.

The villain lost.

The family worked through their issues.

Everybody went home.

THE END.

I'm good.

Then 15 years later, here comes an announcement:

They're back!

Now the couple we waited three seasons to see get together is divorced. Their child is somehow the main character. Somebody has a secret. And there's a new villain connected to something that happened in the original series.

Why did y'all bother those people? 😂

I was perfectly happy believing everybody lived happily ever after.

Remakes Have an Even Bigger Problem

Remaking something people absolutely loved is risky because we're not watching it like it's a brand-new movie.

We're comparing everything.

The actors.

The music.

The jokes.

The chemistry.

The scenes.

The clothes.

And don't change one of our favorite moments.

Now we're sitting there saying:

"That's not how she said that."

"Why did they take that part out?"

"The original was better."

Sometimes the remake isn't even bad.

It just had the unfortunate job of competing with somebody's childhood.

Good luck with that.

But I Understand Why Hollywood Does It

This is where the filmmaker side of me has to be fair.

Movies and television aren't only creative projects.

They're businesses.

Productions cost money. Investors want their money back. Studios want audiences. Distributors want something they believe people will watch.

If millions of people already recognize a title, there's less explaining to do.

I understand that.

If somebody tells you, “We can spend millions on this completely new story nobody has ever heard of, or we can spend millions on something with an audience already attached,” I understand why the familiar option can look attractive.

But playing it safe comes with a cost too.

If nobody takes chances on new stories, where do the next classics come from?

Every Classic Was New Once

This is the part I keep coming back to.

Every movie we now consider iconic was once somebody's new idea.

Every television character we love was once a character nobody knew.

Every line people quote today was once sitting on a page.

Somebody had to say yes.

Somebody had to take the risk.

Somebody had to believe an audience might care.

That's how we got the stories we're nostalgic about in the first place.

So what are we going to be nostalgic about 20 years from now if we're still recycling what we were nostalgic about 20 years ago?

Read that twice because I almost confused myself writing it. 😂

But you know what I mean.

There Are Too Many New Stories Waiting

This is probably where my own experience makes me look at things differently.

I've been around independent filmmakers and writers.

I've seen people create entire worlds with tiny budgets.

I've watched people figure out how to make something happen when they didn't have a studio, a giant crew or millions of dollars behind them.

And there are so many stories out there.

Stories about people we haven't seen enough.

Families we haven't followed.

Relationships we haven't explored.

Cities we rarely see on screen.

Characters who don't look or sound like everybody we've already watched.

Somewhere right now, somebody could be writing the next show we're all going to argue about every week.

But somebody has to give that story a chance.

And Before Anybody Comes for Me...

Yes.

I'm still going to watch some of these reboots. 😂

I'm not pretending I'm above it.

Bring back one of my favorites and I'm probably going to say:

"They better not mess this up."

Then I'm going to watch it anyway.

I'm part of the problem.

But I don't want nostalgia to disappear.

I just don't want nostalgia to become the entire menu.

Give us the reunion special.

Give us the occasional sequel.

Bring something back when there's genuinely another story worth telling.

But while you're doing that...

Make room for something new.

Give me characters I don't already know.

Give me a story where I have absolutely no idea what's coming.

Give a writer we've never heard of a shot.

Give an independent filmmaker an opportunity.

Give us something that doesn't have to remind us of another movie before we'll pay attention to it.

Because as much as I love revisiting the stories I grew up with, I'm ready to discover the stories we're going to be talking about 20 years from now.

And who knows?

Maybe one day Hollywood will love one of those new stories so much...

they'll reboot it too. 😂