OTT & Transmedia

Hey everyone! Moving a story from a niche medium to a global powerhouse is the new

gold rush. We're seeing "smaller" IPs—manga, indie games, and webcomics—

successfully building massive global footprints. Here's how they do it.

CASE STUDY 1: THE NICHE-TO-NETFLIX PIPELINE

MANGA → LIVE ACTION

Alice in Borderland

Originally a cult-favorite manga (2010), this IP bypassed the Hollywood blockbuster route and

leaned into the high-concept J-Drama aesthetic.

The Lesson: If your IP has a strong visual "gimmick" or high-stakes logic, it translates

perfectly to serialized TV without needing a $200M budget.

Source: Netflix Adaptation Trends (2026)

CASE STUDY 2: LORE-FIRST EXPANSION

VIDEO GAME → SERIES

Fallout & Castlevania

For years, game movies failed by trying to "play" the game. These recent successes changed

the script by telling new stories set in the same world.

The Lesson: Use Transmedia Lore. Don't copy the mechanics; expand the world.

Animation is often the best bridge for "unfilmable" game physics.

Source: PlayerDriven Transmedia Report (2025)

CASE STUDY 3: THE VIRAL VOLUME STRATEGY

SMALL MANGA → GLOBAL HIT

10 Dance

A niche manga about ballroom dancing that exploded in late 2025. It didn't need explosions; it

needed Tone and visual rivalry.

The Lesson: Niche focus creates viral moments. The specific "Standard vs. Latin" rivalry

created a visual feast that social media algorithms loved.

Source: ComicBook.com Hits (2025)

The Transmedia Checklist

1. Is it "Drillable"? Can fans dig into the history of your world beyond the main plot?

2. Does it have "Extractability"? Is there an element (catchphrase, costume, mechanic)

fans can take into everyday life?

3. Cross-Platform Roles: Which part is the Book (internal lore) and which is the Film/

Game (active visuals)?

Are you building an "IP Bible" alongside your script, or focusing on one

medium at a time?

"No matter what you create, writing, directing, composing, or producing, your work will evolve. It has to. The strongest creatives are not the ones who get it perfect on the first try. They are the ones who stay flexible, who listen to the story, and who are willing to refine, adjust, and even let go of ideas when something better reveals itself. At the end of the day, it’s not about protecting your first draft or idea. It’s about serving the final story." - RB

Take a moment to check out this blog for insight into why adapting your process can elevate your storytelling: https://www.stage32.com/blog/coffee-content-why-the-creative-process-is-...

What’s one adjustment you made recently that strengthened your story?

The Starbucks x DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 collaboration is exactly the kind of transmedia partnership our Success Team lives and breathes — because when a studio extends a beloved IP into a global brand experience, it signals something important: the story world is strong enough to travel far beyond the screen. At Stage 32, our team works every day as matchmakers between writers, their stories, and the executives who know how to take them to the next level — and moments like this remind us why building a commercially resonant world around your characters matters from page one.

So we want to know — are sequels and collabs still exciting to you, or has the industry leaned into them too hard? More importantly, which DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 character are you channeling today — and are you rushing to Starbucks to try their drink from the secret menu? Drop your favorite character and your order in the comments. We have a feeling Miranda Priestly's is not a decaf.

Check out the official Starbucks collaboration here: https://about.starbucks.com/press/2026/starbucks-unveils-new-beverage-co...

Adaptations Part Four: the Oddballs!

Those adaptations that come from unconventional sources or had a bizarro ride onto the page and screen.

As usual: What are your thoughts on your favorite oddball type adaptation? What things were left out? Added in? Combined? Simplified? And if you helmed it, what would you have done?

And the works in question…

First: a theme park ride, Pirate of the Caribbean. There’s movement, spectacle, a start, middle, and end… and perhaps in that spectacle there’s a story. I haven’t been on the ride myself, however, if you have, perhaps you could share how “faithful” it is. For instance, does it take some of the visuals?

Second, a production hell with a tie-in game, Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever. Or just Ecks vs Sever for the game which, due to said production issues, came out first and was based on an earlier than final screenplay draft. This led many to believe the movie was a game adaptation. Production troubles continued right up to the release, resulting in a movie disaster everyone blames on someone else. And the reasonably received game that faded due to release only on one console, Game Boy Advance.

Third, a meta adaptation, Adaptation. The lead actor played an adaptation of the writer and his fictional twin brother, so the writer was credited as ”Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman,” yet Donald was a fictional character created for the film, which is, in fact, an adaptation, but the source material is the B-plot. The A-plot is the actual adaptation process of the writer, thus taking this into meta territory. It’s wild, but I loved it. There are plenty of in-jokes about screenwriting.

Do you know any others? Drop your thoughts.

Besides the show, I’m also looking into the commercial side. Here’s a conceptual look at how WildanBaldi characters translate into plushies. Visualizing the full franchise experience!

In the current landscape of franchises and cinematic universes, a 30-page pilot is just a snapshot. Producers are looking for a Scalability Engine. A "Lore Bible" isn't just an encyclopedia of your world; it's the blueprint for growth. It defines the "Gravity" of your IP—the physical rules, the historical scars, and the social hierarchies that make the world react realistically to your characters.

Why a Lore Bible triggers growth:

Consistency at Scale: As your IP grows into books, games, or podcasts, the Bible ensures that a "breadcrumb" dropped on social media today won't break a plot point in the film you shoot three years from now.

Collaborative Control: When you finally bring on a game dev or a line producer, your Bible acts as the "Single Source of Truth." It allows you to delegate creative work without losing your vision.

The "Pre-Sold" Factor: Showing a producer a 50-page world bible alongside a script proves you aren't just a writer—you're an architect of a brand.

Let’s help each other grow! What’s the most difficult part of your world to "pin down" in your Lore Bible? Is it the magic system, the political history, or the geography?

Drop a comment below with one unique "rule" of your world, and let's see how we can expand it together!

Adaptations Part Three: Games

What are your thoughts on your favorite game adaptation? What things were left out? Added in? Combined? Simplified? And if you helmed it, what would you have done?

Games are a medium that doesn't just have an audience, but players. The outcome is determined by what they do and how. And thus we wind up in tricky adaption territory where it seemed that at first no one knew what they heck to do.

Case in point: the 1993 Super Mario Brothers adaptation that left many people scratching their heads. The biggest game of its time, yet games didn't have really have a story beyond the manual, a few text screens and/or very simple cutscenes. Thus, this movie version REALLY filled in the blanks with a wild vision that's largely tangentially related to the source material. 30 years later, with plenty of experience and groundwork, The Super Mario Bros. Movie came out and it looked like the game.

However, in between we got all manner of adaptations from 1993's Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, or rival games with rival film adaptions. 2001's Tomb Raider and its sequel AND a 2018 reboot. The 2005 DooM movie and a non-sequitor sequel in 2019, Doom: Annihilation. The infamous slew of Uwe Boll's 2000s era adaptations: House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Bloodryane, Far Cry, and his biggest budget film, the adaption of Dungeon Siege.

Sega's Sonic was perhaps a wise latecomer who spawned a successful film series starting in 2020 after aforementioned experience and groundwork had been laid. Even largely plotless games, such as Need For Speed have film adaptations with the plot serving what the game is know for, racing. 2018's Rampage adapts an arcade classic with one of three playable monsters as the protagonist with the other two taking on antagonist roles, human characters have also been added.

Know any others? Drop your thoughts.

Next week: the Oddball category…