The wish list is typically based on what else is working in the marketplace. While this might seem like a logical criterion, the problem is that “what works” constantly changes, defying expectations. Over the three decades that I’ve worked in the film business, every so often some company would hit a hot streak and start thinking it had figured out the magic sauce, or even claim it had created a special algorithm for success—only to go up in flames a few years later. During the pandemic, the conventional wisdom was that the audience only craved lighthearted fare. It turned out that they really wanted Squid Game, serial killers, and Baby Reindeer.

What the IP-based “wish list” approach to development has been really great at is not producing better “content” but sapping the negotiating power of writers. Replacing the organic creative drive of an original idea with a set of imitative aspirations paved the way for open-ended free work.