Wattpad to Netflix: The DIY Storytelling Pipeline

When it comes to writing, it’s safe to say a good slice of the world’s population has had their Wattpad/fanfiction phase that they may or may not regret for the rest of their life. The same could be said for some popular writers who are masquerading behind their New York Times Bestseller achievement.

Now being associated with Wattpad isn’t really everyone’s fever dream or cup of tea. Some will do anything and everything to hide that part of themselves but there also exist others who recognize its paradoxical nature and move on in life. While they may not necessarily flaunt that part of themselves, but they aren't really shying away from it as well. Which is bold, because that tag in reference to your work does not always bring out the most positive responses from your target audience — considering the tag isn’t really used positively in today’s day and age. 

Wattpad is most popularly known for its One Direction fanfictions and the infamous ‘Y/n’ stories that took the world by storm in the 2010s (and its un/ironic resurgence during the 2020s). But that is not said to oversee its other fandoms, accessibility and most importantly, the overdominance of the romantic genre. When you think of the app, you think of the genre and its unfortunate writing (it’s an open platform guys, everyone wants to write here and writing is a process; if you stick around long enough, you’ll hit the gold mine of mind-boggling, underdog writers who deserve more recognition in this world of literature). You’d find a mix of original stories, fanfictions, celebrity fanfictions, alternate universe fanfictions, etc. because Wattpad gives anyone and everyone a platform to write and experiment. They give us a platform to receive instant feedback, understand what works and what doesn’t, garner a fan-following and create a name for yourself (now all these arguments may not always work in your favor so it really depends on what audience you end up reaching). 

Which is why fanfiction sites like Wattpad are breeding grounds for our next bestsellers. Don't believe me? Let me name a few books that started out as fanfiction. ‘City of Bones’ by Cassandra Clare was allegedly a Harry Potter Universe fanfic [Cassandra has been trying very hard to disprove any such claims but internet sleuths still end up finding information that matches the claim]; ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ by E L James was alternate universe (AU) Twilight fanfiction (and suddenly, it kind of makes sense); ‘The Love Hypothesis’ by Ali Hazelwood was AU Star Wars fanfiction (her agent found the story on AO3 and suggested making it an actual book); ‘After’ by Anna Todd was a 1D ff (everyone could see that was a bad-boy Harry Styles fanfic); ‘We'd Know By Then’ by Kirsten Bohling was also a Star Wars fanfic on AO3; ‘Gabriel’s Inferno’ & ‘Sempre’ both Twilight fanfics; and ‘Point Pleasant’ by Jen Archer Wood being a Supernatural fanfic.

Now here’s the thing, it's easy for publishers to take Wattpad books and make them into a novel because they know their book is going to receive enough traction and get them money. The popularity of a story on Wattpad serves as a proof of concept, reducing the risk for publishers when investing in a new book. The same works for OTT adaptations: popular Wattpad stories that transition into published books often become candidates for film or TV adaptations. This provides a ready-made audience for OTT platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. For example, ‘The Kissing Booth’ , originally a Wattpad story by Beth Reekles, was adapted into a successful film series on Netflix. 

This pattern however isn't restricted to the romantic genre. Books like ‘Light as a feather, stiff as a board’ by Zoe Aarsen show the darker side of the platform, that shines through none-the-less. In fact, the book found such success it made its way to a Hulu series.  

But putting aside the adaptation end to this bigger-than-life, over-romanticized/dramatized versions of life stories and struggles, it has come to the attention that OTT platforms are creating content that is almost too Wattpad-ish to be true. While some may be adaptations of Wattpad books like ‘My Life With The Walter Boys’ on Netflix, some are ‘original’ content that makes viewers blink twice when they hear it doesn't have fanfiction origins (like ‘The Idea of You’).

Content on OTT platforms, despite its gloat-able freedom of expression and versatility, seem to be becoming a product of commercialization and standardization. No good show lasts more than two seasons, but you will most definitely have an After 5 movie being released when even the books stopped after the 3rd movie. You’d have 3 different versions of ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ (actual Belly and Conrad, Yeehaw Belly and Conrad, German Belly and Conrad; if you know, you know) but no season 2 of Julie and the Phantoms. You’d find 17 different romantic (hallmark-y) Christmas movies with the SAME plot and different actors (mostly child/teen actors being relaunched for nostalgia’s sake) but no season 4 of ‘Back to 15’. 

Good content is becoming scarce while ‘brain-rot’ content is flooding through the gates of every OTT platform to exist. As a consumer of fanfiction platforms, mostly Wattpad, I can confirm 80% of the content I read has ‘brain-rot plot’. Seeing that translate onto OTT platforms as well almost saddens me - mostly because I'd rather read brain-rot than watch it, cause the latter makes it harder to get out of the doom-binge since the universe is doing all the work for you and all you have to do is stare. 

We end up losing out on quality content that can shape the audience's mind and thoughts. We aren’t able to make them end a book, movie or series with thoughts and spark discussions but instead we leave them with the residual thoughts of ‘damn, that actor was hot’ or ‘where did i see xyz before?’. Your media content ends up turning into a product of easily consumable, low-effort content that is catering to the demands of a modern, fast-paced lifestyle. The consequence of which includes a diminishing depth and quality of storytelling and character in that content. You tend to stop appreciating the content around you and take it for granted because it all looks the same on a larger scale of things. Individuality and uniqueness in media and OTT content is lost for monetization and greater profits. Creativity is restricted for viewership. While different parts of Wattpad can still prove the platform to be more versatile and diverse (with its user generated content), can OTT say the same today?