GO SEE A STAR WAR

In the midst of spewing low-grade pitches to the Director General of the BBC, blundering broadcaster Alan Partridge proposes an idea for a Norwich-based detective serial called Swallow. There is instant pushback. “Why do we need another detective serial?” the DG inquires, rhetorically. Partridge responds: “People like them, let’s make some more of them.” Knowing that Alan, at this moment, has nothing more than a title and a venue in mind, the bemused commissioner bats the idea away with embarrassing ease. It makes complete sense in the context of this desperate and lightly surreal scene. Yet in reality, Partridge’s justification is sound.

If the history of modern cinema has taught us anything, it’s that the “people like them, let’s make some more” rationale holds a lot of grease when it comes to convincing the money people to flip open their coffers. Indeed, it embodies capitalism in a nutshell: watch how other people are making money and then do the same. Originality is a long-odds gamble. People want