Repurposing Content for Relevancy: Lessons Learned from the Gilmore Girls Reboot

“Hollywood has run out of ideas.”

Series and film revivals/reboots seem to be all the rage lately, and this trend has collected a tally of mixed reviews—some cannot help but roll their eyes with the announcement of one reboot after another, while others are ecstatic to see their all-time favorite TV shows and movies making a comeback. Even the toughest critics can find one of the many revivals to geek out over, and for me, it would without a doubt be Gilmore Girls. And yep, that's my face photoshopped on Rory Gilmore/Alexis Bledel's face. Don't judge. : )

When I was younger, I would catch Gilmore Girls here and there on ABC Family, but never followed the story closely until it was available for streaming on Netflix in 2014. After recently graduating college and coming upon much more free time than I was ever used to, I decided to give the series a go. Let me tell you, it was one of the best decisions of my life. Dramatic, I know… but I feel a deep connection with this show. Something even better than Gilmore Girls? Learning that the series is on the list for a reboot. To say that I'm freaking out would be an understatement (just ask my co-workers).

Gilmore Girls Reboot 101

Upon the initial news that Gilmore Girls was getting a reboot, I immediately had to fish for more information, which has slowly trickled out to the public over the last few months or so. Whether you're a fan of the show or not, here's the most interesting tidbit: While following the same story and same characters, minus Richard Gilmore (We'll miss ya, Edward Hermann) and Sookie (c'mon Melissa McCarthy, not even you are too busy for this revival!), the series' structure is being completely reinvented. Rather than being directed as 60-minute episodes as a typical television series would be, the show's OG director and producer Amy Sherman-Palladino is shaping the revival into four, 90-minute episodes/mini-movies—each representing one of the four seasons, intuitively titled Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. The revived series has even been referred to as Seasons, and may be officially coined as Gilmore Girls: Seasons. But why does any of this matter?

Repurposing content is all about relevancy

Outside of Hollywood, other content pieces are constantly being repurposed as time goes on in order to stay relevant and serve as a useful resource for appropriate audiences. We recommend the following valuable and totally doable methods for repurposing your content:

  • Rewrite blog posts from different angles to present various perspectives on a topic.
  • Create webinars about real-time information to allow viewers to learn new skills from the comfort of the home or office, without enrolling in a college course.
  • Reinterpret thick data reports into visually beautiful and easily digestible infographics.
  • Redesign static PDFs and other documents on InDesign to become interactive pieces for web.
  • Rework wording and structure of blogs, case studies, reviews, and other content pieces across social media channels.

Repurposing content allows new audiences to reap the benefits of its information, connect with your brand, and not to mention totally helps with SEO, according to Business 2 Community.

Gilmore Girls and the majority of the other Hollywood revivals are putting this same concept into practice. The show was able to both gain traction with its original audience and build a new fandom from the next generation of viewers who weren't old enough to catch it on the air between 2000-2007. GG's core characters will still be present, yet they are bringing in new characters, as well. In response to the rising popularity with streaming services over cable in the younger generations, the series will be released on Netflix rather than cable TV.

Why reinvent the wheel?

Amy Sherman-Palladino and other directors, producers and writers may be reviving already digested content, but the repurposed content that sticks out to an audience and is seen as just as good (if not better than the original) is the content that repurposes for relevancy. Why totally reinvent the wheel when the wheel can simply be updated for the current day? If you've already put the work in, repurposing and making that content relevant when necessary should be the easy (and fun!) part, for not only your team, but your audience, as well. Especially when it's about Gilmore Girls. ; )