Repurposing has no limits. You can repurpose almost any piece of content into something much greater and more influential than the original.
If you’re willing to get creative and think beyond that original piece of content, you can create something new that could go on to be even more popular and more impactful than the original. So, today I wanted to talk about an example of a really creative and imaginative way of repurposing that has taken the world by storm!
Have you ever heard of the “My Dad Wrote a Porno” podcast show? Before I say anymore — relax! It’s not actually a pornographic podcast (phew!), it’s a comedy-based podcast that uses humour to repurpose an erotic (terrible and unintentionally hilarious!) novel written by the host’s father, and it has turned into a hugely successful podcast with over 100 million downloads since its release in September 2015!
The Discovery of a Secret Novel
So, you’re probably wondering why the heck anyone would want to read an erotic novel written by their own father? And who in their right mind would want to read it aloud for the entire world to hear?
Some things in this world should just stay hidden forever, and yes, sometimes secret erotica written by our parents falls under that “forbidden” category! But sometimes, even the most unexpected pieces of content have the potential for epic repurposing.
Jamie Morton, a British TV director, was going about his normal life when his father approached him with a series of self-published books he had written. He had kept his secret hobby of writing erotic literature a secret from Jamie, but he felt like the time had come to show his creations to his son.
As you can imagine, Jamie was taken back by this sudden revelation, but little did he know that it was only the beginning. Unfortunately, the books were terrible. However, they were also unintentionally hilarious!!
Repurposing the Novel into a Podcast
Once Jamie saw how much his friends enjoyed laughing at how funny the books were, he decided it would be a great idea to record themselves reading the novels and share it with the world and thus, the “My Dad Wrote a Porno” podcast was born.
Jamie, together with his friends James Cooper and Alive Levine, read one chapter per week on the podcast. They have a good laugh together (along with their listeners) as they analyse each sentence and transform it into comedy gold.
It’s hugely popular with many celebrities tuning into the show each week to hear the next chapter including Elijah Wood, Michael Sheen and Daisy Ridley. The podcast has had nothing but praise and great reviews from publications such as Variety, Time Magazine and The Guardian.
Podcast into Live Shows
If you thought the success of “My Dad Wrote a Porno” ended there, you’re wrong. It became so popular that they perform live shows on stages all over the world. They have appeared on stage in huge cities such as New York, London and Los Angeles.
The shows aren’t just regurgitated recreations of the chapters read in the podcast. They include the hilarious reading of exclusive chapters from the books that have never been heard (or read) before.
The creators have also been approached about the possibility of converting “My Dad Wrote a Porno” into a movie. It’s still in the works, but this is a perfect example of an original piece of content that has been given a unique and comical spin to repurpose it into something that is enjoyed by millions of fans around the world.
Podcast into Merchandise & A Book
Following the success of the show, it wasn’t long before the podcast launched its own merchandise line with the UK fashion designer, Binge.
They’ve created a series of comical merchandise for fans of the show including fashion tees, funny greeting cards, tote bags, phone cases and hilarious mugs. Most of the merchandise includes printed snippets and quotes from the books such as witty one-liners that the audience of the show will recognise from the podcast.
Oh….and did I mention there’s even a book as well!
A Lesson on Repurposing
If you take a minute to step back and look at this whole situation in its entirety, you’ll see that it all started with Jamie’s father writing a book. Sure, it was a terrible book that probably wouldn’t have sold many copies on its own, but once Jamie repurposed it into a funny podcast, it took off with flying colours.
From the original book, a series of successful repurposed content was born. The book was taken and transformed into a podcast, which was then repurposed into a book, a live stage show and that is possibly soon to be repurposed into a film, not to mention the “My Dad Wrote a Porno” merchandise line!
So what is the lesson here. Well, for one, sometimes it’s easy to disregard your lousy content, but as you can see, there’s always a way to turn things around and repurpose even the worst piece of content into something remarkable — all you need is a creative outlook and a good sense of humour!
If you want to watch a short video trailer of a podcast episode I recorded that dives into this topic in more detail, hit play below.
Let me know if you’ve ever listened to, watched, read or bought merchandise from My Dad Wrote a Porno in the comments!
Images sourced from mydadwroteaporno.com.
Thanks for reading!
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Originally published at www.content10x.com.
