The importance of canon (part 3)

If you've ever brainstormed in a group and played the game where you write a sentence or paragraph, then hand it to someone else in the group to continue before they pass it on again, you've seen how good concepts quickly disintegrate as each person asserts their own influence on the direction of story. Although teams of writers are often involved with TV and movie productions, they try to operate together to adhere to the themes that have been established. Usually a leader presides over the writing team, just as a conductor over an orchestra, because that leader will exert control over the development of the story to preserve continuity. But when writers are writing material related to an already established IP, such as a sequel, the team leader needs to help preserve the original vision and ensure that the writers don't contradict or otherwise violate the material fans are already familiar with. What if someone wanted to take a kid-friendly series and inject an unrelated social agenda into it? Fans of the series would be upset, possibly even offended, feeling like they've been hijacked. If you visited a McDonald's expecting to eat burgers but instead arrived to find only a variety of asian soups on the menu, you might be be upset that your burger cravings were denied. Controlling IP is important towards maintaining a vision, and total rewrites should be carefully considered and discouraged if the IP already has a strong, dedicated fanbase.