Lesson #1: Please Don’t Make it About Intergalactic Trade and Taxation Laws
This may come as a shock to any accountants out there, but very few of us want pretty much the first words we read when we sit down to watch a family-friendly adventure film to be, “The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute”.
You know what would have been a better subject for the Star Wars prequels? ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING. Anakin’s quest to “Bring Balance to the Force” by finding and confronting Darth Sidious. A mysterious virus decimating the Jedi. Hell, even an uprising staged by a malevolent sentient potted plant named Frank would have been more entertaining.
The last thing audiences want to watch in a Star Wars film is a story about trade disputes when Sith uprisings, giant planet-destroying lasers, or intergalactic invasions by organ-replacing religious zealots are an option.
Go read this. It’s all this good, some even better perhaps.