Taking what IS - to the next step

A film is a story told with pictures

Some material, of course, translates better into film than other material, and the trick is knowing what you have to work with (the original material-- an idea, concept, novel, play, newspaper story, magazine article, real-life experience, situation, or what have you) -- and then creating what you need to make it visually dynamic, a story told with pictures.

Like modern art - you can take anything that works.