* The Theme Park Ride: The original inspiration for the franchise was the Disneyland ride Pirates of the Caribbean, which was created by imagineers at Walt Disney Imagineering.
* The Film Series:
* Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio wrote the screenplay for the first film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
* While subsequent films had various writers, Elliott and Rossio remained heavily involved in the franchise, contributing to most of the films.
So, while the theme park ride itself is the original inspiration, the film series is primarily credited to Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, with contributions from other writers for later installments.