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Netflix is Developing a Slate of Specials That Will Let Viewers Choose the Next Storyline in a TV Episode or Movie, Report Says (bloomberg.com)
Netflix is about to let you decide how your favorite show will end, Bloomberg reported Monday. From the report: The streaming service is developing a slate of specials that will let viewers choose the next storyline in a TV episode or movie, according to people familiar with the matter. The company expects to release the first of these projects before the end of this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are still private.
Viewers will get to choose their own storylines in one episode of the upcoming season of "Black Mirror," the Emmy-winning science-fiction anthology series. The show is famous for exploring the social implications of technology, including an episode where humans jockey to receive higher ratings from their peers. The fifth season of the show is expected to be released in December.
The foray into choose-your-own-adventure programming represents a big bet on a nascent form of entertainment known as interactive TV. As Netflix expands around the world, it's looking for new ways to lure customers. By blending elements of video games with traditional television, the company could create a formula that can be applied to any number of series.
Viewers will get to choose their own storylines in one episode of the upcoming season of "Black Mirror," the Emmy-winning science-fiction anthology series. The show is famous for exploring the social implications of technology, including an episode where humans jockey to receive higher ratings from their peers. The fifth season of the show is expected to be released in December.
The foray into choose-your-own-adventure programming represents a big bet on a nascent form of entertainment known as interactive TV. As Netflix expands around the world, it's looking for new ways to lure customers. By blending elements of video games with traditional television, the company could create a formula that can be applied to any number of series.
Turn to page 12. Turn to page 49. Turn to page 26. Turn to page 71. You are slayed by...
Haven't they learned anything from cases such as Boaty-McBoatface, Taylor Swifts Biggest Fan,or sending her to a school for the deaf, or sending Pitbull to Alaska
Leaving the choice up to the Internet, or even just Netflix subscribers isn't going to result in the best storylines, or even the storylines that necessarily reflect what actual people want to see.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
If you are presented with 5 different ways a story ends, people would want to know how it really ends or which one is correct.
Those "choose your adventure" books always had one real ending (killing the princess and rescue the dragon.. whatever.. there's a reason why they work well with plain vanilla fantasy) and you had to get to that ending.
bickerdyke
Didn't someone try that sort of thing with DVDs many years ago? How'd that work out?
Depended on which choices you made
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Why doesn't Netflix go back to what was working? This internal created programing is mostly crap, can't imagine its cheaper then buying really good produced shows and movies. Amazon has basically done the same thing, spending a ton of money on internal productions. Both need to go back to being a content streamer not a production house making failed original content.
Due to:
1) Price gouging by content owners
2) Content owners pulling their content and making competing services
It is probably not only a great deal safer in the long run, but probably cheaper in both the short and long-term to make their own content
Not to mention
3) different constraints on streaming vs broadcast
As this lets them make episodes that do not need to exactly match the current broadcast episode length, or even the length of previous episodes for the same series.
(including explicit material for some series/episodes that could not be broadcast)
Also, the opportunity cost is very different as Netflix is not constrained to 'time-slots' and they can keep things running/available even if they are only marginally popular/profitable because the cost for keeping it available on their servers is effectively zero(if it is theirs), and 'broadcast' costs scale with popularity.
This will be more "we filmed 3 endings", I expect. People's narrative choices tend to follow the 80/20 rule, so 3 endings will get you 99% of the audience. The exception to that is love triagles (or love dodecahedrons) where you can get a more even spread. I suspect romances will be the focus if this takes off, not "choose your own adventure".
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
On the contrary, it would allow for story paths for the lowest common denominator AND story paths for the rest of us.
Netflix is available world-wide, so the lowest common denominator story path would be zero nudity, 200% guns, 300% car chases and 400% gruesome deaths for the USA while the rest of the planet could watch something with tasteful nudity, 1000% less violence and an ending that actually makes sense.
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If you want Calculon to race to the laser gun battle in his hover-Ferarri, press 1. If you want Calculon to double-check his paperwork, press 2. Enter now. Confused, Fry presses "1" on his chair. Mr. Moviefone: You have pressed 2. Fry: No, I didn't! Mr. Moviefone: I'm almost positive you did.
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I'm reminded of the 1961 film "Mr. Sardonicus", where the producer William Castle promised two endings. Supposedly, the audience could vote to punish the villain at the end or spare him. Of course, the audience always voted to punish him. Good thing too, because Mr. Castle, being an astute observer of human nature, only actually made the "punish the villain" ending.