Non-conventional episodic formats have been growing in popularity for a number of years now. With streaming services and premium cable lifting restrictions on how episodic content is made and consumed (doing away with standard 21/46 minute programs forced by advertising) how will this shape the way programs are made? BBC series have had this sort of format for years and now even shows like Game of Thrones have changed the way they shoot their episodes (originally opting for a more conventional structure but now ending the series with 6 approx. 2 hour episodes) Will this be more alluring for creatives?
I think this topic has a lot of potential. You could contrast the stylistic choices made by series that no longer have to facilitate advertisements versus ones that do. Traditionally series will be forced to incorperate an ad break at the 15, 30 and 40 minute mark depending on the length of the show and so will tailor certain tantalizing plot points to keep people watching after the break but the long form serial drama on certain SVOD services is free from such a creative restraint. Therefore you could compare say Game of Thrones or a Netflix series like Daredevil or Mindhunter in contrast to a conventional show in order to examine how these textual differences affects televisual flow- realting to the interplay between reception (viewing habits) and aesthetics. – OmegaReviews6 years ago
With streaming, OTT and other premium VOD services exploding like never before, it would be very interesting to assess how episodes of any length can now befit a series with numerous examples where a single season had successive episodes of totally different lengths based on the need of the script. What additional freedoms does easing of this restriction provide to screenplay and dialogue writers? – Dr. Vishnu Unnithan4 years ago