David Minor Post #4

 Lotz argues that “the old network model of television production and distribution has been disrupted by new models that allow for greater creativity and risk-taking" (p. 17). I’ve been thinking a lot about how creative executives at major streamers use analytics to guide their creativity and the mandates they have for projects and writers. An interesting article to consider is Neil Patel’s "How Netflix Uses Analytics", which provides a counter to the idea that greater creativity and risk-taking is emerging in streaming services due to their reliance on analytics.

Major streamers like Netflix utilize data and analytics to drive decision-making, content creation, and audience targeting. Such date-driven approaches guides their decisions on 1) what ideas to produce, 2) which genres are the most commercially viable, and more granularly, 3) what types of scenes and characters have done well in the past. A chase-scene featuring a crane and a helicopter did well in this action film, for example, and so they might writers a note to include such elements in their scripts. 

It’s an approach that might increase viewer engagement but doesn’t really speak to the idea of originality and creativity – it’s data-backed choices instead of novel and original storytelling. Speaking personally, one of the frustrating things about being a lower-level writer is that you read and see a lot of original scripts that are radically different to what’s onscreen and what’s being made, but ultimately the ideas that are pitched and made have a lot to do with the writer attached (whether they have a track record or strong existing relationships). The work itself is many times secondary – I’m thinking now of Ari Aster, whose latest film Beau is Afraid was actually the original idea he always wanted to make. But it was only after studios made a killing off films like Hereditary and Midsommar (more commercially viable and palatable offerings) that he was allowed to really run free creatively.