The Streaming Wars and Their Effect on the Writing Room

How the competition between streaming platforms for exclusive content has changed the conditions in which television is written and what writers have gained and lost

Screenplay.biz. Journalism about the craft and business of screenwriting.

The streaming competition that drove the "peak TV" era of 2015-2022 -- during which Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon, Apple TV+, and multiple smaller platforms collectively increased their content spending to hundreds of billions of dollars annually in pursuit of subscriber acquisition -- produced specific conditions in the television writing economy that benefited writers in some respects and created new challenges in others.

The benefits: overall scale of the content market increased, producing more staffing opportunities and more development deals than the network-only television era had supported; the streaming model's willingness to invest in specific and niche voices produced shows that the network model's need for broad appeal would not have ordered; and the writer's room model, which the streaming era maintained even as it shortened seasons, continued providing the collaborative environment that the best television writing produces.

The Post-Peak Adjustment

The post-peak adjustment that the streaming consolidation and profitability pressure of 2023-2025 has produced: platforms have cut content budgets significantly, reducing the volume of overall content and the staffing opportunities that volume supported; the shorter season orders that streaming introduced are now the norm rather than the exception; and the specific uncertainty about which platforms will survive the consolidation has reduced the long-term commitment to ongoing series that writers' careers depend on. The streaming era produced the most creative and financially expansive television writing environment in history and is now producing its correction. Screenplay.biz covers it because writers navigate the correction in real time.

See London Kills Season 5: Crime Drama Competes With A and Croydon FC: South London Football With Receipts at The London Prat. Screenplay.biz covers the craft and business of screenwriting because both dimensions matter to writers navigating the industry. More next week.

More: The Daily Mash.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/

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