With the rising popularity of Stranger Things, the massive audience base for House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and the fantastic Sense8, it can only be concluded that the Netflix Originals programs are a resounding success. Bringing in more viewers than ever before to the online service, telling truly powerful stories in an effective and personal manner, and, most importantly, allowing the binge watchers to binge without hesitation thanks to worldwide single day series releases, they’re the highlights of the library available. It raises the question, then: what comes next for the Netflix producers?
Origins and Possibilities
Mobile gaming, poker, and live casino online dealer games, which feature human croupiers dealing cards in real time, have been on the rise since, well, since the dawn of the internet. And, so far, the topic remains a relatively untouched well of drama and information that’s ripe for television where Netflix is concerned. Consider an Oceans’ 11 type series centred around the cards. Whether it’s a heist, a deep personal drama, or the backdrop for a wider story, casinos and gambling have always been dens of intrigue. They’re high-stakes environments. They’re the stage upon which both ferocious wins and gutting losses take place. The potential here for an in-depth tale of intrigue, deceit, victory and underhanded play is massive. There’ll be no shortage of a fanbase at first, either. The quality of previous productions is likely to draw in early viewers. This, combined with the legacy of the Oceans’ films, as well as more recent productions such as Now You See Me and the Academy Award nominee American Hustle, creates a genre within which the show can easily fit. It would be both familiar to Netflix customers and new, as the writers take their own fresh twist on the genre.
The Five W’s: Who, What, When, Where and Why
Any time period, any region. Netflix have shown that they’re not afraid to have a diverse cast of both characters and location in their self-produced content. Sense8 alone shot across multiple continents: in Kenya, the States, India and Brazil. Stranger Things took us back the 80’s, and Orange is the New Black fields women from a vast series of backgrounds struggling with both interpersonal relationships and the practical difficulties of modern-day imprisonment. The possible settings for a high-stakes show, then, are just as vast as its possibilities for content: whether it’s on a Native American Reserve, in the shining lights of Vegas or a mafia-run dive in downtown New York.
Content as a Whole: Netflix’s Need for New Shows
So there is the seed of an idea. And whilst this is all pure speculation, it doesn’t change the fact that Netflix as a company must continue to focus on its original content if wants to continue to excel in the online streaming field. Since its announced split with Disney in late August of 2017, they’ll soon be losing the rights to a large portion of their most attractive shows and movies. From Star Wars to Peter Pan to the ever-popular Marvel franchise, it’s goodbye Darth Vader and hello a gaping hole in their lineup. This might not be a killing blow, however. We’ve already seen how popular their own shows can be – there must simply be more of them, across more genres, with more variety and greater reach. Whether it comes in the form of a casino drama, a bank heist or the story of professional hold ’em player, bets and wagers are a gap that needs to be filled, among many others. Streaming services continue to diversify, withhold rights and raise prices. Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO, Disney and Netflix are all in competition. The one way they can secure content? Create it themselves.
It’s likely then, that this will be their focus in the coming years. They either take their chips and go all in, or they face a long and difficult road ahead.