My previous concept for TV Shows basically meant that you would craft every episode of a TV Show like a movie. After a bit of experimenting I cam to the conclusion that this was in no way fun. Too much micromanaging, too much repetition. So I spent the last couple of weeks trying to come up with new concepts on how to make it work, but before I get into coding I wanted to share it with you to get your opinions, feedback and ideas for improvement.
Here is what i got:
Creating a Tv Show concept is basically like a barebones movie. You choose a title, a genre and some topics. You also choose a storytelling type: episodic (something like The Simpson or the older Star Trek shows), serialized (like Lost or The Walking Dead) or a hybrid (episodic storytelling, but with an overarching plot that connects them all). At the end you pick a showrunner. This person will have a big influence of your shows quality.
Next step is developing a season. This step is closest to developing a movie. You choose era and setting (that way you can have one season take place in a hospital and another season take place at a farm for example), scope, tone, etc and another two topics (Maybe you have a tv shows that revolves around vampire at a school, but season 2 also has werewolves and season 3 focuses on wizards).
Now the complicated part. Episodes and their plots. Here is the idea: You choose from a database of plots. For example: revenge, riddle, escape, romance and many more. (you will be able to add more plots to the database via editor). You decide wether this plot is a main plot or a subplot. Then you assign plots to the episodes. Each episode must have one main plot and between 0-2 subplots. You can have as many plots as you like, but once you are past a certain threshold, the quality of the writing will go down. Where exactly that threshold is depends on a) the storytelling type (episodic storytelling obviously allows for more main plots than serialized storytelling) b) the number of episodes (longer seasons allow for more subplots for example) c) your showrunners skills d) your writing room budget (better staff produces higher quality content).
The plots themselves will have similar values a movie plot has (Intelligence, Action, Relationships, Humor). You should have different types of plots to keep things balanced, but also considered the type of TV Show you are producing. If you are producing a romance show your plots should be mostly relationship heavy, but only relationship plots are bad so try to mix things up.
The rest of production will work similar to movies. You create roles, cast them, set a budget.
Before you start shooting you need to decide what to do with the finished product:
a) You could release it on your own streaming platform if you have one. That won't earn you any money at first, but if the show is a hit it will boost your streaming services popularity, draw in subscriptions and make money this way.
b) You can sell it to a tv network. Choose the network based on the money they offer you and the market share of the network (a bigger network means more viewers). You make a a profit upfront, but you will also loose some of your freedom. If the network orders more seasons, you'll have to provide, otherwise you will pay a hefty fine. If the network cancels the show, it's done (You could decide to buy the rights back if you want to put it on your own streaming network, though). If the show is going well, the network might offer you more money for new seasons, allowing for a bigger budget, but the opposite could also happen, resulting in budget cuts to stay profitable.
c) instead of decided right away (or maybe if you got no offers) you could produce a pilot. You would have to spent some money upfront on the pilot, but if it's good it might results in more and better offers from the network. If the pilot sucks nobody it will be much harder to sell.
Episodes will come out on a weekly basis. Your weekly viewership will depend on a plethora of factors. The overall quality/appeal of the show plays a big role (Showrunner, actors, budget, network size) but the success of each episodes also depends on the episodes plots and the plots quality. The storytelling type will also be a factor. Serialized shows will have momentum. If people like the show, viewership will go up throughout the season, if they don't like it viewership will go down.
So...what do you think?
This all sounds like a great idea! Would love to see it in the game!