Why Does “Intense Competition” Strike Such a Chord? Top TV and broadcast executives had some ideas
Hot Competitionsensation produced by Canada’s Bell Media through its Crave streaming service and eventually picked up by HBO Max, you’re not kidding.
Within the first seven minutes of the first episode of the gay hockey romance, Bell VP of Content Development and Programming Justin Stockman noted, there is a sex scene. “A lot of games wouldn’t do that,” he said. But executive Bell and the show’s creative team, he added, thought “this is a sweet show. People will talk about it because it has sex.”
Stockman and three other documented program managers tested this Hot Competition happenings, the power of subscription streaming and many other aspects of the landscape at a panel on Thursday at NATPE.
By using the Hot Competition In the production process, Stockman said, the team “focused on not watering down the art.” There’s never been a thought about, “‘Let’s introduce more specific characters and we’ll put this together.’ No, like, let it be what it will be. And if you let it be the best version of that thing as it should be, people will find their entry point because it will be more relatable because it feels more real. ”
Suzanna Makkos, head of comedy at ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, said the “speed of storytelling” is key to the show’s success. “I was so thankful that it was so fast. It’s like, ‘We’re in the Olympics. Now we’re in the medal game,'” he said. Pitt it has the same dynamic quality. “I think people who run fast, the audience wants that. You don’t need long scenes of them going up.”
The fact that Hot Competition based on Rachel Reid’s successful “Game Changers” series of books helped make the mark, Stockman said. He said the series is “very clean” compared to the “really dirty” book series it’s based on. (Showing how zeitgeist-y the show is, as the panel took place, HarperCollins parent News Corp. was reporting a 6% increase in sales in the books category, citing Hot Competition as a driver.)
Stockman laughed, “I wanted to go back and listen to all the books. However, he added, “there’s a huge audience for it, and it’s been dismissed as smut. But people like smut. And there’s a way to elevate it and make it a more attractive show.”
Two other panelists, Darren Melameth, SVP, Programming Strategy at Hallmark Media, and Robert Schildhouse, president of BritBox, said. Hot Competition it was indicative of broader efforts to increase audience engagement.
“I think there’s a lot of themes here, whether it’s movies, or murder, or Christmas movies,” said Schildhouse, all programmers are on a quest to find what will keep viewers satisfied and engaged. At Britbox, he noted, “There’s almost no correlation between budget and audience usage and engagement. And we’re seeing incredible engagement on the lowest-cost shows.”
Being able to take risks on shows like Hot Competition and requires a firm foundation for the company. Stockman said “decision paralysis” can arise from a fixed location in the merger. Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount are in the midst of a merger that includes three major television producers, and other companies (A+E Global, Starz, Lionsgate, et. al) are looking at options. “There’s all this consolidation and a lot of companies are frozen and they can’t make all the decisions they want to make, because they’re not sure where it is.”
