Netflix Choose Your Own Adventure Shows For Adults Are In The Works
Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books, where young readers would put themselves into the role of the book's protagonist and choose what path their character followed? Well, Choose Your Own Adventure isn't just for kids anymore. Netflix is in the process of producing their own choose-your-own-adventure programs for adults. Are you ready to get interactive with your televised entertainment?
If you're the type of person who tends to yell at the TV when a character in something you're watching makes a bone-headed move, this news is for you. Bloomberg reports that the folks at Netflix are experimenting with choose-your-own-adventure-style shows that will bring a level of interactivity to viewing audiences. Netflix had originally been developing these shows for kids and young teens, but they've recently made the decision to target adults as well.
In fact, Netflix already has some choose-your-own-adventure shows for younger viewers: Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale and Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile. Folks, I've never even heard of these shows, and I write about Netflix for a living. But these programs enable viewers to decide how the story evolves, and they're apparently big hits, too. Such big hits, in fact, that Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has decided to start making similar choose-your-own-adventure shows for adults.
Per Bloomberg, "[v]iewers of the adult program will be able to pick which storyline to follow, and go back to watch the same show again with a different result." Interactive television isn't exactly new. For instance, there's currently a Finnish television show called Accidental Lovers (Sydän kierroksella) in which "viewers can affect the love relationship between 61-year-old cabaret singer Juulia (Kristiina Elstelä) and 30-year-old pop star Roope (Lorenz Backman) by sending mobile text messages to the show." Sounds thrilling. There was also a Choose Your Own Adventure movie announced back in 2013, but so far nothing has come of it.
But the technology hasn't exactly caught on or become commonplace. That might change if the popular, influential streaming giant known as Netflix is serious about making this a reality. This is yet another attempt from Netflix to grow their already-huge brand. They recently struck a deal with Mark Millar's Millarworld to start publishing comics, and they have plans to release 30 scripted series and original 80 movies in 2018, according to Sarandos.
As for just what these adult-oriented choose-your-own-adventure shows will be about, that's anyone's guess. The Choose Your Own Adventure books seemed to involve lots of pirates and smugglers, so if you have a really good pirate and/or smuggler script sitting around, now might be the right time to pitch it to Netflix.