[Global Times Special Correspondent Luc] "Succession", "The Bear's Restaurant", "The Furious Life"... Although the Emmy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards recognize various outstanding dramas every year, in the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ) According to many industry e

[Global Times Special Correspondent Luc] "Succession", "Bear's Restaurant", "A Life of Anger"... Although the Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards recognize various outstanding dramas every year, in the British Broadcasting Corporation ( According to many industry experts interviewed by the BBC recently, the "golden age" of American dramas has gone far away, especially in terms of original dramas, where the quantity and quality are declining. After last year's strike by Hollywood writers and actors, American dramas The outlook for the industry is even bleaker.

"Something is dying"

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of the classic American drama "The Sopranos." This original drama about American gangs has not only won multiple Emmy Awards, but has also been selected by the Writers Guild of America and the British TV series "The Sopranos." Newspaper" voted it first among the "100 Best Drama Series of the 21st Century". The industry recognizes that "The Sopranos" ushered in the "golden age" of American dramas. However, in the view of the show's creator David Chase, "this era has ended." The 78-year-old industry veteran said pessimistically in an interview with The Times not long ago: "Something is dying. The 25th anniversary of "The Sopranos" should have been regarded as a celebration, but Maybe we shouldn't think like this, but should think of it as a funeral." Chase's words caused strong reactions throughout the British and American entertainment industries. Another practitioner, Esmail, agreed with this view: "The gold of TV series The era is ending."

"The Sopranos" poster

Regarding this judgment, director/screenwriter Sam Boyd, who once created the popular American drama "Love Life", believes that the American drama industry will shrink next after experiencing crazy expansion, " During the most prosperous period of the industry, a new streaming project was announced basically every week. After all, what they needed most was content. It felt like a gold rush, but I don’t think this model can last, as I write now After finishing the pilot episode, it is very likely that it will not be able to be implemented." Boyd's "Love Life" was cut in half in 2022. In addition, hundreds of film and TV series projects have been canceled by HBO owner Warner Bros. Discovery Channel. Industry insiders pointed out that the reason why Warner and HBO are so "ruthless" is to avoid paying actors, screenwriters and crew members the remaining fees after the program is broadcast online.

From the data point of view, the number of original drama series in the United States will decrease significantly by 14% in 2023. Not only many new dramas originally scheduled to be launched have been cut, but some existing programs have also been cut. Of course, most ordinary viewers are not aware that they are still enjoying new dramas such as "The Bear's Restaurant", "The Art of Cutting Life" and " White Lotus Resort " with good traffic and reputation, but in fact they are just exceptions. Nowadays, the trend in the American TV drama industry is to no longer produce complex stories. Golden age tomes like "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" are becoming increasingly rare. The reason behind this trend is obvious: After experiencing great turmoil in the film and television industry, executives in the European and American television industry are still trying to stabilize the situation. From the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020 to the strike of screenwriters and actors in 2023, the industry has paid huge costs price.

Success or failure depends on streaming

In the eyes of many Hollywood veterans and media, "The Sopranos" is of milestone significance. It was the success of the show that inspired the entire industry - it turned out that the production of villains and villains has subtle and moral positions. Dramas with ambiguous values ​​and anti-heroes and anti-conventions can also attract large audiences. At the beginning of this century, Hollywood produced many such exploratory and innovative dramas, thus starting the so-called "golden age". This creative trend coincides with technological changes and market restructuring. Streaming media such as Netflix and Amazon entered the drama industry after 2010. While purchasing existing IPs, they are also trying out interesting original content, and they are making great progress. It is larger than traditional TV channels, such as the alternative animation "BoJack Horseman" launched by Netflix in 2014, and the "imaginative" science fiction series "Prescient" in 2016.

"Breaking Bad" is now regarded by many as a classic. In the early days, it was still broadcast on traditional TV channels. It was not until the fourth season that it was transferred to the Netflix platform and became popular. In addition to the charm of the series itself, it is also due to the Internet. Fei's original "full season broadcast" mode.The audience welcomes this "carnival-style" broadcast format, which in turn affects the creators. They do not need to wait for feedback after playing each episode. From this, the screenwriters think about whether to build those complex plots and reactions. Transfer, or let users "satisfy" all at once? For example, Netflix's "Stranger Things" has been very successful in recent years. If the show was produced in the 1990s, it is likely that the protagonists will meet a monster every week and face a new challenge in each episode. However, in the streaming media era The screenwriters and audiences below are obviously not satisfied with this progress.

However, the "money burning" method of streaming media has been in trouble in recent years. Even the leader Netflix has experienced a crisis of falling stock prices and users canceling subscriptions. TV dramas with huge investments have begun to be cut, and expensive original film and television dramas have given way to Simple and cheap reality show. Netflix will save approximately US$300 million in investment in 2023 through this strategic shift, and the entire industry is also taking action on the drama production team. According to statistics from the Writers Guild of America, the average weekly salary of American TV screenwriters has shrunk by 23%, almost back to the level of 20 years ago. In addition, factors that make American drama practitioners pessimistic include the competition for audiences by “second screen” entertainment content such as mobile phones. Director and producer Justin Bateman said that today there are too many platforms and streaming media, and "the audience is also divided. Unless it is a topic-provoking work like "Succession" and "The Bear's Restaurant", otherwise It’s easy to be ignored by the public.”

"Television Darwinism"

Bateman is not an alarmist. For example, the latest drama series " Curse of " starring Emma Stone has received no attention at all since its launch at the end of last year. This is still the work of a Hollywood first-line movie star, and other dramas have been ignored even more. According to the "Deadline" website, unscripted programs (reality shows) are also having a hard time. Amid fierce market competition and the general trend of platforms cutting costs, there will be 30%-50% of unscripted programs in the next 12 to 18 months. Program production companies have collapsed, and the industry is falling into a state of survival of the fittest and cruel involution of "television Darwinism".

However, the mainstream media in the United Kingdom and the United States are not completely pessimistic. Some people think that the current ups and downs are just a cyclical phenomenon of American dramas. There will always be hits like "Poison Master" to stimulate the industry. In recent years, the original dramas "True Detective" and " "Anger Choking Life" has such potential. What's more, after experiencing the pain of last year's strike, the union has secured higher remuneration and more stable employment security for screenwriters, allowing them to devote themselves to creation more focused. Although

's works have been cancelled, people in the industry like Boyd still can't put it down, "because watching the series is like reuniting with old friends. My wife watches "Sex and the City" every day, and I still watch it all the time. Watching "The Sopranos", I will care about the development of every character in the show." It is precisely because of the support of a large number of die-hard viewers that despite experiencing downturns and challenges, the American drama industry is still confident in looking forward to the birth of the next "The Sopranos".