Netflix is planning to allow users to choose the endings for movies or episodes of popular TV shows like “Black Mirror” as it pushes further into interactive TV, according to a report.
The Los Gatos, California-based streaming giant is developing specials that will let its users decide the next storyline, Bloomberg reported Monday (paywall), citing people familiar with the matter.
Netflix had earlier released the animated program “Puss in Book” where viewers could choose whether the feisty feline fights a god or a tree. After watching one version, kids can go back and watch the other.
The first project of the new lineup is expected to be released by the end of this year, with an episode of Netflix’s popular sci-fi show “Black Mirror.”
The stories that branch off from the main narrative of “Black Mirror” will be more complicated than the options in the kids’ programming, according to Bloomberg.
The new “choose your own adventure” shows can complicate the production, as well as dealmaking, the report added.
“While a traditional movie has a 100-page script, a two-hour experience needs to have a longer script and production to account for all the different scenarios,” Bloomberg reported. “Writers and producers are still determining how the extra demands affect their pay, among other matters.”
Netflix disrupted the TV business by posting the entire season of popular series like “House of Cards” all at once, enabling viewers to binge-watch them. Still, it hasn’t done much to rejigger traditional formats including 25-minute sitcoms, hourlong documentaries and two-hour movies, the report noted.
Netflix was not immediately available for comment.