BLOOD & WATER: Now streaming on Netflix. No Spoilers.
How to stretch a premise pilot into multiple seasons:
– Idk if it was happenstance (read: budget) but having a short season pushes you to move the story forward at a decent pace. You only have a certain amount of episodes to solve the problem. Each episode must teach us something new getting us closer to the truth.
– Solve the problem by the end of the first season. We don’t know if the information is true (therefore the whole problem isn’t solved) but the cat is out of the bag causing a new mess to be cleaned up/clarified in season 2. Note: The audience won’t wait forever for answers. We’ll eventually believe you haven’t the slightest idea what you’re doing and give up (ie. MANIFEST). It helps to stay ahead of the story, possibly knowing the answer and dropping breadcrumbs along the way.
– B and C stories are your friend. As you drop breadcrumbs for the A-story (the premise of the show), utilize the other characters that we are invested in to take up real estate. But don’t forget, all of it must circle back to your A-story. For example, Chris’ love life storyline affects Puleng’s (our protagonist) storyline because of the information he receives from Zama, one of his love interests. Similarly, Wendy’s storyline creates conflict between Puleng and Fiks making it that much harder for Puleng to be honest with Fiks. Without the connection back to Puleng, both Chris and Wendy’s storylines would feel random and disconnected. Like in Season 2 when Reece has her own storyline. In my opinion, they chose Reece out of all of the characters – though she was the least we had invested in – to give a storyline to help the show cross over to a broader audience by giving a white character more screen time. Whether that is the case or not, Reece’s actions ultimately affect Puleng.
Excited for Season 3.
Happy Writing 💚
Written By: Shannan E. Johnson