Tatino Encounters | Johnathan Young on the future of series

TATINO has a long history of collaborating with some of the series industry’s most relevant and accomplished voices to support creators in developing narratives that are not only compelling, but culturally and emotionally resonant. Recently, our very own Anastasia Hoppanova has met with three distinguished professionals to discuss the future of series.

First encounter to discuss that fascinating topic:

Johnathan Young | Producer | UK

Johnathan Young started as a drama Director before becoming a Producer. Johnathan produced more than 1000 hours of television in the United Kingdom, including the BAFTA nominated The Sinking Of The Laconia, a co-production with Teamworx from Germany. In 2014 Johnathan was offered the opportunity to join HBO Europe as VP Original Production, overseeing drama development and production across the region.

In the microdrama environment, do you think it’s possible to design narrative beats so that the story still feels coherent, rather than just a sequence of cliffhangers?

When we were at HBO, we had research on when people stopped watching drama. And the thing that is most off-putting to people is when they lose the coherence of the story. So the fact that microdramas are so compelling to me says they do have a coherent story. They must have a coherent story in order for them to be so compelling.

I think that there is real opportunity in the microdrama space to go a little bit deeper into storytelling.

There's a big take-up [of microdramas] in Latin America, but the take-up in Europe is much smaller and what the European audiences seem to want is authorship.

In Romania I've been working with a potential partner, to explore the notion of what we are calling “premium vertical drama,” which is perhaps short-form drama that's three to four minutes and maybe 20 to 30 episodes long, which might be more European in nature and closer to soap operas in a way.

"The fact that microdramas are so compelling to me says they do have a coherent story. They must have a coherent story in order for them to be so compelling.

And soap operas, as we know, are massively popular in Europe; and we know soap operas can tell really important in-depth stories as well as be entertaining.

So I think that microdrama has some potential to develop into a really interesting space for writers.

What do you feel the industry is projecting onto AI in relation to creative work, and how does that align or clash with your own experience?

I think the television industry is quite cautious about AI, at least publicly, and very cautious about AI when it comes to the creative core, the actors and the writers and the directors. AI is part of our lives and certainly part of our lives in terms of television production. We use AI in post-production, we use AI in grading and in sound.

The data people use AI and feed back to us on our shows. So AI is there. AI is in your mobile phone, AI is in your computer. You can't avoid it. But the television industry is cautious about AI and I understand why. It's a very rapidly moving space so we can't predict the future precisely. I saw something this morning about Val Kilmer's new film. Val Kilmer died a year ago but they are making a film with Val Kilmer created by AI. Who knows whether it'll work but as an exercise it points to a direction of travel that we can't ignore.

I think original work is always going to be seen as premium. People are always going to be looking for authenticity. And as a writer, learning what is your authenticity, learning your voice, owning your voice, owning your authenticity is absolutely crucial.

I think for a creative person, a writer - why are you a writer? It's because you have stories to tell, it's because you're passionate about creating, it's because you enjoy being in that space where you generate something original. So you're not going to want to use AI to do that work for you, and if you do use AI to do that work for you, you'll lose the muscle that creates that work in the first place.

So I think original work is always going to be seen as premium. People are always going to be looking for authenticity. And as a writer, learning what is your authenticity, learning your voice, owning your voice, owning your authenticity is absolutely crucial.

And I think what will happen, and what is happening slowly, is AI will create characters. Possibly on your phone, possibly on YouTube, and those characters will move into the dr space in the same way that influencers are moving into the drama space.

Amazon have launched big game shows with influencers. Influencers in film are being cast because they bring an audience to the film. And I think AI will give you opportunities as creators to create your world and to own your world. So in actual fact, I don't feel for a creative generator, the person who sits in front of the blank page, that AI should be seen as a threat.

I think it may well change the way we make shows, but I don't think it'll ever change the audience's need and desire for authenticity.

Do you think or do you feel from your experience that there is a gap in understanding what AI could and should do for us between producers and writers?

There's a definite gap, because producers are scared of it, because they see it taking over their world. And I don't think the innovation is going to come from television producers. I think the innovation will come from young creative people who've grown up with AI, who aren't scared of it, who don't see their safe space being eroded, but are generating new ideas.

I think that having a producer who is a sounding board, who is interested in the logistical side of the business, and a writer who's coming up with original ideas, can work very, very well. Other producers are going to be the people who maybe own a platform and cash in and make a huge amount of money selling to a big player, maybe. Who knows? I think it will be a test for producers about finding their space in the new digital AI world and their space will change. But this has been the case ever since the media started.

In adapting IPs, what tells you that the story can generate multiple seasons of conflict? (a sustainable series engine rather than just a strong premise)

I think it's the same as looking at any pitch that comes your way. If you're in the series field, which is what I've been in for my whole career, you sort of get used to thinking about certain key things. And I think the first thing is a compelling central character who has a clear obstacle and needs resources, special skills to overcome that obstacle.

But if it's going to sustain a long run, that central character needs to have a family of characters around them. That doesn't necessarily need to be their family if they're a police officer it could be their colleagues at work or if in a hospital their colleagues at work as well for example but people who are closely connected to them who are staked into their world who they care about and who the audience care about in order to have enough range of story options to take you forward.

This sense of a big character in a compelling place with a great family of stories doing something high stakes is the sort of essential elements to successful series drama in any form, but certainly with the IP it's very important as well.

"I think it's the same as looking at any pitch that comes your way. If you're in the series field, which is what I've been in for my whole career, you sort of get used to thinking about certain key things. And I think the first thing is a compelling central character who has a clear obstacle and needs resources, special skills to overcome that obstacle."

Interview by Anastasia Hoppanova