9 Huge TV Industry Ramifications Of Ripper Street's Amazon Instant Video Resurrection

5. More Creative Control For Writers

Demand from fans to resurrect a programme demonstrates that the show is doing something right. Will this lead to more respect for the writers€™ vision? Combined with the relaxed broadcasting rules for subscription services it€™s possible writers could have enhanced creative freedoms. The third series of Ripper Street is already rumoured to have more €œbells and whistles€, while creator and writer Richard Warlow told BBC news, €œIt feels that the potential of what I can do is broader than it was€. Yet the Ripper Street arrangement €“ as co-funded between the BBC and Amazon with plans to air the programme on both channels €“ could also have its problems. Warlow is reported to have said he will continue to work with creatives at the BBC during series three, something that would give Ripper Street consistency during changing times. But it also leaves us wondering if we could see a case of too many chefs spoiling the broth. The need to please two audiences €“ a niche, Ripper Street fan-base on Amazon Instant Video and a broader selection of traditional and new viewers on the BBC €“ could lead to more compromise and diminished creativity. Will the need to appease both sets of broadcasters end in more conventional programming? Only time will tell. Arrested Development€™s creator and writer, Mitchell Hurwitz, used the absence of traditional weekly time-slots to his advantage, harnessing Netflix€™ binge-viewing style in his resurrected season four. Battling with other constraints €“ namely the contractual arrangements of his now largely A-list cast €“ Hurwitz used each episode to tell a narrative from a particular point of view so that all 15 episodes added up to one huge Arrested Development story. The success of his approach was widely debated with many critics and fans citing the missing rapport between the cast as detrimental to the shows success. The lesson here? Changing a show too much can alienate original fans. Writers, use your enhanced creative freedom wisely.