Dig Deeper: Knowing Who You Are Helps You Relate to Who They Are
It’s imperative that those of us working in the media industry gain an insightful perception of who we are, not just as employees or bosses, but as human beings. Knowing what makes us laugh, cry, shake, or scream helps us to understand what might make others do the same. Allowing ourselves to fully experience our own lives makes us better judges of what will resonate with viewers in theirs.
In a way, we all want the same things out of our viewing experiences. We want to laugh so hard we cry — or sometimes we just want to cry. We want to be on the edge of our seats out of fear, anger, or genuine surprise. We want to fall in love with a character, or we want to boo someone off the screen. We watch TV because we want to feel something, whatever that something might be on a particular day.
This is why we binge-watch certain shows. According to Netflix, 70 percent of the U.S. population does it. In fact, most viewers would rather devour a show than savor it anymore. When the second season of Stranger Things came out, over 360,000 people binge-watched it the same day it was released. It’s just too hard to wait when we have access to entire seasons of shows just waiting to be watched.
In order for something to be binge-worthy, it’s not enough just knowing you need to deliver an experience. Is your goal to make someone feel happy? Great. But what content would actually make them happy? Drawing from your own experiences helps inform this content — whether it’s certain dialogue between two characters, part of a plotline, an entire character development arc, etc.
Take the ABC sitcom Black-ish. The father in the show, Andre “Dre” Johnson Sr. (played by Anthony Anderson), rose from poverty and became a notable advertising executive who worries his success has brought too much cultural assimilation to his family. An inspirational story about overcoming hardships and ethnic identity, Black-ish stole the hearts of America. But what you might not know: the father is modeled after show creator Kenya Barris and the story loosely based off his own family. Who better to tell the story than someone who has lived it?
However, that doesn’t mean that a character basically needs to be an autobiographical portrayal of its creator for it to resonate with viewers. To better connect with viewers, you just need to be able to better connect with yourself. What has helped you deal with a breakup? What content is comforting during a difficult time? What makes you laugh so hard you cry? Use these personal anecdotes to appeal to an entire nation of viewers who all share similar experiences to you. If it’s good, they’ll watch it.
That’s the best part of media, after all. It’s personal yet all-encompassing at the same time.