We are seeing a trend where many television shows are trying to cash in on the second seasons of the shows. Inspire Films’ founder Yash Patnaik opens up about this trend and reveals why only a few are able to attain success with it while the rest fail miserably.
Yash Patnaik and Mamta Patnaik’s Inspire Films have been behind hit shows such as ‘Ek Veer Ki Ardaas...Veera’, ‘Sadda Haq’, ‘Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi’, and ‘Ishq Mein Marjawan’, ‘Dear Ishq’, ‘Ishq Mein Marjawan 2’, ‘Rakshabandhan... Rasal Apne Bhai Ki Dhal’, ‘Channa Mereya’, ‘Bazi Ishq Kii’ and ‘Gauna Ek Pratha’. Yash talks about the goals of the team in the coming times.
“Mamta and I started in 2007 with Beyond Dreams Entertainment. At that time, media itself was evolving, and YouTube was just two years old. And there were only television content and feature films. But yeah, with time we realised that there are so many aspects of content and business. So, we needed a company that should focus on only content. We launched Inspire Films when we started ‘Ek Veer Ki Ardaas Veera’ for Star Plus. It was our first production in 2012. Now, all TV shows and web series produced by us are under Inspire Films. Beyond Dreams is the holding company and Inspire Films is the operational company. We also plan to explore different formats within the web series space. Beyond Dreams will focus on creating assets because at the end of the day, it is a parent company. And, as a parent company, it is important to create assets that gives you the sustainability,” he explains.
As content makers, while they are always experimenting, one wonders if they are planning to create something next that will be new to them.
“So, there are two-three important content spaces that we'll be exploring both on television and web and those are light-hearted comedy, slice of life and sports stories. We have just signed a licensing deal with LotPot Comics for their popular characters like Motu Patlu, Sheikh Chilli, Kaka Shri and few others. These IPs will be adapted to the live action. So far they have been in the comics and animation and targeted at kids, but we'll be targeting the GEC audience. On, OTT, we have liked a lot of bestselling novels by some of the biggest novelists of the country. We have some rights and we have developed some interesting series based on incidents. Some of the famous writers and show runners are working on those projects,” he smiles.
The recent trend of second seasons of successful TV projects has received lukewarm response. According to sources, ‘Dear Ishq 2’ is on the cards. However, nothing has been confirmed it.
“Everyone wants multiple seasons of their IPs. But at the end of the day, if the first season of a series works, more seasons will naturally follow. Having said that, one needs to have stories for future seasons when designing the first season. That way you are not playing all your cards but leaving some threads for the next seasons. So when writing or designing the content it's really important that you know how to maintain the continuity, think about the journey of the characters and the inherent conflicts. There are a lot of second seasons that did well, look at Mirzapur, Rocket Boys, Ashram, Jamtara, Special Ops etc,” concludes Yash Patnaik.