How content selection-making of OTT shows is done: Presence of stars is not the measure of success in this; Research team works 24 hours

In the new episode of Reel to Real, Dainik Bhaskar has talked to Disney Hotstar's content head Gaurav Banerjee and filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, who has made many shows.

The director makes films according to the story the writer writes. It is almost an independent process. However, the making of shows and films coming on OTT is slightly different. OTT platforms have their own production team. There is a think tank, which researches on new subjects day and night.

What is the content selection process of OTT platforms? How do they earn? What is original content? How are their agreements with film makers? In this episode of Reel to Real we will talk about these points. For this, Disney Hotstar's content head Gaurav Banerjee and filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, who has made many shows, are with us.

Gaurav said that no star is needed to run the show. The presence of a star can benefit films, but web shows have no benefit from it. Web shows are of seven to eight hours, if wrong casting is done, you will get exposed somewhere.

What is the process of content selection?
Gaurav Banerjee said, 'I talk to the people around me. I go to people's homes. I ask them what they would like to see more. By talking to people, we understand what type of content they want to see. We should never take the audience for granted. We should know their version of what they want.

Research team works to ensure better content
Gaurav said, 'Sometimes I go to the cinema hall and see the response of the audience. I pay close attention to what his mood is for any film. Apart from this, we also have a very big team.

She does research day and night to ensure that the best content reaches the people. I have been a media person. Every day we knew what was today's latest news. We wanted to write news in a new way every day. Just like this, we are busy finding new content every day.

An amount is sent by the filmmakers to OTT platforms.
Earlier, film makers only had to think about how they would distribute their films. Now they also face the challenge that on which OTT platform they will bring their films.

Neeraj Pandey says, 'We filmmakers send them an amount, we deal with the OTT platform which understands our budget. This is a simple process. There is no need to think much about this. During Special Ops, we made the deal in just 10 minutes.

Casting of big stars is not the yardstick for making shows a hit.
Do casting big stars make web shows more likely to run? In response, Neeraj Pandey said, 'Casting plays a big role in web shows. No matter how big a star you bring, if he does not fit as per the script then understand that the work is over.

Casting big stars is not a yardstick for making a show a hit. Yes, this definitely happens in films. If a star comes on screen even for 30 minutes in a 2-hour movie, it can make the film a hit, but this does not happen in web shows. Their length is big, if you have done wrong casting, you will be exposed after one or two episodes.

Gaurav told that the budget of Special Ops and Ajay Devgan's web series Rudra is more than the budget of many big films. The estimated budget of both these shows is more than Rs 100 crore.

Makers come up with stories, if things are made then a deal is made.
Gaurav said that makers come to him with stories and ideas. He and his team consider these ideas. If it is understood then a deal is made, then its pre-production starts. The films which come directly on OTT also have the same procedure.

OTT platforms have no role in the production of films which are released in theaters first. Their bus rights are purchased. This deal is made between the production house making the film and the OTT platforms.

How to know whether an OTT show is a hit or a flop? Gaurav said, 'You see in Ormax's report that four to five shows of Hotstar will definitely be found in the top-10. This shows that our shows are doing well.

The full form of OTT is Over the Top. In simple words, it is a medium that provides online streaming service. We can access it on phone, TV, tablet and computer. Although it was started in 2008 itself, but by 2015, it started spreading its foot in our lives.

For the first time, something like Netflix and Hotstar was heard. After the arrival of Jio, the popularity of OTT started increasing. People started getting free internet. Due to this many more OTT platforms came into the market. However, the real growth was seen in 2019 during the time of Covid.

People remained sitting at home during the lockdown. During this period, a significant increase was seen in the viewership of OTT platforms. At that time, films like Salman Khan's film Radhe and Akshay Kumar's Katputli were released directly on OTT instead of being released in theatres.

During the lockdown, some web series were also made, which were shot only on phones. Shows like The Gone Game and Wakalat from Home are examples of this.

12th Fail's deal was not done earlier, when it was streamed later, records were created.
How is it decided which movies and TV series will stream on Hotstar? In response, Gaurav said, 'It has only one parameter. We buy the films whose story we like. Take a recent example, 12th Fail was a film which did not have big stars. The opening of the film was also nothing special. However, it got great benefit from word of mouth.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra had narrated its script to me during the time of Covid. I liked the story, but I didn't deal with it. Although I watched the film about three times after editing. Then I decided that we will bring this film on Hotstar also. You won't believe it, but it made a record of viewership on OTT.

After 2015, bigger and longer stories started coming on OTT.
Gaurav Banerjee said, 'In 2015, for the first time we thought that bigger and longer stories should be brought to OTT. Till now people used to think that only small content is shown in the world of streaming. We had a cinematic vision going on in our minds. We contacted Neeraj Pandey for this.

We wanted Neeraj Pandey to come up with such stories which were both big and whose level was also very high. Neeraj Pandey then made us special ops.

Two seasons of KK Menon starrer web show Special Ops have arrived.

Small actors got huge recognition on OTT. Actors who struggled in films got better exposure here. Actors like Vikrant Massey, Shweta Tripathi, Rasika Duggal, Arjun Mathur, Jaideep Ahlawat, KK Menon and Vijay Verma got good recognition here.

In the last few years, big stars like Ajay Devgan, Manoj Bajpayee, Pankaj Tripathi, Sushmita Sen, Shahid Kapoor, Kajol, Tamannaah Bhatia, Kareena Kapoor and Alia Bhatt have also made their presence felt on OTT through films and shows.