Take any two similar plays, films, TV or radio shows.  One is a hit and the other is a flop.  Yet, by all accounts they were similar enough to assure success for each other.  Same genre, same theme, same performers.  Yet one made it, and the other is a dog.

It has to do with a deep knowledge of targeting and analysing audiences, and an awful lot of instinct.

Instinct develops with time, but you can short circuit experience by devoting some study to targeting audiences.

the very basis of all this is understanding the nature of stories.  All entertainment consists of stories.  A soccer match is just a story that hasn't been scripted, and whose ending isn't known to anyone.  it's still a story.  a pop song is a story, as is a religious celebration.

Stories

By the time each one of us has reached the age of eleven or twelve (adolescence), we have:

• Experienced loss, of a loved one, or a deeply appreciated possession.

• Seen our dreams not come true.

• Wished for something almost unattainable, and never got it.

• Had things happen to us that we never expected.

• Experienced that bad things happen, even though you can wish and hope that they don't.

In other words, we will have come to learn that in life, change is inevitable.

As a result we develop two over-ruling emotions:

• HOPE - that nice things will happen to you

• FEAR - that awful things will happen

If awful things happen to us, we need to have plans in place to deal with them.  we also have to have plans in place to enjoy the nice things that we hope might happen to us.  We call these "strategies for survival".  These strategies are so precious, so needed, and so valuable that we look for them wherever we can.  And we get them - in the form of stories, real-life experiences of others that we can file in our memories, and use should we need them.

That's why storytelling is humankind's oldest activity.

That's just the start.

There's much more and you can find it all HERE.