However, this also includes relatively simple iterations that don’t necessarily alter the story itself. The average viewing time is around 90 minutes.Īltogether, there are over a trillion unique permutations of the story. Viewers who choose the quickest path, and decide against any do-overs, can make it through the film in around 40 minutes. “Bandersnatch” comes with five possible endings. At one point, one of the key characters even tells Stefan that he chose the wrong path, leading him to realize: “I should try again!”
The tool allows creatives to build complex narratives that include loops, guiding viewers back to the main story when they strayed too far, giving them a chance of a do-over, if you will - something that Jones and Brooker artfully incorporated into the story. That’s why Netflix engineers built the company’s very own script-writing tool for branched narratives, dubbed Branch Manager. “There is so much more that we can do than just linear television,” she said.īut while younger viewers may be fine with relatively simple choices, adult audiences clearly require more complexity, which can be a huge logistical challenge. Following the production of interactive kids titles like “Puss in Boots: Trapped in an Epic Tale” and “Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile,” Netflix director of product innovation Carla Engelbrecht realized that the company was on to something. Luckily, Brooker and Jones had the Netflix product team to keep them sane. One of the choices in “ Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.” “There were many points where we felt it was driving us crazy.” “What we were trying to do was what Stefan was trying to do,” he said. And it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that Stefan is struggling with his own inner demons - and single-handedly turning the book of a madman into a highly complex multiple-choice computer game doesn’t exactly seem to improve his mental health.īrooker said he could empathize with those feelings.
Set in 1984, “Bandersnatch” is the story of geeky teenager Stefan (played by Fionn Whitehead of “Dunkirk” fame) who sets out to turn a multiple-choice science-fiction book by the same title into a pioneering computer game that also presents the player with a series of choices.Įarly on, we learn that eccentric author of the original “Bandersnatch” book descended into madness while writing the multiple-choice adventure, ultimately killing his wife.
The result is “ Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” Netflix’s first-ever interactive movie for adults, which debuted on the service Friday. “At that point, it was pretty simple,” recalled Brooker. But when they started to discuss ideas for future episodes of the show a few weeks later, they came up with a plot that really only worked as an interactive movie. “To me, they always felt a bit gimmicky,” she said. Jones agreed, in part because she had never really liked prior examples of interactive storytelling. During a recent interview with Variety, Brooker recalled his initial response: “No f-ing way!” Except the two creators weren’t having any of it. Now, Netflix was ready to bring the same format to an adult audience - and “Black Mirror” seemed like a perfect fit.
The streaming service had been experimenting with interactive kids content, giving young viewers the ability to choose their own path through a story with a series multiple-choice questions that could be easily answered with the help of a TV remote. Back in early 2017, Netflix approached “ Black Mirror” creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones with an unusual idea.