Skam: The cult drama that pushed the limits of teen TV
Skam first hit the smartphone screens of Norwegian teenagers in 2015 and became an instant cult hit, breaking streaming records throughout Northern Europe. Fast-forward five years and the show has been adapted for audiences in over eight countries, from Italy to the United States. Skam, the Norwegian word for ‘shame’, has all the ingredients of a classic teen TV show, from drugs to teen pregnancy. However, the key element that sets Skam apart from any other show is its revolutionary use of social media. Skam bridges the gap between the world of fiction and everyday life through the augmented reality of our social media feeds.
So, how did the Skam showrunners manage to use social media to create a revolutionary TV experience? The key reason is that the show was released in real-time with short video clips being released on the NRK (Norway’s national TV channel) website. If a character has an argument with a friend during their school lunch break or sneaks out to a party at 2 am, the scenes would be posted according to the time of day that they take place. Not only did this add a never before seen sense of realism to the show, but it also meant that fans had to constantly check the NRK website for updates. Some fans went to even greater lengths by creating bots in order to receive alerts when new content was posted. These short clips would then be edited together into a more traditionally formatted longer episode which would air on NRK every Friday night.
Another masterstroke in the creation of Skam was the decision to create social media accounts for the show’s main characters. These social media updates would be posted in real-time and could range from selfies to memes and inspirational quotes, all created in-line with each character’s personality. This was so effective because it merged the fictional element of the show with the teenage viewer’s own social environment. Updates from the characters of Skam could be found sandwiched between the posts of real school friends, making the characters feel like a significant presence in the viewer’s life. The decision by show creators to use teenage actors and not youthfully dressed actors in their late twenties like many other teen shows further aided immersion into the world of Skam. These elements combined to create the perfect media storm around the show. Parents and teachers expressed concerns about their teenage children becoming Skam-obsessed with new updates and clips disrupting lessons at school.
Five years into the future, we can ask ourselves what is next in this new generation of TV consumption. One possible indicator of television’s next direction is Jeffery Katzenberg’s (Dreamworks) new streaming app, Quibi, which aims to promote immersive storytelling with shows being released in shorter clips, perhaps an attempt to appeal to our waning attention spans. Stephen Spielberg is reportedly on board and is producing a horror series only available for viewing during the night. Consumption of all forms of media has become intricately woven into our daily structure. It is amazing yet also unnerving to consider the storytelling possibilities if traditional media manages to harness this power.
