Facebook used its executive session at the TCA Summer Press tour to announce it has renewed the teen drama Skam Austin for a second season on Facebook Watch.
The show, a remake of the beloved Norwegian series Skam, offers an unfiltered look at the lives of American teenagers. The series follows four “loser” girls who form their own dance team, and it tackles the topical issues including popularity, slut-shaming, Islamophobia and relationships.
Skam Austin unfolds in real time and across Facebook’s platforms, with daily episodes airing at the time when events occur within the story line — say, a lunch scene that drops at noon — with follow-up posts on the characters’ Instagram profiles. Bonus material can be found on the show’s official Facebook page, such as text exchanges between characters.
The series is an example of how Facebook seeks to differentiate its Watch platform from other video streaming services — it’s as a place where fans not only gather to watch video, but hang around in community forums to discuss the show.
“SKAM is a shining example of what social video can be when there is a seamless integration of technology and content on Facebook,” Ricky Van Veen, Facebook’s head of global creative strategy, said in a statement.
Facebook said the series is attracting global audience, with the first episode attaining over 14 million views, and tens of thousands of fans gathering together in the show’s group page.
Executive producer Simon Fuller of XIX Entertainment lauded this new approach to story-telling.
“It’s intimate and immersive,” Fuller said in a statement. “The idea of a scripted show playing out in real time is difficult and complex to produce so we’re lucky to have the original Norwegian team helping shape it with such diligence and attention.”
Skam’s creator and director, Julie Andem, helms the American edition, which she shares executive producing credit with Fuller, Per Blankens, and Sarah Heyward.
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