The Starz 'Power Series' shows us a new model for content explosion

It all started with the series that began in 2014 on Starz channel (in the US). It was about James "Ghost" St. Patrick, a wealthy New York nightclub owner who has it all, catering to the city's elite and dreaming big, and also lives a double life as a drug kingpin.

I absolutely fell in love with the series. The story was awesome, the characters were awesome… and i even got to watch my old childhood rapper, 50 Cent, who plays one of the lead roles.

It killed it…. IMDB rating of 8.1 and it created millions of diehard fans.

But as with all good series it eventually had to come to an end. The creator, Courtney Kemp, puts it like this…

“I had run out of story, I didn't want to continue to make a bad show. I got inspired by the Marvel Universe.”

And i agree.. the show had hit that point where to keep it going would have kind of been when a star athlete just plays beyond their time.. and it drags on and just gets worse.

But then came the Explosion model

Meaning that within the next couple of years... three different shows were created as offshoots from the main 'Power' show.

Two of them take place immediately afterwards (Ghost & Force) and therefore some of the shows from the original show carry over. Whereas one of them takes place 15 years earlier (Raising Kanan).

First came ‘Ghost’ in 2020

It stars the son of the main character from the original show…. Tariq St. Patrick, played by Michael Rainey Jr.

And I started watching it because i loved the original series but it has turned out to be an awesome show in its own right. With its own personality and style and a 7.3 IMDB rating.

And was by the same creator, Courtney Kemp.

Then in 2021 came “Raising Kanan”

This show actually takes place before the original show and tells the story of Kanan Stark as a young teen. Kanan in the original show was one of the main bad guys played by 50 Cent.

This show was created by a different creator named Sascha Penn and also has its own unique style. And is also turning out to be an awesome show with a 7.6 rating.

Also since it takes place chronologically about 15 years before the original ‘Power’ show they can use all different actors. And thus develop new stars.

Finally came ‘Force’ in 2022

This is the story of Tommy Egan, who was the best friend of ‘Ghost’ in the original Power series. And was a character that lots of people, myself included, absolutely had fallen in love with.

And since the actor who plays Tommy, Joseph Sikora, was not in any of the other series he was free to take on his own series. And tell the story of how he came up.

This one was created by Robert Munic and so far also has a 8.1 IMDB rating.

This model shows us how to create shows that never die, but rather ‘explode’ over time

What I mean is… when it comes to drama series they pretty much always end. Why? Because the main actors get older, contract issues arise, the story gets old, etc.

It is impossible to make a single storyline last forever. Think about all the great shows of the past couple of decades…. like one of my favorites… The Big Bang Theory.

What is common about all of them is that they all died. And all left no legacy except older folks like me who remember them.. hahaha

And the traditional model with offshoots is that you take one or several of the main characters from the original show and then make a show about him. Kind of like what they did with ‘Force’.

Or another good example is ‘Better call Saul’ which was the offshoot story of the lawyer from the mega hit “Breaking Bad”.

But what is interesting with what they are doing with the Power series above is that they are not just creating one offshoot they are creating three!

And each of these three offshoots are creating new characters that folks like me are falling in love with.

For example Marvin in the ‘Raising Kanan’ series. I absolutely love the dude and can totally see a show being created about him one day.

And so you have a model that hypothetically can explode like a network over time

Think about it.. if each of the three offshoot shows from the original Power series give rise to at least 1-2 new shows.. than you not only have the originals that are still running but you have 3-6 more new series.

And as long as you continue to create great shows with characters and stories that folks love, you can go for decades.

And the user acquisition part is kind of done for you.. because you’re growing an ever increasing loyal fan base who will for sure watch any new shows that come out.

Imagine in 10-20 years you have 15 different descendant series from the original Power Series. Could it happen? Definitely.

In a way it mirrors how families evolve over time when they are successful.

You can also check out the video version of this on my new End Game Ken Youtube channel