The television channel TV-3 is launching a unique program Byt ili ne Byt (To Be or Not to Be) on April 2 in partnership with the largest Russian film service KinoPoisk.
For the first time in the history of broadcast television, TV-3 will show pilot episodes of five TV series and immediately afterwards their creators, celebrities of the national film industry and film critics, will discuss each of the projects. The viewers will then have to decide which of the stories they would like to continue watching. For this, a vote will be organized in the studio and, simultaneously, on the KinoPoisk website. Voting will also be possible through the TV-3 Lite and KinoPoisk mobile apps.
“We are changing the format of the channel and we want to go beyond the limits of the possible, in the interests of the viewers,” said Valery Fyodorovich, TV-3 general manager. “The show Byt ili ne Byt is one of our first steps in this direction. We genuinely want to give our viewers a unique opportunity to decide what they want to watch - the channel will advance the projects that receive more than 75% of the viewer vote into production.”
KinoPoisk is the digital partner on this project, which is a unique phenomenon in Russia. The users and editors of the KinoPoisk portal will have an equally significant part in the filming of the programs, which will include discussions of each pilot episode, as the celebrity guests. The portal will also serve as the platform for online voting, which will take place for a week after the broadcast of each pilot.
All of the episodes, regardless of the vote results, will be available for viewing on the KinoPoisk website.
Thanks to this unprecedented cooperation between a Russian television station and an online portal, both sides are aiming to offer their audiences new, high-quality content.
Each of the five pilots is the result of joint creativity by Russia’s best directors, operators, screenwriters and actors, which have already achieved success on the big screen. Slated for broadcasts are the pilot episodes of the series Kvartet (Quartet), Blizkie (Close Ones), Prizrak Opera (Opera Phantom), Detki (Children) and Lyubovnitsy (Mistresses).