Harnessing Your Streaming Potential

The streaming wars are on! HBO, Disney, Apple, and others are all competing with Netflix for the growing streaming market.

This development was a long time coming. Standard television and movies have receded with the continued expansion of the internet. 2020 has given us plenty of reasons to stay inside and watch a few movies.

While we love having them, we also need tools to organize what can feel like an avalanche of options. WIth thousands of hours of materials on each platform, we need to be smart about how we spend our time and consume content.

In addition to organizing to increase efficiency, you can also include other forms of entertainment with your streaming schedule. This all has to do with knowing when to watch which show.

Decide what you are looking for

We all have different tastes when it comes to movie genres. Are you into having your socks scared off? Or, do you prefer an uplifting biopic?  Knowing which genre you’re in the mood for is key, but to organize our massive options, we need to think a little more deeply.

Do you like to follow specific actors or actresses? For example, I love everything with Jake Gyllenhaal. Whether it’s the feel-good October Sky, or the cerebral Enemy, I always enjoy watching his craft. Some people are more drawn to directors’ specific styles. Pedro Almodovar has an incredibly distinct style stretching back decades and spanning a number of genres. Many of his films are streaming on Netflix.

Some people rely on their favorite critics. Sometimes it is easiest just to let someone else decide what to watch. After testing a few recommendations from a certain critic, you can know whether or not to continue that relationship. The benefit of organizing this way is that you can reduce your options from thousands to under ten. The number of streaming comedies on Netflix, HBO, and Hulu is huge! But the number of streaming Wes Anderson films is much fewer.

Organize, Organize, Organize

Once you have some sort of idea of how to navigate these huge libraries, the next step is to organize. This will make it easier to come back to them at a later point.

Having a watchñlist is a start, but we need to take it to the next level. The most common is having all the movies you want to watch in one list, or organized in each platform. We can do better. For those who are really nerdy, you can open an excel sheet and include movie title, release year, streaming platform, director, genre, themes, and starring actors. Once you get it set up, it is easy to keep it going. Then you can instantly see any movies that, say, are comedies about travel.

If that’s too big of a project, you can always keep a few running lists of favorite directors, actresses, and movies by genre. This will be a great resource so that you do not spend an hour trying to decide while flipping through your streaming libraries.

Include Additional Entertainment

With so much streaming in our futures, we should get creative about how to make it even more entertaining.

Increasingly, people are even policing wagers on their favorite shows. Find a safe betting site with entertainment odds and discover a whole new world of entertainment. This will be like an entertainment sandwich of sorts.

Another way is to get some friends hooked on the same show. Making a weekly event with friends and family is a great way to build bonds with people we love while also keeping up with the latest in culture productions. You can even play games with friends if you watch together. If your favorite show has a few common words or catchphrases, you can invent responses to them and scream them out together. Lockdown is a great time to get creative!

Every Show Has its Moment

The last tip is to know that every show has its moment. Withs streaming available twenty-four hours a day, we now have the option to watch movies more often than ever.

Some shows are light, or conversation-based and great for watching while you do something else. Cooking and stretching are tasks that require you to stay put and are great moments to watch reruns.

Other movies are more intense, complex, or engaging and require our full attention. Do not try to stuff these movies into half hour breaks. Rather, take the intentional moment to really absorb the whole thing completely. Y