Series and episodes

A series is one title with many episodes, grouped into seasons. Fans rent the series, not the episode, so one purchase and one clock cover everything you have released. That is the thing to keep in mind while you build one out: adding an episode adds it to a rental somebody may already be holding.

If you have not made the title yet, start at adding a title and pick A series.

The episodes tab

Open a series and you get three tabs: Details, Episodes and Rentals. Everything on this page lives under Episodes.

The header tells you where the series stands, for example "8 episodes, 1 failed", and episodes are grouped under a Season 1, Season 2 heading and so on.

Adding a batch of episodes

Adding a ten-part drama one form at a time is ten uploads and ten chances to give up, so the flow takes every file at once.

1. On the Episodes tab, click Add episodes.
2. Set the Season the batch lands in. It defaults to the latest season you already have.
3. Click Choose video files and select as many files as you like. MP4, MOV and WebM are accepted.
4. Check the list. Each file gets a row with an episode number and a name.
5. Adjust anything you want to change.
6. Click Add N episodes.

How the numbering and naming are worked out

• Files are sorted by filename, and the sort understands numbers properly, so Episode 2 comes before Episode 10 rather than after it. That is the single most common way a season lands scrambled, and it is handled for you.
• Numbers are then handed out from the first free episode number in that season, so a batch added to a season that already has five episodes starts at six instead of colliding.
• The name is taken from the filename with the extension stripped and underscores tidied into spaces.

Every number and every name stays editable in the dialog before anything is sent. Use the X on a row to drop a file you did not mean to include, and Add more files to bring in another batch.

If some of the batch fails

Each file is uploaded and turned into an episode before the next one starts, so a problem on file seven leaves six real episodes rather than throwing the lot away. The rows that succeeded are marked Added, the one that failed keeps its reason on screen, and the dialog stays open on what is left so you can fix and retry just those.

Seasons

Episode numbers are unique inside a season, so season 2 starts again at episode 1. You choose the season when you add a batch, and you can move an individual episode to another season later from its edit dialog.

Editing an episode

Click Edit on any episode row.

• Name and Description are what fans read in the episode list.
• Season and Episode are its position. Season can be 1 to 100, episode 1 to 10000.
• Release date holds the episode back until a moment you choose. See below.
• Free preview opens the episode to everybody. See below.

Click Save and the change takes effect straight away.

Releasing episodes over time

Leave Release date empty and an episode goes live as soon as it finishes processing. Set a date and time and it stays hidden until then.

Before its release date, an episode is invisible in your catalog and refuses to play, even for a fan holding a live rental of the whole series. That is what makes weekly drops work: you upload the whole season now, stamp a date on each episode, and the series reveals itself on schedule with nothing left for you to do.

The row shows Releases and the date for anything still scheduled, so you can see the run at a glance. Use Clear next to the field to drop a date and release the episode as soon as it is ready.

Free preview episodes

Turn Free preview on and anybody can watch that episode without renting anything. It still plays through the protected player, so you are giving away an episode, not a downloadable file.

A pilot or a first episode as a free preview is the classic use: fans watch it, and the rent button for the rest of the series is right there.

Free preview episodes carry a Free preview badge in the list so you always know which ones are open.

Reordering episodes

Drag the handle on the left of any row to move an episode within its season. The numbers are rewritten for you and a toast confirms Order saved.

Occasionally a rearrangement cannot be worked out automatically, in which case you are told to set the numbers by hand from each episode's Edit dialog.

Archived episodes cannot be dragged, but they still hold their numbers, so the ones around them move around them.

Processing states

Every episode row carries a badge for where its video has got to: Queued, Encoding, Ready or Failed. Under the name, the row says either "Playing now for anyone with a live rental" or "Not playable yet", along with the runtime once it is known.

A Failed episode shows what went wrong and offers Retry right on the row.

Archiving an episode

Click Archive on a row to take an episode down.

Archived episodes are hidden by default. Turn on Show archived episodes to see them and restore any you want back.

Subtitles per episode

Each episode row has its own Subtitles button, and the languages it carries are shown as tags right beside it. The flow is identical to a single film, and it is covered in full on adding a title.

Because the tags are on the row, you can run down a whole season and see instantly which episode is still missing a translation.

What publishing needs from a series

A series can be published once it has at least one rental window and at least one episode that is processed and past its release date. If the publish button is refusing, the Details tab lists the reason and links you straight back to Episodes.

Where to go next