Ishika Shahi on choosing stories that matter, not numbers: ‘It feels better when your story actually sticks with people’
“In an era of digital creators fighting for the attention of their audience, you cannot measure the success of a story by the number of people watching it,” says Ishika Shahi. The young storyteller is far more rewarded for creating an emotional impact and leaving audiences with something meaningful than just chasing massive reach.
She has been exploring different genres with her youtube channel, Directors Kut Productions, including the psychological thriller The Lift and learning to balance her creative instincts with what her audience wants to watch. She believes relatability, emotional connection and a solid takeaway can help a story stand apart in an increasingly crowded digital space.
“Every audience wants to get something out of every show. “I think you stay for all the episodes because you relate to some element of the show but also because you learn something new,” Ishika says.
“It doesn’t have to be heavy or preachy,” she said about entertainment. Sometimes audiences just want to feel something, but a story gets even more interesting when it can give you something more than that.
“Sometimes, for sure, you just want to watch a show to feel good or to get a certain emotion. But most of the time you find it more interesting when you learn something new from the show,” she adds.
Ishika doesn’t hesitate when asked, Would you choose a project that reaches millions of people for a few minutes, or a smaller project that actually changes the way viewers think or feel?
“I’d much rather have a smaller crowd and actually change the way they think or feel,” she says.
This impact can eventually build something even more powerful for Ishika – word of mouth. “Promotionally, that will happen either way, but obviously, it just feels better as a storyteller when your story touches people and actually stays with them.
As she continues to find her feet as a creator, Ishika hopes to one day build up an audience that follows her not necessarily for a genre, but because they trust her storytelling.
“I think that, for any storyteller, would be the biggest achievement, that somebody has actually remembered your story and taken something away from it,” she concludes.