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Task 2 · Positive or negative development · Culture

A few streaming companies choosing what gets made

A positive-or-negative essay on commissioning power, where the band 9 answer separates how much gets made from how many people decide what gets made.

The question

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

A small number of global streaming companies now decide which films and television series are made. Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

A 250-word discursive essay — the half of the paper that carries two thirds of the marks. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.

What separates the three answers

The obvious defence of the platforms is that more is being made than ever. The band 9 answer accepts that completely and shows why it is beside the point: variety depends on the number of people entitled to say yes, not on the number of hours produced.

The three answers

Band 6.5

254 words (the task asks for at least 250)

The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.

The answer

In the recent years, the entertainment industry has changed a lot and now only the few big streaming companies like Netflix are deciding which movies and the series will be made. Some people think it is good and some think it is bad. In my view, this development is more negative.

On the one hand, there are the certain advantages.4 These companies are having a lot of the money1, so they can make the big budget shows with the good quality3. Also, they are making the content in many languages and the people from all over the world can watch it, for example the Korean and the Spanish shows are becoming popular everywhere. Before this, it was very difficult for a small country to show their films in the foreign countries5.

On the other hand, the main problem is that only the few companies are taking all the decisions. If they are thinking that a topic is not popular, then that film will never be made, and the new directors are not getting the chance. Also, these companies are only looking at the data and the numbers, so they are making the same type of the shows again and again, and the creativity is suffering2. The audience is also getting bored with the same content.

In conclusion, although the streaming companies are giving the good quality and the international content, I believe this development is more negative because the power is in the hands of the very few people and the variety is decreasing.

What an examiner notices

  1. 1. Grammatical range and accuracy

    “These companies are having a lot of the money”

    'Have' is stative and cannot take the continuous, and 'a lot of the money' inserts an article that changes the meaning. Both faults recur.

  2. 2. Task response

    “so they are making the same type of the shows again and again, and the creativity is suffering”

    The essay's strongest point, given half a sentence and no example. The verdict is clear but the reasons behind it stay undeveloped.

  3. 3. Lexical resource

    “so they can make the big budget shows with the good quality”

    'Good quality' does the work that 'production values', 'scale' or 'ambition' would do. 'Good' then appears twice more in the essay.

  4. 4. Coherence and cohesion

    “On the one hand, there are the certain advantages.”

    A heading rather than a connection, and 'the certain advantages' adds a determiner where none belongs. Nothing in the following paragraph answers this one.

  5. 5. Grammatical range and accuracy

    “it was very difficult for a small country to show their films in the foreign countries”

    A singular subject picked up by a plural possessive, with definite articles before two generic plurals in the same clause.

One honest caveat

Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.

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