- The YouTube Originals series “Impulse” returned with a second season on Oct. 16, which is available to stream for free with ads.
- Unlike the release of season one, which was strictly available to premium users, viewers can either pay to unlock all 10 episodes of season two, or wait to watch weekly online without a subscription.
- Stars Maddie Hasson and Missi Pyle, and director-producer Doug Liman, shared their experiences working on a show for YouTube with Business Insider.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
When “Bourne Identity” director Doug Liman pitched YouTube on “Impulse,” he thought he was selling a “little five-minute webisode thing,” he told Business Insider.
“Just for me to sort of start exploring in this world,” he continued. “But instead, we went straight to the thing I always wanted to do.”
Liman had no idea YouTube was looking to fill out the slate of premium, TV-like programming for its ad-free subscription product (formerly YouTube Red, now YouTube Premium).
After a successful season one of “Impulse,” which debuted in 2018, the show returned on Oct. 16 for season two. And this time, YouTube changed its strategy again, and the show – along with all YouTube’s other premium original programming starting in September – has come out from behind the paywall.
The science-fiction drama, based on the Steven Gould novel, stars Maddie Hasson as a rebellious 17-year-old girl named Henry with the ability to teleport and Missi Pyle, who plays Henry's mother, Cleo Coles.
Viewers can watch weekly episodes of "Impulse" for free (with ads), or pay to unlock all 10 episodes with a YouTube premium membership ($11.99 a month).
"I've always wanted the show to be free," Liman said, adding that the budget remained the same for season two.
'Impulse' took inspiration from YouTube and its authenticity
Liman said he took inspiration from YouTube as a platform when crafting "Impulse."
YouTube has a certain level of honesty and viewers come to "watch content that's real," Liman said. "When I'm doing action sequences, I'm looking to things on YouTube that are exhilarating and real."
Pyle agreed, and said the cast was constantly changing up the lines and improving scenes as they went along.
"You can create something that's authentic when you're finding it as you go, not just painting by the numbers," Pyle said. "On some shows and movies that's really just not allowed."
Creating a show for a certain TV network means thinking about that network's brand, Liman said.
But the audiences on YouTube are vast, and vary between channels, videos, and programs. Each piece of content on the platform is wildly different, even down to YouTube's original programming, which ranges from popular internet star Liza Koshy's hit show "Liza on Demand," a comedy where Liza is tasked with odd jobs and gigs, to YouTube creator Joey Graceffa's fantasy horror, "Escape the Night."
"We are in the forefront for them, and they are making the rules up as we go," Liman said.
Known to sit in the back of movie screenings and watch people watch his films, Liman said he values the real-time comments left below episodes of "Impulse."
"TV doesn't normally give you that experience," he said. "I could go on right now, and there's gonna be someone watching an episode, posting comments. I'm very interested in my relationship with my audience, and I do it for them."