The business that matches users with books, movies

Inspired by dating websites, Narrative Muse is a unique online tool that perfectly matches users with books and films written, directed and made by and about women and non-binary people.

The free match-making site has been around since early 2019 and has assembled an ever-growing team of reviewers around the world to add to a database of books and movies – which increases daily – and recommends books and films that users may not have heard of, catering to their craving for stories told from a woman’s or a non-binary person’s perspective.

Narrative Muse co-founder and CEO Brough Johnson (pictured above), a former editor working in the New Zealand film and television industry, experienced a lack of representation and experiences and saw a growing need for content in which women and non-binary people were not stereotypes but complex and diverse characters.

“Users are initially drawn to Narrative Muse for our mission but then are staying for our product. We help women and non-binary folk find perfectly tailored movie and book recommendations based on their mood and taste identity. Then we help publishers and producers find, engage, and produce content for these audiences,” says Johnson.

“On the surface, it helps audiences find new stuff, but it also genuinely means that audiences are able to make an immediate difference. Amazon and the rest tend to just follow your clicks and recommend the same thing back to you, so our goal was to recommend something you wouldn’t usually find.”

With a loyal subscriber base of more than 3000 users, Narrative Muse caters to a specific appetite based on a short introductory survey that perfectly matches users with books and movies, and links them to streaming services and sites where they can be found, such as Netflix or Amazon.

A start-up against the odds

When it comes to funding start-ups, in New Zealand, 16% of capital raised for startups goes to companies with women founders. (Based on data provided by Molly Yang, NZVIF October 2018.)

“As women founders, creating a product that engages with women and non-binary audiences, we knew going into this that we had a tough road ahead,” says Johnson. “But we also knew that if we believed in what we were building, there were partners out there who would believe in us too.

“We focused on being exactly who we were: two women who absolutely knew the problem we were aiming to solve. Because it was a problem that we experienced ourselves. So we did everything we could to learn about our context, talk to target audiences, validate our paid product with potential customers. In the end, we were able to speak to the problem and to our solution, and we’ve gained incredible partners who share our vision.

“Hopefully, with the success of Narrative Muse, will come more investment in women founders,” says Johnson. “We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re heading in the right direction.”

“Creating a women-run business on the surface doesn’t feel that hard. We certainly had a huge amount of support when we began,” says Johnson. “We started as a fully volunteer-led organisation with the mission to change the entertainment landscape to be more gender-diverse. Our mission helped us pull together over 100 volunteers to write and curate content and create our very first platform. And it was our mission that has kept so many of these volunteers with us for so many years.

“The hard part for many women has been and continues to be raising capital. Raising our first angel round felt like quite an achievement. Many didn’t understand the value of our product since we pitched it as a product for women. But those who did understand our value really backed us. And as it turns out, 28% of our users are men.”

Narrative Muse aims to be part of rebuilding our entertainment industry in this post-Covid world. “An incredible shift in the stories we consume is coming,” explains Johnson. “It won’t come from the efforts of a few; it’ll come from the collective efforts of millions. Narrative Muse is the platform through which audiences can change their world, at a time when world-changing is actually happening.

“There’s no better time for Narrative Muse to exist than right now, when so many people are demanding change. As a company whose mission was always about change, this is perfect timing for us.

“The change is long overdue, no question about it. But this pivotal moment, this global re-design, can be the catalyst that the entertainment industry needs to take bigger strides in reflecting underrepresented audiences on screen and on the page. And we’re ready to be part of that revolution.”