There's a lot of buzz around the idea of transmedia storytelling (the simple definition is telling stories across different media platforms). Storytelling, in general, is undergoing a transformation. On some level we don't need theorists to tell us about it because it's a phenomenon happening as a result of what Henry Jenkins calls "convergence culture". But it's a powerful new wave in story so why not join the conversation?
The transmedia model is certainly impacting the way stories are being developed for the screen and although it's not new (The Matrix used the concept as far back as 1999), it is gaining momentum and being used as a strategy. Conventions are being held around the world to discuss and share ideas. There was even a panel talking about it at the 2010 ComicCon in San Diego. That's an interesting panel but long and the production values are pretty bad so I've chosen not to include it in this post. But here are a few others in film, TV and academia talking about it.
First up is Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner Entertainment on the transmedia model and the campaign for Coke. The Starlight "intro reel" is particularly impressive and since Starlight is helping studios like Disney create successful transmedia campaigns for their "intellectual properites" it's all about transmedia.
Next up is Lance Weiler, writer/producer and director of the DIY independent film Head Trauma on creating a storyworld. Lance also runs a site online called The Workbook Project which is an open source on film distribution using Web 2.O.
Executive Producer/Writer Tim Kring of Heroes (et al.,)talks about using transmedia at the story development stage of the TV show. He was part of a panel at the 2010 SXSW here in Austin.
Last but not least, this clip is an overview of a growing series of clips available on Vimeo from a researcher in Zurich who is collecting them in anticipation of a transmedia conference in Europe:
Although I am pressed for time this morning, one of my readers, Bobbie Walker, submitted a link that contained a clip I thought might be of interest here. It's writer/producer/director Joss Whedon (who's now on one of those press junkets in Australia)giving a speech for the humanitarian group Equality Now on the subject of why he writes such strong female characters.
Hollywood needs more strong female characters because the world needs role models for them. As a rape survivor (a fact you have NOT heard me share before) I've made my voice heard on this subject many times, especially as it relates to getting female-driven movies into development and through the system - and not just movies starring women who are sex objects. The Middle East is not the only country that has a problem seeing women as equals.
Sex in the City: The Movie, for all its glitzy, sexist stereotyping is the epitome of what's wrong with our images of women but it's actually progress in the sense that at least it was a female-driven film and it made fun of itself. Charlize Theron is developing Christopher Buckley's satire about women in Middle-Eastern politics Florence of Arabia for the big screen with Dean Craig writing the script.
Making fun of women in heroic roles may not be as sinister as you might think. Comedy is often the forerunner of serious discussion. After all, as Carol Burnett once said, "tragedy plus time equals comedy". It may be that the formula works in the reverse - ergo, comedy plus time in the media may equal a dramatic shift in role models, especially if we are aware of the message we're transmitting. Let's hope so.
In 2007, Academy Award winning actress Geena Davis started the Geena Davis Institute for Gender Studies - in the hopes of raising awareness on this pressing issue. Her focus has thus far been on providing positive, equal images of women for children in television and film. The Geena Davis Institute has resulted in an important study from the Annenberg School for Communications entitled Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films & Television.
Here's a partial transcript from Davis' June 21, 2010 interview at The United Nations on gender stereotypes in the media (to see clip click here):
“I think there’s two roles improving the media images of woman can play; one is that we really learn our value in society by seeing ourselves reflected in the culture and kids more so than anyone, I mean, as they’re learning what their role in society is and what’s their place and value, they’re exposed to massive amounts of media and the message that boys and girls are getting currently is that girls are not as valuable as boys., and women are not as important as men, and by changing this message into one of more empowerative of boy and girls sharing the same box equally we in effect be affecting the culture that boys would see girls as more important and girls would feel more important, as opposed to the disempowering message that’s there now. The other aspect of it s that while so many people are working so hard on these millennium development goals and the progress we make in economic development, and violence against women and all those areas, we don’t want to see it undermined by a culture of hyper-sexualisation or stereotyping women in the media because it will hamper the progress or certainly take away the progress.”
Nikita (the CW TV series) begins this fall based on the film La Femme Nikita. It still stars an overly thin, hypersexualized female but she's in a typically male role and obviously has some brains. Here's the extended trailer.
The feature films Wanted and Salt also feature women in the role of the kick-ass and both have been enormously popular. Maybe going to extremes in the other direction is all a part of the process. Here's the trailer for Salt, just for fun!
Good question. It's a position that hasn't actually had a title until recently. It was officially coined by independent filmmaker/producer Jon Reiss - who wrote a book called Think Outside the Box Office - and subsequently created a multi-media franchise around it.
A PMD is a producer of marketing and distribution - who specializes in plugging your film into the culture. You won't find a PMD in the film credits (yet) but the concept is rapidly gaining traction in the community. Check this out. Very informative - for independent writer-producers. The digital era presents us with a new paradigm.
Writer/producer/director Jon Reiss got the idea for his book out of his experience trying to market and distribute his documentary about graffiti art Bomb It. In spite of doing all the traditional stuff (putting together a great project, hiring a sales agent and publicist, getting it to a major film festival like Tribeca) he was not ultimately offered the theatrical distribution he was looking for. This is an interview with Jon at the last SXSW in Austin - where he was shooting his sequel Bomb It 2.
Scott Kirsner inteviewed Jon about the core ideas in his book. It's a very succinct chat that I think is well worth a listen. You'll find it here.
We've all heard the saying, "fake it till you make it", right? And on some paradoxical level, that's true. When you're feeling blue, think happy thoughts (or act happy) and you'll actually feel happy. Nothing wrong with that. Apparently, however, there IS something wrong with pretending we're something we're not when it comes to actually disguising ourselves in the accoutrements of success we can't afford.
That's a scary thought - especially because of the trend of faux everything. We even have fake reality shows (which personally, I can't stomach). This morning I happened to read an article in the September issue of Scientific American entitled Faking It: Why Wearing Designer Knockoffs May Have Hidden Psychological costs.
In the article, reporter Wray Herbert talks about emerging evidence that our penchant for pretending to be who we aren't (specifically, through fashion) has serious moral consequences. And of course, that always makes me think "that could be a good idea for a movie". And it just may be a good springboard. Here's why. Essentially, three researchers (Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely) have taken their concerns to the laboratory and measured the differences in behavior between women who wear real designer apparel and women who know they are wearing a fake.
In controlled experiements, Gino-Norton-Ariely found that 70% of those consciously wearing fake designer stuff, lied, cheated and stole. AND, here's an irony on top of the irony. Those lying, cheating fakers actually developed cynical attitudes about the morals of people around them - a kind of mass projection of guilt, if you will. So you might want to think twice about buying those knock-offs. They come at a high price.
The WGA, meanwhile, submitted a very different opinion stating their concerns about Net Neutrality if the proposed reclassification of the Internet does NOT get approved. The WGA has gone on record as saying that anything short of Net Neutrality is an infringement on our First and Fourth Amendment rights. I'm siding with the Writers Guild on this one but have to admit to feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of the issues. Government regulation isn't a flawlessly simple idea either. Do we REALLY want government regulating more stuff?
Here's Senator Al Franken on Net Neutrality.
Earlier this month, Google & Verizon announced a proposed two-tier Internet system that, essentially, signals the end of Net Neutrality. Under this new plan, the studios will have superfast connections (and pay a premium for them) while the rest of us will enjoy the freedom of a slower, lower tier. They make it sound so innocent. It's a business deal. That's all. You bet it is.
I'm afraid it has already gone too far and tend to agree that if Congress approves the merger of NBC/Comcast without severely limiting it, a domino effect will follow and give corporations control over the media. But wait a minute Al...
Don't corporations already control big media? "We the People" still have the right to tell the FCC how we feel about the telcos taking over the Internet. All you activists out there, listen up. The FCC has extended it's time to file opinions on the NBC/Comcast merger AND is still conducting hearings on regulating the Internet.
Your last chance to speak up at an FCC public hearing is in Minnesota on August 19 - less than one week from today. It's expected that the FCC will move to make the Internet a phone service instead of a communications service, thereby allowing them to regulate it. There are many issues that need to be addressed with regards to what FCC regulation of the Internet actually means. Now is the time to voice your opinion to Chairman Genachowski on Net Neutrality.
Check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation site for up-to-the-minute news on this and other related issues. The EFF recently petitioned the FCC to remove its copyright loophole. To learn more about the details of the FCC's version of net neutrality click here.
True to Hollywood form, whenever there's a megahit (like The Twilight Saga), a bunch of stuff jumps on the bandwagon. There are too many vampire films and TV shows to mention. Right now we have the True Blood and Vampire Diaries series on TV. And, of course, rumor has it that Dark Shadows starts shooting this fall with Johnny Depp as Barnabas. Although I'm looking forward to Tim Burton's adaptation of the 60s vampire soap, we've got vampires coming out our ears.
So, also true to Hollywood form, there is now a spoof of the vampire trend - the Fox feature Vampires Suck (the tagline is "Some sagas just won't die"). My sentiments exactly. Enough with the vampires already. Here's the trailer. The movie comes out in the U.S. next week (August 18) and elsewhere in the world in October (unless it's a blockbuster hit then maybe sooner).
Here we are, in the middle of pilot pitch season and already the word is out that the networks aren't picking up any more police procedurals. Thank goodness for that! Although I enjoy the original NCIS (which ranked 5th on Rentrak's "stickiness" index last week)and think CSI's over-saturated, postmodern look is a stroke of genius, there's only so much deductive reasoning a viewer can take in one sitting. Right after those two (on Wednesdays), CBS also has The Good Wife (a legal procedural), which is nominated for 9 Emmys.
These are all great shows but if you want to see anything truly different on American TV (and some fresh comedy), it's HBO (whose slogan is literally "It's not TV, it's HBO"), Showtime, AMC or USA - depending on your sensibilities. Although A&E and the History Channel have a lot to offer too. It's just that they don't have comedy. Not that this is a bad thing. I'm just saying...Here's a list of the longest running sitcoms in American TV history (since the 80s).
Meanwhile, what about straight-forward, non-reality show, "faux reality show" comedy? They are few and far between in the prime time line-up right now. Two and a Half Men (also CBS) still gets my vote for laughs in the early evening. Of course there's the darkly humorous House on Fox but it's still a procedural. NBC and CBS are rumored to be shopping for medical procedurals now. All I can say is, cable here I come. Last night, Deadline Hollywood DID report that Fox has signed feature comedy writer John Hamburg to script a comedy series for the network season 2011-12. So somebody's going to step into the primetime programming gap. And not a minute too soon.
Today, just for grins, I went to Youtube to check in on Simon's Cat, the accidental animated short series that has become a viral hit. The last time I checked, the unassuming author/animator Simon Tofield was surprised by the popularity of his comedy sketches and that inspired him to write a book about his naughty cat's adventures. Now he's sitting on a cross-marketing goldmine of greeting cards, books and animated shorts.
Here's an interview with Simon Tofield, which tells the story of how the animated cat star was born and how he animates it with the Wacom tablet from Mac. Pretty cool technology. It's also interesting to watch how Tofield went from doodling on his Wacom tablet, to doing a series of animated shorts to writing a book (the book usually comes first). A lot of people would like to see it go further.
This is one of my favorite Simon's Cat shorts. Based on the comments, I'm not the only cat owner who feels that Tofield totally captures the essence of cat.
I'd love to see this expand into a half-hour TV series or even feature film. That would require Tofield to build a lot more story into the mix and some recurring sidekicks to play off of. It could happen. Tofield already has the recurring character of Simon's Sister's Dog (a chubby little rascal that likes scraps). His first book (which debuted in November 2009) has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide and a second book is set for release in October 2010. Here's a chat interview with Simon from July 2010. You can find more about Simon's work at Tandem Films - an animation studio in the U.K. There are some other cool animator/writers featured there too.
The Facebook movie is coming to a theatre near you (if you live in the U.S) on October 1st. It's based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich - who also wrote the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, which was the basis for the hit movie 21. Mezrich, it turns out, is also a graduate of Harvard.
The screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher (whose next movie is the much anticipated American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
The slogan is "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies". Or, how best friends (a Harvard undergrad and his programmer buddy) become worst enemies. Say what you want about this one, it looks great to me and I'm guessing it's tracking well with the 18-49 group.
Last night I dreamed I worked for Jerry Bruckheimer. No really. And the funny thing is, I did for a brief time just after I graduated from Pepperdine. He and his late partner Don Simpson were just getting going and had a small production office at the front of the Disney lot near the commissary. I came in through a temp agency (OUR GANG), which is no longer in existence, and didn't stay because they were too busy in the backroom to notice I was there. ME, the biggest talent in the room, or so I thought at the time. I had my reasons - a big spread in a newspaper - a music scholarship. Boy did I have a lot to learn...Anyway, I left and wound up working in story for the animated features group - and that changed the trajectory of my life.
So, back to the dream. I was working for Jerry in a chic coffee bar/restaurant. I was the hostess. There was a mystique about the whole set-up because we didn't have any customers. But I still had that feeling that I was hiding enormous talent inside and nobody knew about it. The walls were white, like a pristine canvas all ready for new work. Crisp white tablecloths covered the small square tables. The bar was at the far back of the narrow, rectangular room where an elegant Italian cappuccino machine stood like a centurion in front of the back room. There was a neat stack of simple round highball glasses parked on the counter as well. I brought my mother in to meet Jerry early one evening. She was dressed like The Blue Fairy (and, as many of you know, she literally lives with the angels now). He was charming. Very sweet. I was grateful for that kindness.
Still, we never had a single customer. Just before the dream ended, Jerry whispered something to me. A secret. A really important, special line, which I was clinging to when I woke up because it was simplicity itself. Somehow it was a phrase that turned the light on for me. Now it has slipped back under - lost in the deeps. And yet...I am all but finished with the rewrite of my book. It's resting right now - waiting in a kind of limbo - before I release it to the world. I like to let things rest before calling them done because there are always a few ideas that want to join in at the last moment. In fact, one of them shot up this morning and demanded my attention.
The last few nights I've woken up from a dream just as secrets are being shared. I write morning pages (The Artist's Way exercise) religiously and that has helped me also return to the practice of recording my dreams. Lately, it's as if some great power in the universe is guiding me (which I believe it is). Really profound stuff comes out that if I could just regain consciousness fast enough I'd take down the dictation that's been given and have whole volumes completed without any effort at all. It's profound but it has thus far evaporated with the light of day. I've tried to dive back down to retrieve these treasures but so far have come up almost empty-handed.
I say almost because something precious HAS been given, even if I can't articulate what exactly. As I move through my day I've felt that some magic HAS crept into my life, slipped up from some fissures in the surface and stolen into my life. A few days ago I started on a compilation of short stories. I already have a few of small pieces lying around. Yesterday I started to work in earnest on one idea that I pitched to the Tribeca Film people. I'm having a great time with it and the story is rolling out of me from places unknown. All I really have to do is provide the right conditions (quiet, a pad of paper and pen and an iced cappuccino seem to do the trick). It's really quite exciting.
I love Tony Robbins and was saddened to hear today that NBC pulled his wonderful show Breakthrough with Tony Robbins due to low ratings after only two episodes. I had the great privilege of attending one of the wraparound tapings in L.A. last fall and I can tell you, it was powerful. Fortunately, you can still catch the first two episodes on Hulu. If you want to be inspired, go there and check them out. Here's the link to Tony's special Breakthrough website as well, where you can download a free MP3 and get connected.
Meanwhile, in keeping with Tony's spirit, let's not focus on how nuts it seems to cancel his wonderful show and replace it with a mindless game show. Knowing Tony, he'll use this for something better. According to one one Tony's "tweets" today, the head of NBC said show has a loyal following, would be considered a hit on cable and that mid-summer is not the time to build a show. All specials WILL air, probably on Bravo or MSNBC.
After hearing the news today, I visited Tony's training blog (which is also great) and came across this hysterical video. I don't know how to embed it here, so if you want a great laugh, click the link. Really fun stuff. Tony has entitled it...
A featurette/teaser for part one of the final chapter of the Harry Potter series showed up online a little while ago so I thought I'd share it with you. This won't be out until November - so this is all about building anticipation for the film. It turns out Steve Kloves has written all but one of the Harry Potter films. Somehow that factoid had escaped me until now. Here's the trailer:
What caught my eye earlier today was a Deadline Hollywood story about Steven Zallian adapting The Girl Who Played with Fire. Zallian wrote the first adaptation of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This is a literary property that has taken off - becoming the first book to top 1 million in ebook sales on Amazon's Kindle today and 27 million total so far. The American version of the film is scheduled to start shooting later this year. Here's the trailer to the Swedish film based on the books.
The use of the same writer on blockbuster feature franchises like Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga (which is using Melissa Rosenberg for all five) and Pirates of the Caribbean (which has used Terry Rossio & Ted Elliott for all four) is the new normal. It makes sense. If the writer has a feel for the project and audiences like the film, why mess with success. It's also an efficient way to do business.
Being a big fan of reading and reading exceptional scripts in particular, I'm providing a link to a great site that has free, downloadable scripts by all of these writers. Pretty amazing. Here it is. Happy reading.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
(Wolfgang Von Goethe)
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The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible. For the fainthearted, it is unknown. For the thoughtful and valiant, it is ideal.
Victor Hugo
I know many of my fellows will scoff but plot is important. As a child, I don't ever remember saying "mommy mommy tell me a character study". (Bill Marsilii)
I started out as a singer, followed my bliss out to the west coast and wound up spending a couple of decades in story for film and television in Hollywood. I'm a work in progress (or some say, "a piece of work"). My non-fiction book is now available on Amazon. I'm currently in-work on a collection of original stories written in the form of treatments for film. "Tales from the Hollywood Jungle™" will be out soon!
If you visit this site often you may notice that the blog post you last read has changed. That's because I am in the habit of posting relatively rough drafts first and then editing. Eccentric perhaps but it helps get things out there and sabatoges my inner perfectionist.
The true danger to a film, especially a summer film, is simplicity in that audiences are so smart and so capable that sometimes the films they're watching are kind of beneath them in a way. The audience is much more in danger of being bored than it is being intrigued or involved.
Terry Rossio
Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. (Winston Churchill)
The material itself dictates how it should be written.
