Are you a Writer, Producer or Director working in television, film, advertising or gaming? Are you keen to connect with audiences? Do you want to take your work to the next level, whilst identifying fresh approaches to distribution and rollout?

This 2-day workshop is led by internationally renowned story, crossmedia consultant Alison Norrington (BOOTH AT THE END, THE CHATSFIELD, THE LOEDOWN, Walt Disney Imagineering, Coca Cola). Its aim is to introduce you to the exciting possibilities that a digital strategy and experience design could bring to your projects.

Bring along a 1-2 page treatment that you're currently working on (if you have one, it's not compulsory), and over two days Alison will guide you through:

• The fundamentals of story, and why they’re more important now in an age where storytelling is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
• How to expand your storyline over timelines, territories and audiences.
• How to engage audiences through combining story and gameplay.
• How to take advantage of evolving and emerging opportunities with upcoming Multi Channel Networks, taking case studies and business models from Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu.
• How to prove your concept, create pre-awareness campaigns and work with your audience to convert them into collaborators.
• Ideas for retaining ownership of your work whilst identifying additional revenue streams.

Featuring practical, hands-on exercises, the weekend is loaded with real case studies from film and TV, including Warner Bros THE DARK KNIGHT, HOUSE OF CARDS, MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD, A.I, HUNGER GAMES, LOST, DR WHO, STAR WARS and HARRY POTTER.

Why crossplatform? 

So what is transmedia storytelling? And why is it important?

Behaviours around shows such as DOCTOR WHO, MISFITS and LOST have proven that audiences have a fundamental desire to be in sync with each other. HOUSE OF CARDS, BREAKING BAD and TRANSPARENT - these are all examples of shows that have allowed networks, studios and filmmakers to witness the emergence of new kinds of audience behaviour, both on and offline – binge viewing, pledge viewing, reality show event-style shows, amongst others.There is a clear hunger for long-term serialized content; content that creates a deep sense of immersion and serves audiences hungry for a relationship with a story and its characters.

Transmedia was born from an approach to telling stories in the digital age, across a strategic series of platforms with each platform adding a fresh dimension to the story and not simply repurposed content. It’s an effective way to engage audiences into a narrative, but when coupled with serialized storytelling, proves to be an extremely effective means to creating an immersive experience. This works for film in a different way than it does for television, requiring a ‘runway’ or pre-awareness that engages audiences in advance and a consideration of what to do with an engaged community once the credits are rolling!

There is a strong evolution of dialogue between storytellers and audiences and it is critical for studios, broadcasters, networks, publishers and game developers to have writers and producers that are educated in crossplatform narratives and interactive storytelling. Studios, networks and broadcasters know that audiences are responsive to narratives that weave an experience and truly put them in a character's shoes. The fundamentals of storytelling remain unchanged, however this is a fresh approach to storytelling when viewed with a keen eye to audience, genre, pacing and platforms.

COURSE OUTLINE

Day One

Thematic storytelling

• The importance of fundamentals of thematic storytelling.
• How to create experience design around your theme.
• Exploration of themes in blockbuster storyworlds.
• Fundamentals of story & core concepts.

Creating Epic storyworlds

• Building a Storyworld.
• Genre influences.
• Character-centric storytelling.

Day Two

Audiences and experience design

• Audience behaviours and fans.
• Story as play.
• Points of entry, immersion & interaction.
• Approaching story like a game developer.
• User-generated content.

Platforms, rollout & distribution

• Execution strategies.
• Rollout strategies, pacing and timing.
• Identifying partners and sponsors.

Testimonials

"Thank you for the amazing opportunity to engage with ideas, story and commerce. Great to get to see how you are able create such productive environments that allow for a diversity of voices and visions. I felt very fortunate to be involved.”
Loretta Todd, Director, Producer, Writer - storycentralLABS with SundanceTV – 2014

"Attending this event was an absolute pleasure. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised at every step... I learned so much in such a short amount of time.”
Bella Sie - storycentralLABS with SundanceTV - 2014