Day One Archive

DAY ONE: SHOCK AND AWE!

Published: October 2, 2009Tags:

ShockAndAwe!

On this blog I scribble about the changing media landscape. About how audience behaviors are forcing storytellers and media companies to adjust how they do business.

I have an amazing new show at NBC called: DAY ONE. It is the story of ordinary people working together to save the world from an extraordinary threat. Though Day One’s prime time adventures are simple and compelling, its mythology is vast and designed to be experienced across multiple media platforms. A new kind of transmedia epic.

Day One’s two hour pilot episode has been filmed and looks awesome. NBC ordered more episodes and scheduled the series launch for spring 2010. But over the past couple of weeks, much of the new Fall TV season has rolled out and the ratings have rolled in. Clearly, launching a new scripted series in prime-time on a broadcast network has never been more challenging. The message was clear…

For Day One to have the greatest chance of long term success, a new launch model was needed.

Working closely with NBC’s creative team, I came up with something very exciting. We’re taking the thirteen hours of story that was to be drawn out over as many weeks, and making four hours of spectacular entertainment. Showing it over two nights in a row. It’s the miniseries model. A contained story. Easy to market and promote. Asking the audience to make a finite commitment: Show up at this time on these two nights and watch something incredible. If you like it, we will make more.

As the show’s creator, I no longer have to worry about my story being interrupted mid-stream by a knee-jerk shift to another night or time slot. I don’t have to worry about any Day One fans being disappointed if the last couple of episodes never make to the air. Now, all I need to worry about is making something that doesn’t suck.

Stay tuned!

DAY ONE’S TRANSMEDIA ASSAULT BEGINS!

Published: September 2, 2009Tags:

day_one_nbc

As anyone who could possibly have any interest in reading the wonky text of this blog surely knows — I’m obsessed with the transmedia approach to telling a story. Extending a movie narrative, video game fiction, or any story universe, across multiple media platforms simultaneously. This approach has the potential to reach a broad audience on their platform of choice, allowing fans to immerse themselves in rich content.

So, when I created DAY ONE, my new television series for NBC, I very much had in mind all of the various media platforms where my story might find a home: on the web, DVD, comic books, novels, globally, gaming, toys, etc. I’ve done this transmedia thing before, working with cool ideas that other people have created, but DAY ONE is my first opportunity to embed the transmedia approach and culture into the DNA of the original concept.

While DAY ONE the television series is what I like to call “THE MOTHERSHIP”, it can only accommodate a very specific piece of the massive DAY ONE story and mythology I’ve created. Over the last few months I’ve been working with NBC’s amazing licensing group to find creative innovative partners willing to take a leap of faith and collaborate with me and my team, taking transmedia storytelling to the next level.

The first of these exciting collaborations happened yesterday. A well known and award winning creative professional from a medium other than television — came into the show’s writers room and collaborated with me and my amazing staff on content for their slice of DAY ONE’s transmedia pie. Working under my supervision, within a defined creative box, playing to the strengths of this creator and their platform of choice — we created relevant, original, and exclusive content that will be canon for the DAY ONE universe.

As a proof of concept event — the success of yesterday was huge. My vision of a respectful collaboration between creative professionals with different skillsets ain’t crazy — it’s awesome!

DAY ONE TRAILER LEAKED!

Published: July 7, 2009Tags:

Oy. The trailer has leaked for my new NBC show DAY ONE. This version was done for NBC’s UPFRONT presentation to advertisers in NYC last May. At that time we were still shooting the pilot. So all the clips in here were shot during the first couple weeks of production. The VFX shots in this baby were all done specifically for the upfronts and many of them will be highly different in the show. The music is temporary of course. And… oh well… just insert your own insecure writer/creator excuse here. I hope people like it and there is soooooo much more yet to come!

DAY ONE!

Published: May 4, 2009Tags:

Long time no post. Just wanted to leave a quick note about my new pilot for NBC: DAY ONE. This morning, NBC announced DAY ONE would be part of their schedule in 2009-2010. It’s fantastic news. A great punch-line to an eventful period in my professional life.

“DAY ONE
From executive producer/writer Jesse Alexander (“Heroes,” “Lost,” “Alias”) and director Alex Graves (“Fringe,” “Journeyman”), “Day One” tells the story of life on earth following a global catastrophe that has devastated the world’s infrastructures. Beginning with the immediate aftermath of the cataclysmic event, an eclectic band of survivors — played by Adam Campbell (“Date Movie”), Catherine Dent (“The Shield”), Julie Gonzalo (“Eli Stone”), David Lyons (“ER”), Derek Mio (“Greek”), Carly Pope (“24″), Thekla Reuten (“Sleeper Cell”) and Addison Timlin (“Cashmere Mafia”) — strives to rebuild society as they unravel the mysteries of what happened and face their uncertain future. The group, all residents of one apartment building in suburban Van Nuys, Calif., embarks on a quest for survival and discovers that hope is found in small victories — and heroes are born every day. “Day One” is a Universal Media Studios production. ”

Many of the ideas I’ve talked about on this blog will be part of the DAY ONE experience. I’ll do my best to chronicle my future transmedia efforts on GlobalCouch but as I’ve found while shooting the pilot — my days are quite full.

I will certainly continue to use my TWITTER for timely updates and try to post some awesome photos (SPOILER FREE!) I’ve taken during the production of the pilot episode.

You can find the photos here: www.libertypark.tv

Take care!

Jesse

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