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!
