USA Creates A New #Multiplatform ‘Social’ Storytelling Initiative For Smash Hit Series “Covert Affairs” | TVbytheNumbers

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USA CREATES A NEW MULTIPLATFORM ‘SOCIAL’ STORYTELLING INITIATIVE FOR SMASH HIT SERIES “COVERT AFFAIRS”

Highly Interactive Six-Week Digital Episode Features Extensive Original Content

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 2, 2011 USA Network today announced the launch of the COVERT AFFAIRS Tweetcast: Mission Budapest, an interactive, multiplatform digital narrative designed to enrich the Covert Affairs audience experience and offer fans an exclusive, expanded look into the inner workings of the CIA. Developed by the creators and writers behind the series, the Tweetcast will star COVERT AFFAIRS’ Christopher Gorham as Auggie Anderson, and will unfold over six weeks in real-time on TWEETCAST.USANETWORK.COM and via the COVERT AFFAIRS series Facebook page. By harnessing the power of social media, the episodic adventure will create a unique ongoing storytelling experience through daily tweets, original videos, photos, audio streams, and classified documents. In addition to an engaging storyline, the new media platform will provide unprecedented interactivity opportunities, offering fans the unique ability to influence the mission and weigh in on the final resolution of the story, which will be unveiled during the third all-new episode of COVERT AFFAIRS on Tuesday, July 12.

 

“At USA, we are always looking for innovative ways to engage audiences and expand the series’ narrative beyond the weekly telecast,” said Alexandra Shapiro, senior vice president brand marketing and digital for USA. “We believe the social landscape is the new frontier in storytelling and offers unlimited possibilities for creating organic and complimentary extensions to our hit franchises.”

 

The Tweetcast will immerse fans in the world of COVERT AFFAIRS by centering on CIA Tech Operative-In-Charge Auggie (Christopher Gorham), offering a glimpse into what he does when he’s not “running” Annie Walker. The story will center on Auggie’s management of CIA operatives on a top-secret mission in Budapest, Hungary. When a simple intelligence-gathering exercise hits a dangerous snag, the assignment becomes a complex, high-stakes mission. As the story proceeds, audiences will get a taste of spycraft and will be given the opportunity to participate in the action by retweeting and responding to specific story points.

 

This project was a perfect opportunity to dive even deeper into the world of COVERT AFFAIRS and provide fans with an experience that puts them right in the center of the action” said executive producer Doug Liman.  “I always strive to create immersive stories, and with this Tweetcast we were able to push that concept in a new direction by creating an experience that allows the player to not just watch the story unfold, but actually shape it.”

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Love the Innovation of This Multi-Platform Motion Picture: HERE | A Braden King Film | Official Selection Sundance 2011

HERE [ THE STORY DREAMS ] is a live, dynamic deconstruction of HERE [ THE FEATURE FILM ]. A multi-screen, hybrid film-concert that explores the dreamlife of cinematic narrative, HERE [ THE STORY SLEEPS ] functions on several formal, narrative and conceptual levels at once, transcending all manner of media and audience borderlines.

As a continuing series of live events produced in association with Pomegranate Arts, HERE [ THE STORY DREAMS ] represents an evolving collaboration between filmmaker Braden King, composer Michael Krassner, the Boxhead Ensemble and projection designer Deborah Johnson. An early version of the piece, THE STORY IS STILL ASLEEP, premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival (while HERE [ THE FEATURE FILM ] was still in development); an interim version was recently featured as the sold-out opening night event of the Creative Capital exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Work on the piece continued during a residency at Mass MoCA in June, 2010; HERE [ THE STORY DREAMS ] will tour internationally in 2011.

HERE | A Braden King Film starring Ben Foster and Lubna Azabal | Official Selection Sundance 2011

Mark Harris on The Lost Children & Multi-Faceted Storytelling | The Filmmaker Magazine Blog

The IFP’s Cross-Media ForumNYC is coming up April 19, and, as it approaches, several of its participants will be blogging for Filmmaker. Today’s first post is from Mark Harris, who will be presenting his new project, The Lost Children, at the event. Click on the link above for more info and tickets.


One of the things that excites me the most about “Cross-media,” “Transmedia” or whatever it is, is the idea of telling a story in many different ways. I know this may not fit into a lot of peoples’ definitions of these terms, but it’s an opportunity, I think.

Face on Mars

The "Face" on Mars

When I say telling a story in many different ways, I mean using Stanslavsky’s “magic if” in a slightly different way. For instance, the feature film THE LOST CHILDREN, treats the story of Evelyn Hamilton as a documentary. The events in the film are told as if they may all be in the protagonist’s head, and they may not. The “found footage” model is perfect for a case like this, where we want to audience to interpret what they’re seeing on screen. This is what makes things like UFOs, the “Face” on Mars, “Nessy” so exciting to us. These images that are not clearly distinguishable, so our imaginations go to work and build stories around them. That’s what I wanted in the feature film of THE LOST CHILDREN. I wanted to meet the audience half-way, and ask them to bring their imaginations to the table.

So the feature film makes certain assumptions about the universe the story is set in. But, what excites me about ”Cross-media,” “Transmedia” or whatever is that the other platforms you tell a story on, are under no obligation to conform to that universe. One of the things I will talk about at the Cross media forum on April 19th is how we’re going to try having other platforms make entirely different assumptions about the universe of the story. So one platform might assume that it’s all real. Another platform might assume it’s all in people’s heads.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about this one!

Universal Lands Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’ And Plans Unprecedented Feature/Network TV Adaptation – Deadline.com

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television Entertainment have closed a deal to turn Stephen King’s mammoth novel series The Dark Tower into a feature film trilogy and a network TV series, both of which will be creatively steered by the Oscar-winning team behind A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code.

Ron Howard has committed to direct the initial feature film, as well as the first season of the TV series that will follow in close proximity. Akiva Goldsman will write the film, and the first season of the TV series. Howard’s Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce, with Goldsman and the author.

When Deadline revealed in April that Howard, Goldman and Grazer planned to team with King, Universal was battling Warner Bros—home of Goldsman’s Weed Road--for the property. The multi-platform deal was so comprehensive, it took months to close. It will be announced later today by Universal Pictures chairman Adam Fogelson, co-chairman Donna Langley, NBC Universal Television Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin, and NBC & Universal Media Studios Primetime Entertainment president Angela Bromstad, all of whom pulled it together.

I spoke with Goldsman and Howard, who have polled enough of their peers to be convinced what they are doing here has never been attempted: using a major studio’s film and TV platforms simultaneously to tell a story. It is reminiscent of when Peter Jackson directed three installments of The Lord of The Rings, back to back, so that they could be released in three consecutive years.

“What Peter did was a feat, cinematic history,” Howard told me. “The approach we’re taking also stands on its own, but it’s driven by the material. I love both, and like what’s going on in TV. With this story, if you dedicated to one medium or another, there’s the horrible risk of cheating material. The scope and scale call for a big screen budget. But if you committed only to films, you’d deny the audience the intimacy and nuance of some of these characters and a lot of cool twists and turns that make for jaw-dropping, compelling television. We’ve put some real time and deep thought into this, and a lot of conversations and analysis from a business standpoint, to get people to believe in this and take this leap with us. I hope audiences respond to it in a way that compels us to keep going after the first year or two of work. It’s fresh territory for me, as a filmmaker.”

Considered King’s answer to JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth trilogy, The Dark Tower revolves around Roland Deschain, the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers, and humanity’s last hope to save a civilization that will crumble unless he finds the Dark Tower. Howard and Goldsman describe the world as “an alternate Americana, one part post-apocalyptic, one part Sergio Leone.”

Goldsman first mentioned The Dark Tower to Howard and Grazer while they worked on A Beautiful Mind nearly a decade ago.

“Akiva said, ‘Stephen will not let go of it, but it’s like nothing else you’ve ever read,’” Howard recalled. “It was frustrating because it’s one of those works where you read it, and then at odd times, the imagery and sensations just pop up in your mind. This is going to be an amazing life experience for us, trying to do justice to the story and the universe.”

King granted an option—for $19, a number relevant to the plotline--to JJ Abrams and his Lost partners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. They never cracked the sprawling plotline and all the characters. Goldsman pounced when the rights were available, but saw the same problems until Howard suggested using film and TV platforms. Though Howard famously grew up on a TV screen on The Andy Griffith Show, he hasn’t directed TV since the early 80s, but is eager to return. It seems hard to fathom he'd direct a full season's worth of episodes, but that is the early plan, and who says they have to do 22 to create that bridge to the next film?  

The plan is to start with the feature film, and then create a bridge to the second feature with a season of TV episodes. That means the feature cast—and the big star who’ll play Deschain—also has to appear in the TV series before returning to the second film. After that sequel is done, the TV series picks up again, this time focusing on Deschain as a young gunslinger. Those storylines will be informed by a prequel comic book series that King was heavily involved in plotting. The third film would pick up the mature Deshain as he completes his journey. They will benefit from being able to use the same sets cast and crew for the movie and TV, which could help contain costs on what will be a financially ambitious undertaking.

"We will certainly be looking to maximize both creative and fiscal opportunities by creating one enterprise that encompasses TV and movies," Goldsman said. "Some of the shooting will likely encompass both platforms, and that has never been done before. It's thrilling, we feel like kids in a candy story."

Goldsman is writing, and Howard said he and Grazer have cleared the decks to do this quickly. “I’m finishing The Dilemma, and then I don’t have anything scheduled and I plan to work hard on this with Akiva and Brian,” Howard told me. “We will refine our take on the feature and TV shows. We have a clear view of what we want to do, and we’re lucky to have a company with the nerve to back us up on this venture.”

Howard, Grazer and Goldsman will exec produce the TV series for Universal Media Studios. Kerry Foster will exec produce the first film for Weed Road, along with Imagine's Todd Hallowell and Erica Huggins.