The Amazing (Story) World of Gumball

I’ve been working on the story world extension of a new show for Cartoon Network called ‘The Amazing World Of Gumball’.

I want to go into lots of detail, but I can’t right now – it’s under wraps until we launch.  The strategy was designed between seasons with a tight team – a handful on strategy from the Cartoon Network’s side, and of course the key creatives from the Gumball team: Ben Bocquelet, James Lamont, Jon Foster & Mic Graves worked on the creative & story lining.

We knew there was value in being in these spaces, but we new whatever we did – it had to be excellent.   The team delivered some truly brilliant comedy – incredibly designed, beautifully written – and importantly – the content adheres to the strength of each publishing platform.

I was able to show some sneak peaks of the campaign to a select few, one of whom was film maker Lance Weiler who suggested I explore the value of transmedia on development process. He will be talking about this (Stories as R&D) at StoryWorld Conference in San Francisco later this year.

I asked writer James Lamont his thoughts on this.    ‘It provided us with an opportunity to closely examine some of the less explored character traits of main characters – most notably Nicole – which has already had an impact on the writing of series 2, even helping to shape the entire plot of one episode.”

Jon Foster (writer) adds, ‘You get to imagine what life is like everyday in Elmore without Gumball necessarily tearing through it causing trouble’.     And in terms of design, director Mic Graves notes ‘(it has given time for) Antoine Perez to play with mood and lighting in his art direction, something that will inform and inspire the work on the second series styling.’

Sorry I can’t say more. (What a tease). But you can read a whole lot more about the development process in the Toonzone interview with Ben here.  And you can check out Gumball’s home made website here.

So begins my investigation into these kind of projects and their influence on the development process.  Alongside marketing, publicity, reach, social engagement and all that jazz – can we add ‘development’ (in a measurable way) to the list of reasons we should commission story world extensions like these?

I will try to come back with more.  And a list of the amazing creative & production Gumball people who worked on this when I can.

In the meantime – Gumball episodes premiere on Monday on Cartoon Network US 7:30/6:30 central.  The rest of world later this year. And the online story world will debut soon…  

Sterling Lack of Insight

Sterling's Golden Waste of Time

Grrrr.

OK, So I’ve been writing a blog today about fictional characters and their portrayal on Twitter & Facebook but … screw that … I need to get something more pressing off my chest.

For those of you who have been following the latest season of Mad Men, you’ll know that Roger’s storyline features the writing of his memoirs – ‘Sterling’s Gold’.  If, like me, you’re a serious fan you would have been excited by the prospect of some Sterling Draper Cooper Price back story to enjoy between seasons 4 and 5.

If, like me, you work in cross media narrative you’ll also be delighted at what was to be such an excellent and simple execution of story world extension.

Except that it isn’t.

‘Sterling’s Gold’ so says one reviewer on Amazon –  ‘is a compilation of lines from the actual show.’.  What?

I’m actually dumbfounded and hoping I’ve missed something, but from the reviews it seems not.  ‘I was expecting a “memoir”, as it was presented in the show. To get 150+ pages of one liners straight from the script was a huge disappointment.’  My feelings exactly.

This is where I would like to rant for a couple of paragraphs about the rape of story and slack interpretation by various IP stakeholders – but I can’t even do that.

It’s repurposed content.  Actually, strike that.  It’s regurgitated content.   A Sterling waste of time.

What a missed opportunity to tease out and seed storylines for the new season.  What a chance tossed away!

This is one of the top US Dramas – and the AMC positioning statement is that:  ‘Story Matters Here’.   They matter on the driving platform apparently, and nowhere else.   Their off-air strategy must read ‘Monetize Loyalty’ (wasn’t it supposed to be ‘reward’?).

What the point?   Just read the fansite ‘What would Roger Do‘, or watch this.

#TransmediaNext

Transmedia Next

On the 7th of September, those bright sparks from Seize the Media came to London to show us what’s what with  their 3 day Transmedia Course – Transmedia Next.

Over 3 fascinating days Anita Ondine, Lance Weiler, David Beard and Inga Von Staden walked us through the mostly practical (but sometimes theoretical) process of creating a transmedia property.   From media architecture and storyworld bibles to manipulation of  metadata, management, the future and more.

As is usual in workshops, we were broken into smaller focus groups -  the objective – write a pitch for a transmedia project.

All pretty straight forward, but for the added excitement of having to acquire our ‘brief ‘ by cracking a series of clues, revealed via code, web links, voice mails and notes pasted in toilets (seriously).

I have run panels, written about and been enthused by the theory of transmedia storytelling for sometime – but in practice it was a challenge.    It was difficult to think about metadata, RFDI chips and code breaking in the same context, or environment as storytelling.

The Group and I discuss Story

We had to rewire our thinking back to a simple place where story was central – but then apply the basics of that to an audience who consume story so very differently.   Keep it simple, but then make it complex enough to engage on new, immersive and constantly evolving levels of engagement.  It’s a bit of a head fuck.

I was lucky to debrief over coffee with Alison Norrington (PHD researcher, transmedia writer, storyteller) and we touched on the difficulties facing writers who want to work in this new environment.    Is there a new breed coming?  There needs to be.

Lance Weiler called transmedia storytelling the return to a more ‘campfire scenario’ where stories become passed down, elaborated on, reinterpreted, and retold.   So here we have flashes of Barthes ‘Death of the Author’ – since text and author are even less related under new storytelling methodology.

As a writer, or a storyteller, once again your creativity is at the heart, but ownership can’t be.

Theory aside, writing the pitch was fun and remarkably easy for this very reason.  After a difficult day and a half, one smart member of our group (the very clever Jean Pierre Magro)  pulled our heads out of the digital  ‘cloud’ and back to the story.  When the story came, the rest followed with relative ease.  (oh, and we won the pitch… !)

So there the course left me.  Pondering story and authored environments.   Invigorated and inspired.

At the lovely venue over looking the Thames, delegates could post transmedia related questions on the window, which other delegates were invited to answer.

It was there, written on a yellow post-it note, I found my perfect description of transmedia storytelling:  ‘Permanent imbalance’.

* Photos c/o Tom Evans

Live Music Finds its Spiritual Home… Online

Arcade Fire Live

Thank god for the Internet.  It means I can gleefully ignore all crap music.

Note: This is not an article about illegal file sharing, the digital economy bill etc etc etc etc…

Sell-outs Arcade Fire (keep up, hipsters) played a live YouTube webcast from Madison Square Garden in New York on August the 5th.

Directed by Terry Gilliam, the Canadian band wowed audiences of up to 10 million with new tracks from critically acclaimed ‘The Suburbs’ as well as a handful of tracks from ‘Funeral’ and ‘Neon Bible’.

Viewers could even switch camera angles and crap like that – a cool alternative to queuing in the rain for 3 hours to get the sweet spot, front row, directly opposite the hot rhythm guitarist.

This gig is forming part of a new series called Unstaged for YouTube.

I’m interested in what’s happening online with music television.  I used to work with the guys at Rockfeedback TV – a true guerilla force in music television, innovative, impeccable taste and not to mention ridiculously young.

They provide an online music service the bigger music networks have yet to rival.   It’s a powerful example of music and television working together and feeding each other.

Creating music content is relatively cheap – no writers, no actors, no rehearsals.   You can usually work with existing stage lighting and plug into the mixing desk for your sound.   Shooting formats are basic – a Z5 or Z7 will do just fine.

Also, unlike almost every other television format, you have a huge obsessive fan base ready to pounce on any new material you release, earnestly sharing with all their friends; such is the highly social and active audience that loves music.

Music TV needn’t be forced to interview the Justin Beibers’ of the world, because the internet has fractured consumers, resulting in an endless bifurcation of taste.   This means Arcade Fire or Fleet Foxes can headline a live internet gig, while on television they would probably be bundled into a Glasto special, or tucked away in C4’s now defunct music night-part.

That isn’t to say that the music industry is booming online in a commercial sense.   But consumers are in the driving seat, heading to small hamlets online specifically catering to their precise taste.

Rockfeedback TV,   Que Pasa for Red Bull, and The Black Cab Sessions are among the ‘fast & furious’ online music channels providing this kind of on demand, but still editorialized content.

And with 10 million viewers tuning in to what basically amounts to an in store album launch – live webcasting and live music are bound forever to be the perfect partners.    I predict a lot more of this to come.

As the music industry and digital content makers continue to find ways to monetize this process, we can just sit back and enjoy.   So much of the music industry is utter, mind bending, illogical crap –the digital expansion is a godsend for those of us who want to swat the buzz.

David Cameron Gets the Paxboy Treatment

When you work in kids TV you don’t get to do many hard-hitting interviews.   But at the Ben 10 Alien Force premiere a couple of years ago,  I cornered David Cameron and set our fiercest political commentator on him.

Check out David Cameron answering tough questions from Jordan Southwell on Gordon Brown, the Economy, and Barack Obama.    A bit of fun for your election hangover, enjoy.

Be Still my Tweeting Heart

Last night, when much of the UK was in a Britains Got Talent frenzy, I found myself glued to twitter, egging on a young man who was on the verge of a fist fight.

‘Kick His Ass Dude!’  I tweeted.   ‘Fight, Fight, Fight’  I chanted!  Way too excited to sleep.    Man… this was gonna get uuuuuugly, and I couldn’t wait.

And he did it.  A proper fight broke out,  and we even got twitpics of the bloody aftermath.

If you havn’t followed it – get your A into G and jump on board with the Royal Shakespeare Company’s live performance of Romeo & Juliet on twitter.

Gripping?  Yep.   They have bloody nailed it.

Nice Guardian write up here, if you’re still unconvinced about twitter and the arts – seriously its here to stay, and people are using it for some really fun, exciting and innovative stuff.

Here’s an idea of what to expect:  @romeo_mo ’2 against one call of duty and still win? Thats how the montagues do it!! BRAPBRAP!’

From @mercuteio ‘Shit. Prince of pussy’s is here (his big sis is quite hot)Better keep @romeo_mo entertained or things could get messy (not Lionel)’

From @tybalt_cap : ‘Look at them. A full on joke. You have to earn a place. They failed from the start. #montaguescum’

From @julietcap16 ‘Jeesh school only finished hall an hour ago and iv already witnessed more drama than I hve all day! A fist fight betwen dad and Tybalt…’

Heaps of fun. And its The Bard, man.  Surely that’s Britain with Talent!

The Story – Retold

Set in the chilly, echoy school Conway Hall, The Story was a paper-cup and brown coat conference celebrating the art of story telling. Russell Davis wrangled the audience, and some chap (sporting the good lord’s finest example of ginger hairiness) ran the techy stuff from small wooden table at the side of the stage. Patchy 3G coverage made tweeting & email checking difficult, and the projector was plonked right next to a guy on the 4^th row who occasionally knocked the base with his foot.

And so the story of the day unfolded….

Cory Doctorow opened the morning to that chair-squeaky, whispery buzz of late arrivals. I nervously realise I can’t get my work emails to download. My mind is busy and Cory is already reading his story. People are still fumbling with newspapers and my chair is uncomfortable. Who is Cory, anyway? Does it matter I’m lost already? I wonder if we’ll go for a drink after. There’s way more men than women here. I wish I’d brought a jumper. Where’s the running order in this paper… who is Cory? Oh, shit. I really really should know him.

What I found most interesting was how long it took me to focus on listening. Sadly, I haven’t a clue what Cory talked about. I only remember the word exoskeleton. But, over the rest of the morning, my mind settles, my thoughts find their rhythm, and I can concentrate on some of the most engaging, inspiring and reflective performances I’ve seen.

Dr Aleks Krotoski’s talk is best summed up by this tweet from @WiredUK ‘Aleks Krotoski just made the room jealous by showing her journeys to i/v every web hero for her BBC2 series’. And her doctorate. And she’s sitting next to Alice Taylor. (who it turns out is married to Cory…)

Jon Spooner discusses neutrinos and the path to madness, leaving us to reflect on this romantic musing: ‘I’m looking forward to finding out at the end of the day what slightly different colour the world might be.’

Then, Tim Etchells wanders on. I’m immediately judging him – he looks bored. His voice sounds bored. But the pace, interrupted only by some well timed slugs on his Evian bottle, is so perfectly meditative, I slowly drift into his story world – filled with detached shadows, napkin art and celebrity. Silence in the hall.

After salty mushroom soup followed by pour-it-yourself complimentary coffee, the gathering is hustled back for more. A quiet buzz is radiating now, and Sydney Padua warms the room with her quiet nerves, and peels back the layers behind comic strip Loveless and Babbage.

Interestingly, Tony White’s talk features a backdrop of extra information, but because my multitasking mind has totally shut down, it’s difficult to follow his slides and his talk at the same time.

More sessions follow, then we break and lunches are eaten, cigarettes are smoked, water is drunk from plastic shot glasses (seriously) and the afternoon commences with a chocolate scramble – creme eggs, kinder surprizes and red delicious apples (!) are tossed into the audience. (evidence care of @willsh)

Tim Wright steals the day with an April fools gag on crack – the attempted deceit of his co-worker in the legendary tale of Harrison Fraud. Hilarious, indulgent, delightful.

Sam Conniff, self-professed marketing wanker (yet not in the slightest) from Livity, told someone else’s tale. The story of Jody Mcintyre a south london journalist & cerebral palsy sufferer who’s climbed Machu Picchu and moved to Gaza to fight for freedom and write hip hop. I get that weird form of inspiration that sits somewhere close to ashamed of myself.   (note: Jody has just messaged me to let me know he doesn’t consider himself a ‘sufferer’.  Please read his story, my words will never do it justice)

Some sessions break the ‘no theory’ rule of the day, and some sessions were storytelling proper – like David Hepworth’s tale of coincidence and patriarchal legacy and the search for the perfect suit.

When I’d finished cleaning away everyone’s coffee cups and half finished sandwiches, I made my way to the Square Pig for a drink feeling totally inspired. I never did check my work email. High-five Matt Locke.

The Story reminded me that in my area of media – cross-platform production – the most engaging way to grow a story is to keep telling it. Never sell the tale, as they say, tell the tale.

___

I’m extreemly jetlagged as I write this, so please forgive me if the re are errors or bad links.

The iPad Has Potential. Period.

Yes, yes, yes.    It has lots of OBVIOUS, IRRITATING flaws that we all know will be slowly, painfully ‘fixed’ one generation at a time.   But, like a hot date with thighs you could crack your fidelity on – it doesn’t really matter what it does right now, you just want to hold it.

The best reviews I could find tonight came from WIRED:  ‘Can Apple’s IPad Save the Media’ - I still firmly believe that if its easy and worth the experience  – people will pay for good media.  And, Gizmodo – who were less complementary – their article got so many hits tonight the page crashed.  Check out 8 Things That Suck About the IPAD.

But for me, its the perfect bedfellow.   I can watch a bit of television with it, listen to some music, read a book, and when I’m done it slots neatly into my knicker drawer.

My iphone is just a little bit small for me to do any ‘real work’ on, and I because I try to avoid ‘real work’ as much as possible – I don’t want to carry a computer – so the IPad just works.  Its pretty,  its the perfect.. ahem.. size, and it almost does all I need.

Its simple, it provides me with all my multimedia requirements, and I don’t need a PHD in Technology to get the best out of it.

So whilst the digi-boys guffaw at the all the shortfalls of the ipad – I say its the perfect partner for a girl like me.

Shame about the inability to multitask.   But isn’t that always the way?

As Good As It Gets – Cinekid 2010

Cinekid 2009 was a total delight.  The fledgling cross-platform market was a great mix of edgy transmedia storytellers, major broadcasters, and indi producers all keen to share ideas and continue to drive home the need for cross-platform strategy at the point of commissioning.

I’m delighted to be a part of the steering committee for Cinekid’s Cross Media Market in 2010, and I would urge any digital evangelists to get their tickets and help continue the story in October.

The event is run by delightful Texan  Alison Cody.

This report from the Kids Screen News Feed.

Kids Industry Execs Back Cinekid

A number of high-profile kid industry execs have come together to join the steering committee of Amsterdam-based Cinekid’s 2010 Junior Cross Media Market to focus on new trends.

Its seven-member committee includes Jeff Gomez, CEO at Starlight Runner Entertainment, Brenda Bisner, licensing director at Cookie Jar Entertainment, Andrew Kerr, executive director of consumer products & marketing international at Classic Media, Rebecca Denton, senior producer EMEA at Turner Broadcasting / Cartoon Network (UK), Alessandro Traverso, VP of commercial development at HIT Entertainment (UK), Lou Murrin-Honore,youth director at Turner Broadcasting / Cartoon Network (France), and Justine Bannister, head of international Sales at TV-Loonland (UK/France).

The market is part of Cinekid for Professionals, a four-day event held yearly in Amsterdam during October during the Cinekid Festival in Amsterdam.

Get Shorty – The Coolness of Twitter

 

Not An Undigified Twit

 

Ricky Gervais recently announced that he didn’t see the point in Twitter.   That’s ok.   I don’t really see the point in his latest movies.   Am I being oversensitive?   Probably, but for those of us that use it daily to share information, thoughts, links, irritations and inspirations – its affronting to be told it sucks.

Admitting I like to tweet makes me feel like a social outcast.   Perilously clinging to the edges of uncool by cheap eyelash glue and a couple of broken finger nails.   Twitter still feels like a dirty secret I share with the woefully unhip and I want to know why.

Having joined and escaped most other social networking sites – I think Twitter is the least uncool of the bunch.  Nothing stinks of social climbing and sparkly desperation more than a myspace site or facebook wall crawling with superlatives and more x’s than a pornographic treasure map.

Not that I’m down on facebook.  It keeps me in touch with friends from home, and allows me to show off that freakishly hot photo someone took of me on a night out 7 years ago.  ‘You look hot’ and ‘I miss you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!!!!!’ among my recent exchanges.    What can I say?  When you visit a place – learn to speak the language.

Twitter – at least in my own experience – is about sharing information with like minded people.  One can follow people, places, businesses, comedians, artists, idiots, kids, porn stars or even (a personal favorite) a 17th century London diarist @samuelpepys

One can share their own random thoughts, interesting blogs and business innovations.  Imagine posting a deconstruction of the spectacularly shortsighted transmedia strategy behind Spiderman on facebook?   If you can, I suspect you don’t have many friends.

Ricky said of Twitter ‘[there is] something a bit undignified about adults using it, particularly celebrities who seem to be showing off by talking to each other in public’.    So perhaps he’s correct when he says he doesn’t get the point.

For now, I don’t have access to sit down and have a boozy lunch with the best creatives in the world like Ricky Gervais does.   But, with Twitter, I can learn what they’re thinking, reading, watching, developing and sometimes, yes, what they had for breakfast.   It isn’t uncool.   For me, that’s the ‘point’ of twitter.

While I’m sure Ricky Gervais creator of The Office & champion of the uncool wasn’t pelting milk cartons at geeks during the 5th grade – infact I rather suspect he has been subject to more than a few wedgies himself – I do think his comments about Twitter were shortsighted, and whilst not bullish – perhaps just a little bit arrogant.

Follow me and my some of favourite twits:  @rebeccasbrain, @guardiantech, @licoricehazel, @henryjenkins, @jeff_gomez, @matlock