Houston Howard sees the entertainment market now, not last week, not last year, not 1997 (the year he enjoys referring to) but NOW. Today. This very second.
Co-founder of One 3 Creative, Houston specialises in creating stories, immersing audiences and building communities for entertainment projects, literally across the boards. He has written two books, Make your story really stinkin’ big, and You’re gonna need a bigger story, and hosts The Super Story podcast.
What is Transmedia ?
I have to confess. I started watching this session expecting very little would be relevant to me (I’m exactly the person who needs to hear what Houston has to say). I thought he’d be referring to VR or brand merchandise and such. Houston quickly clarifies transmedia means none of this.
What he wants us to think about is how our stories can play across broadcast media, books, games, virtually anything that can be used as a medium for storytelling. To hear him explain how even a shower curtain can be co-opted into this thinking is joyous. This is IP or Brand, but better.
He calls it Super Story.
Why Super Story ?
Like so much of our current culture, he was introduced to the concept through a love of Star Wars when he was a kid, and the cross platform tie-in books he used to read. And this is the distinction that’s important.
Transmedia isn’t about retelling our story on a different platform – it is not adaptation.
It is about having multiple stories across multiple platforms, all feeding into the one universe.
He still thinks films are “ the load bearing walls’ of this whole thing. So you still need them, and need them written well (he doesn’t let us off that old chestnut). But thinking in Super Story gives a scale and energy to your ideas that the original story could never contain on its own. He describes this as game changing, and he’s right.
What kind of Bridge are you ?
Houston, by way of a great image of two bridges, illustrates what the gatekeepers see when they look at us and our stories. No matter how well your writing and ideas, if you have some Super Story Brand, some IP already established around it you are going to appear a more attractive proposition, a lower risk option.
Why is this important?
For the first time ever, we have reached a point in entertainment history where supply has outstripped demand. No one can ever watch, read, play everything available.
This is a phenomenon I’ve heard described as Entertainment Debt, where we all carry with us a great long list of stuff we haven’t got around to ‘enjoying’ yet. (I haven’t seen Game of Thrones – I know, I know, It’s on the list, mea culpa).
In such a saturated market, how do you make your story stand out and appeal to both makers and audience? Thinking in Super Story could lift your ideas above the noise and bring audiences to them.
Why is this important to us ?
Because WE CAN DO THIS. We can create the brand, the audience recognition, the traction for our ideas right now, at home. Houston isn’t advocating learning new skills (although if not now, when?) He champions using what you can already do, to create cross platform energy, and an audience pre-awareness that you can carry forward into that all important pitch.
This LSF365 Blog, right here, could be considered a perfect manifestation of this, where others get to pick up the main story of the sessions and retell them from their own view point, and thus add to the overall energy. LSF365 is Super Story in action.
This is a session I could easily have passed on, but I am seriously glad I didn’t. Rather than what I was expecting, i.e. interesting insight into a particular way of working, this grew into something that literally left my mind fizzing with ideas and possibilities.
When not writing Keith works as Designer / Supervising Art Director in the Art Dept. A department ever writer should get to know as we are the first dept to make your words a reality. Recent credits :- Operation Mincemeat – Sea Saw Films. Blithe Spirit – Fred Films. Temple – Hera Pictures / Sky Atlantic. A Private War – Thunder Road Productions.
