It’s been a little over two months since I left my day job, and one of the wonderful discoveries I’ve made is that being a free agent gives me the opportunity to do all sorts of work with all sorts of different companies. (And work on my novel. Yes, that.) Over the summer I hooked up with Massiverse, a transmedia entertainment company based in New York, to help them prepare for their first big announcement: Dragons Vs Robots, a sci-fi/fantasy franchise designed for kids ages 9-14.
What’s transmedia, you ask? It’s a neat—and potentially very profitable—way of telling a story that uses multiple formats to draw out different parts of the narrative. As a writer, this concept excites me in an almost cosmic way, because I’ve always loved the idea that stories and characters exist in some other reality, and it’s the writer’s job to channel that reality and transcribe it. The idea of transmedia stimulates the same part of my brain that thought it was eerie-yet-awesome that all of JD Salinger’s characters, across all of his different novels and even some short stories, seemed to know each other. (Well, except for Holden Caufield. Whatever. Who’s even read Catcher in the Rye, anyway?)
This morning Massiverse formally announced Dragons Vs Robots with the unveiling of an online battle game and manga series, both of which are available for free at the Dragons Vs Robots website. A feature film is in the works (in collaboration with Jinks/Cohen Productions of American Beauty fame), along with young adult novels, online webisodes, toys, and a trading card line—all of which will tell the Dragons Vs Robots narrative in different ways, with stories intersecting and in some cases changing based on user participation. The results of the online battle game will influence the overall narrative. The toys and trading cards will link back to the online universe. From a business standpoint, it makes for many potential entry points and revenue streams, but even more exciting to me is the storytelling potential. Ambitious stuff.
If you’re curious about Dragons Vs Robots, here are some links to explore:
Oh, and I’m a dragon, if you were wondering.
Dragons rule! Robodragon is more awesome though. ;)
It’s good to see you excited about it and I agree it sounds very intriguing from a writers standpoint. I always thought it was crossmedia, not transmedia though. :p
Good luck with this new gig, it sounds pretty fun to work on.