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Transmedia Storytelling | MIT Technology ReviewBy Henry Jenkins on January 15, 2003

Several years ago, I asked a leading producer of animated features how much

creative control his team exerted over the games, toys, comics, and other

products that deployed their characters. I was reassured that the distribution

company handled all such ancillary materials. I saw the movement of content

across media as an enhancement of the creative process. He saw it as a

distraction or corruption.

This past month, I attended a gathering of top creatives from Hollywood and thegames industry, hosted by Electronic rts! they were discussing how to

collaboratively develop content that would play well across media. This meeting

reflected a growing reali"ation within the media industries that what is variously

called transmedia, multiplatform, or enhanced storytelling represents the future

of entertainment. #et$s face it% we have entered an era of media convergence that

makes the flow of content across multiple media channels almost inevitable. The

move toward digital effects in film and the improved &uality of video game

graphics means that it is becoming much more realistic to lower production costsby sharing assets across media. Everything about the structure of the modern

entertainment industry was designed with this single idea in mind'the

construction and enhancement of entertainment franchises.

nd the push isn$t (ust coming from the big media companies. The kids who

have grown up consuming and en(oying )okemon across media are going to

expect this same kind of experience from The *est *ing as they get older. +y

design, )okemon unfolds across games, television programs, films, and books,with no media privileged over any other. or our generation, the hour'long,

ensemble'based, seriali"ed drama was the pinnacle of sophisticated storytelling,

but for the next generation, it is going to seem, well, like less than child$s play.

-ounger consumers have become information hunters and gatherers, taking

pleasure in tracking down character backgrounds and plot points and making

connections between different texts within the same franchise. nd in addition,

all evidence suggests that computers don$t cancel out other media! instead,

computer owners consume on average significantly more television, movies,/s, and related media than the general population.

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8/13/2019 Transmedia Storytelling MIT Technology Review

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*hile the technological infrastructure is ready, the economic prospects sweet,

and the audience primed, the media industries haven$t done a very good (ob of

collaborating to produce compelling transmedia experiences. Even within the

media conglomerates, units compete aggressively rather than collaborate. Each

industry sector has speciali"ed talent, but the conglomerates lack a common

language or vision to unify them. The current structure is hierarchical% film unitsset licensing limits on what can be done in games based on their properties. t

the same time, film producers don$t know the game market very well or respect

those genre elements which made something like Tomb 0aider successful. *e

need a new model for co'creation'rather than adaptation'of content that crosses

media.

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