Flash mobbing hits the Olympics! And I love that everyone is wearing their fabulous red mittens. I have red mittens, but I wasn't invited.

Another view:

Flash mobbing hits the Olympics! And I love that everyone is wearing their fabulous red mittens. I have red mittens, but I wasn't invited.

Check this out. A trailer for the new Playstation game Heavy Rain. It's is interactive and your choices move you quite seamlessly through a series of videos to tell a little story. Very cool.

To return to the beginning of the video experience and start again, click here.

The promotion for the game also included a 4 day "online experience" which got you detecting and hunting for the Origami killer. Unfortunately, the experience is over but you can still explore the events.

It seems to be my media coverage day because Google alerts turned up two quotes for me this morning.

I'm quoted in a Hollywood Reporter article on the Canadian Film Centre talking about the NBC Universal MultiPlatform Matchmaking Program:

NBC Universal, which, like rival U.S. networks, has looked abroad for content, is also backing the CFC's multiplatform matchmaking program. Here Canadian industry veterans challenge tradition by hot-housing new crossover digital media product in the course of one week. Story2.OH creator Jill Golick, a previous participant in the CFC multiplatform program, says each experimental lab immerses professionals from diverse fields in an alternative universe free of commercial constraints to collaborate on next-generation creative ventures.

"We will all have to work together one day, so the time to develop a new creative language and ways to work together might as well be now," she says.

Close enough. When Etan Vlessing interviewed me about the program I took last March, I told him that it was the best creative experience of my life. Sponsored by NBC Universal under the auspices of the CFC, the lab is run by the amazing Frank Boyd of Crossover UK. The participants usually come from distinctly different backgrounds -- half from an interactive/digital environment and the other half from the tv/film world. Over the course of a week, the two groups become one, first mapping out their shared understanding of the current media landscape and then working together to develop projects which draw on their shared skill sets. One of the most important features of the program is that it gives participants -- who have completely different work experiences -- a method for working together and communicating. I'm not quite sure I said the words "one day" or "might as well be now", but I did mention the importance of developing a creative language to help us all work together.

MMP is just one of the many great programs running at the CFC that Etan's piece describes. Well worth the read and it's international recognition that the CFC definitely deserves.

The other article which quotes me is in ITbusiness.ca and it covers my participation in Interactive Ontario's iLunch on February 16, 2010:

Screenwriter Jill Golick, another panellist, has more than 200 hours of TV work behind her. Now working as a digital strategist for organizations, she explores the edges of new media through her [company] Story2.OH.

For this month's social media week in Toronto, Golick and colleagues created a "live comedy soap opera" as a learning experience called Crushing It, which also illustrates the potential of new media.

Quite a few of the details about the Crushing It story are wrong ("The plot line included a mother, her daughter, a pregnant girl wondering who the father is and assorted friends.") but the gist of the quotes are bang on:

"The really cool thing was that you could talk to the characters, and they would talk back to you," Golick said. "You could give them advice … and if they had a good suggestion the characters would put it into action." In addition, the creators could ask for ideas to encourage readers to join in, such as asking what to name the baby and whether the parent should get married.

"There was a real sense from the audience they could influence the story."

Now that I've done my star turn, I suppose I should go back to shoveling snow.

Everything's coming up digital, how about you?

It's in the air. The producer's association just devoted their conference to the "new media". The Independent Production Fund is financing linear web video. The Canada Media Fund will be calling for a second platform for all the television series it finances and offering a second "experimental" stream for innovative projects that don't even have a broadcast license. The WGAw just signed its 33 online content copmpany. It goes on and on...

What about you? Are you creating something new and multi-platform? Or hipper still, a transmedia production? Are you writing and producing a web series? Tell me all about it. I want to know. Plus, it's great to start promoting your project from the very very beginning so that you have an audience waiting and hungry by the time your production is ready. So give me the deets.

Comments are open.

Today, the Writers Guild of Canada announced the finalists for the 2010 WGC Screenwriting Awards. I thrilled and excited to see so many friends nominated. Good luck to all.

Animation

Grossology "New Recruits." Written by Richard Clark

Total Drama Action "Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen." Written by Alex Ganetakos

League of Super Evil “Glory Hog." Written by Philippe Ivanusic-Vallee and Davila LeBlanc

Total Drama Action "The Sand Witch Project." Written by Shelley Scarrow

Preschool and Childrens

Max and Ruby "Max Says Goodbye." Written by Kate Barris

Max and Ruby "Ruby's Good Neighbor Report." Written by Shelley Hoffman & Robert Pincombe

Zigby "Zigby's Collection." Written by Louise Moon

Documentary

Malls R Us (Feature Version). Written by Helene Klodawsky

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet - 40 Years of One Night Stands. Narration Written by Robert Lower

A Time There Was: Stories from the Last Days of Kenya Colony. Narration Written by Donald McWilliams

Episodic half-hour

Less Than Kind "The Daters." Written by Garry Campbell

Less Than Kind "Fun." Written by Jenn Engels

Less Than Kind "Happy Birthday Sheldon." Written by Marvin Kaye & Chris Sheasgreen

Less Than Kind "Careers Day." Written by Mark McKinney

Corner Gas "Shirt Disturber." Written by Kevin White & Norm Hiscock

MOW & Mini-Series

The Summit. Written by John Krizanc

Paradise City: Degrassi Goes Hollywood. Story by Vera Santamaria, Matt Huether, Sara Snow / Teleplay by Vera Santamaria, Matt Huether, Sarah Glinski, Sara Snow

Guns (part 1 and 2). Written by Sudz Sutherland & Jennifer Holness

Feature Film

High Life. Written by Lee MacDougall

A Shine of Rainbows. Written by Vic Sarin & Catherine Spear and Dennis Foon

The Trotsky. Written by Jacob Tierney

Love and Savagery. Written by Des Walsh

Crackie. Written by Sherry White

Episodic one hour

Stargate Universe "Time." Written by Robert C. Cooper

Flashpoint "One Wrong Move." Written by Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern & James Hurst

ZOS: Zone of Separation "Bred in the Bone." Written by John Krizanc

Cra$h & Burn "Trust." Written by Jackie May

Murdoch Mysteries "Mild Mild West." Written by Derek Schreyer

ZOS: Zone of Separation "Shallow Graves." Written by Jason Sherman

Radio Drama

Afghanada "Episode 65." Written by Alex Levine

Afghanada "Episode 61." Written by Barbara Samuels

Short Subject

Being Erica I "Webisodes." Written by Jessie Gabe

My Pal Satan "Cheaters Never Perspire." Written by Dennis Heaton

How People Got Fire. Written by Daniel Janke

Variety

This Hour Has 22 Minutes XVII “Episode 6.” Head Writer: Ed Macdonald / Written by Mark Critch, Gavin Crawford, Kyle Tingley, Albert Howell, Dean Jenkinson, Joanne O'Sullivan, Tara Doyle, Erik Van Wyck, Mike Allison, Joey Case

This Hour Has 22 Minutes XVII “Episode 8.” Head Writer: Ed Macdonald / Written by Mark Critch, Kyle Tingley, Albert Howell, Shaun Majumder, Dean Jenkinson, Geri Hall, Joanne O'Sullivan, Tara Doyle, Erik Van Wyck, Mike Allison, Stephen Patterson

The Ron James Show “Episode 7.” Written by Ron James, Garry Campbell, Brian Hartt, Mark De Angelis, Chris Finn, David MacKenzie, Paul Pogue, Gary Pearson, Jennifer Whalen

Rick Mercer Report VI “Episode 17.” Written by Rick Mercer, Irwin Barker, Greg Eckler, Chris Finn, Paul Mather, Tim Steeves

Youth

How to Be Indie "How to Be a Mehta." Written by Anita Kapila

The Latest Buzz "The Wonderful World of Buzz Issue." Written by Brent Piaskoski

Family Biz "Breakaway." Written by Sheila Prescott

The Latest Buzz "The Comeback Issue." Written by Darrin Rose

How to Be Indie "How to Strike a Balance." Written by Vera Santamaria

The 14th annual WGC Screenwriting Awards will be held on April 19th, 2010.

You watched Hailey Hacks Google Maps, now check out the map!

View Hailey's Haida Gwaii Project in a larger map

To make the video, we made a map and now you can find it on Google Maps. If you're starting a project on the Haida or just interested in learning to use Google Maps, it's a great resource to go along with the video.

The lastest episode of Hailey Hacks is online. Master Google Maps and make them your own!

The lastest episode of Hailey Hacks is online. Master Google Maps and make them your own!

Tomorrow I head to Ottawa to take part in the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association’s Prime Time Conference. I will be part of the panel scheduled for Friday morning 11am – 12:15 pm in the Confederation III room on the Future of Storytelling.

Now I have to think of something to say on the subject. Here are some of my thoughts so far:

1. There will be a future of storytelling

Humans have always told stories and have always used every media available to them. From cave walls and the ballads of the wandering minstrels through dance, film, graphic novels and for me, most recently, Twitter, people like to tell stories and they like to consume them. The digital media are new palettes for our tales and there’s lots of cool new forms of story emerging. But like any new medium it may take audiences a while to become literate.

2. Media literacy affects the tale, but audiences adapt quickly

The media literacy of our audiences is important to how we tell them our stories. When I first began working on Sesame Street in the 80s, the research told us that kids weren’t literate enough in the language of film to follow plots and sub-plots. Remembering and following the arc’ed story that ran through the “street” segments was a hurdle for the youngest viewers. We were mindful of cutting techniques and worked hard to simplify our storytelling. Then along came Teletubbies and for the first time in history, we started plunking our kids in front of the tv at 12 months. By the time that generation of kids hit Sesame Street age – three to six – they were so tv literate that they could watch entire Disney movies and relate back not just the plot but all the subplots as well. That first Teletubby generation is, btw, now 12 and 13 years old and they are consuming their entertainment on YouTube. Their level of media literacy must be quite awesome.

In terms of the future of storytelling, I think we can safely create new forms of narrative in a variety of media for that generation and expect them to follow. We can also expect many audiences to become more literate over time, but we can also expect resistance from many audience segments.

3. Audience, audience, audience

When I compare my storytelling past with my storytelling future, the biggest difference is how much closer I am to the audience now.

Working in television story department, the audience is like a distant dream. Your real audiences are the other members of the story team, the network, producers, cast and crew. They’re the first consumers of your stories and the ones who talk to you about them or give you notes. You end up tailoring the story to them. By the time your show airs, you’re probably on another project or at least the next season of this one.

On the web, you are present with the audience when they consume your story. They can give you their thoughts immediately. The relationship is much more intimate.

You aren’t guided by demographics and focus testing in the digital space. There are individuals who leave comments, who rate things, who communicate with you directly. You can get to know them too. You can click through to their blogs and find them on Facebook and look at pictures of their cat. It’s an incredible thing to know your audience that well.

Since you don’t have the usual gatekeepers – the networks, the funding agencies, distributors – it’s the audience who become your closest collaborators. It’s their thoughts on the story that help you shape what you’re doing.

4. Audience as Co-Creator

You have the option of tapping into that closeness of the audience and inviting them into the story in new ways. I love to create stories in which the audience can develop relationships with the characters, talk to them, guide their actions or fight with them. I’ve certainly seen a lust for that among the people who participate in the story experiences that I’ve created. They love communicating with the characters, questioning their actions, suggesting ways to handle their problems or just playing Scrabbulous with them.

I’ve started looking for ways to let the audience influence the plot. So in Crushing It, our characters turned to the audience for advice about many things:

• How to deal with a wet cellphone
• What route to take from New York to Toronto
• How to delay labour
• What to name the baby.

We didn’t predetermine how Crushing It would end. We had two people who were supposed to get married, but we let the audience determine whether that wedding took place or not.

I think as we get better at telling stories in the digital space, we’ll become better and better at creating stories that audiences can help shape.

5. My Future in Storytelling

I can’t say what anyone else’s future of storytelling is, but I know what I would most like to do next. I want to create richer, deeper and more engaging story experiences for audiences by building big story universes using a wide variety of media to do what each medium does best. Film, tv and novels are great ways to hook an audience and shape a world. Through comics, games, graphic novels and web series we can explore the past and future of these worlds, flesh out the stories of different characters, drill deeper into the mythology and philosophy. Transmedia storytelling is the new wave we’re seeing on projects like Heroes, Lost, Avatar, Sherlocke Holmes. It allows avid fans to enjoy and explore the story they love really deeply and in many ways. But many platforms are built to be self-standing and enjoyed on their own.

Both as a story consumer and a storyteller, transmedia is what intrigues me most now and where my attention will be in the near future.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday recaps.

Young Neal declared himself, but Gam3rgurl wasn't sure.

June and Julian reconnected.

Bootywatchman was close to scoring when Brad made a discovery.

Lily went into labour.

HollingPete hauled ass toward Toronto.

And made it just in time.

Tune in today at 1:30 and 6:00 for the final episodes of Crushing It!

Monday and Tuesday on Crushing it.

Dave's mom embarrassed him.

Then she embarrassed him some more.

Then it really got bad.

Barb and Laurence had another wedding disaster.

Bootywatchman finally got his groove on, but Neal didn't like it too much.

Peter had a plan that Lily didn't like too much.

But why was Barb so high on the idea?

Carm started drinking and tweeting.

MJ Reid thought it was time for an intervention.

What's all this about?

Tune in Thursday for a very special all day episode of Crushing It!

Tuesday February 2, 2010 on Twitter's top comedy soap opera, David and Barbara met up for coffee accidentally on purpose. If you don't know what happened Monday, read it here.

When Lily went into labour, David ended up as chauffeur.

Turned out Lily wasn't in labour, but but Dave turned things around with brownies.

Barb offered to buy Dave a drink to thank him and then she told a lie.

While the bride to be was sharing a glass of vino with Dave, groom Laurence and best man Brad were trying to pick up chicks.

Peter planned for the future of Lily's baby.

And Gam3rgurl and Neal made a new bet.

June found an old flame, which just might still be burning.

Drinks with Barb and Dave was going great... for a while.

Then Barb lied again.

But Dave was happy at last.

Until Gam3rgurl dropped the bomb shell.

That was Tuesday on Crushing It! Tune in Wednesday at 1 pm and ***SPECIAL TIME*** 7 pm to find out what will happen next.

And don't forget to help Neal and Gam3rgurl with their bet by making a donation to the Sick Kids Critical Care Waiting Room at SickKidsCCU.ca.

Two episodes down and here's what's happened so far.

Lily got some good news.

Peter did some math.

Barbara considered calling off the wedding.

Laurence tried to be the voice of reason.

Laurence’s friend Brad might not be the best best man.

David is having a bad day.

And it looks like it may get worse.

And worse.

Lucky he has such a helpful friend in Neal.

Gam3rgurl crushed on Gary Vee.

That's what's happened on Crushing It! so far.

Oh yeah and this:

Barbara and Laurence are supposed to be getting married on Friday.

Between now and then, Laurence will let Brad talk him into “one last fling.” Barbara will spill coffee on Dave… who promptly falls in love with her. Dave’s girlfriend, Carmella, will probably have something to say about that. Lily, the maid of honour, is 9 months pregnant and is only now getting around to telling Peter, the father. The geeky Neal will crush it with the mysterious (and equally geeky) Gam3ergurl. Dave’s mother, June, is living out loud on twitter – much to Dave’s embarrassment.

Who will hook up? Who will end up alone? That’s up to you!

Crushing It! is a romantic comedy for the twitter age, created especially for Social Media Week. It’s a week long ‘live’ semi-improvised story told by the characters themselves using the social space. And the best part? You get to decide how it all ends…

Follow Crushing It! by using the Crushing It list! on Twitter. Visit the Crushing It! website for more information. There's also a FriendFeed list.

Episode Schedule:

• Mon Feb 1, 2010 at 1, 3 and 6 p.m. Eastern
• Tues Feb 2, 2010 at 1 and 6 p.m. Eastern
• Wed Feb 3, 2010 at 1 and 7 p.m. Eastern
• Thur Feb 4, 2010 throughout the day starting at 10 a.m. Eastern
• Fri Feb 5, 2010 at 1 and 6 p.m. Eastern

Links to the characters individually on Twitter and their blogs:

• Barbara (@barbology): barbology blog
• Brad (@soon2b_divorced)
• Dave (@D4BigDave) It's ALL Cheese blog
• Carmella (@findcarm):
• Lily (@lottalily): Babybumping blog
• Peter @hollingpete
• Neal (@youngneal): Young Neal's YouTube Channel
• Gam3rgurl (@gam3rgurl ): RE:thinking blog
• June (@June_H_Tetley)

Our tale is about to begin, but there’s still time for me to introduce you to our players. Meet Barbara (@barbology) and Laurence (@about2bhitched), a lovely couple. If you make friends with them, perhaps they’ll invite you to there nuptials. Yes, they’re engaged and the wedding is this Friday at 6 p.m.

Standing up with Barbara is her bff, Lily (@lottalily). Lily is very pregnant which is a wonderful quality in a bridesmaid because by comparison the bride seems slender, even if she has been binging on chocolate and bacon in the lead up to the big day.

Also attending the wedding is Laurence’s college roommate, Brad (@soon2b_single) whose marriage is wrapping up. And sending regrets is Barbara’s old pal, Peter (@hollingpete) who is too busy with work in New York to make it up to Toronto for the wedding.

Now let’s turn our attention to David (@BigD4Dave) and his gf, Carmela (@findcarm). Theirs is a turbulent relationship. David’s not the type to lay blame, but Carm thinks all their troubles stem from how much time David spends online. You see David is a Gary Vaynercuk fanatic. Gary's book Crush It is his bible and he truly believes he can use the social media tools to capitalize on what his passion… if only he knew what he's passionate about. Until he does find his passion, David’s happy to spend his evenings online, crushing it Gary Vee style.

Crushing along with David are two other Gary Vee fans, Gam3rgurl and Neal (youngneal) who Dave’s only ever met virtually. They meet online every night to talk social media and cheer each other on.

The newest member of David’s online posse is unexpected. David’s mom, June (June_H_Tetley), feeling a little lonely over in England, has just joined Twitter the better to monitor her son’s life.

If you have time, before the Twitter action begins, check out our character’s websites. Lily blogs at Babybumping, Barbara and barbology, Gam3rgurl posts at RE:thinking, and YoungNeal has a YouTube channel, but hasn’t quite gotten to posting anything on it.

The show begins Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 1 p.m. Search Twitter for our hashtag -- #cistory. Follow the Crushing It Story Twitter list. Or follow the FriendFeed list. You can also follow the story through our website Crushing It Story.