Author: Angelique Toschi

Last year I wrote an article about curating your SXSW experience. Since SXSW 2015 is less than a month away, I’m working hard to curate an informative and fun experience for myself and thought I’d share some of the innovative storytelling panels I’m excited to check out. Keep in mind all panels listed require an Interactive badge, although some are from the convergence programming track which allows either Interactive or Film badge holders to attend. Audio Drama in the 21st Century Are you a fan of serial drama podcasts such as Serial or Welcome to Night Vale? If so, this…

One of the biggest questions I get is – why? Why should I tell my story across multiple platforms? What is the value in doing so when it can take extra time and money? Why is this type of storytelling valuable for my project? Now, not every story needs or should have a transmedia campaign. Not all stories necessarily have a storyworld that would add to the narrative in a compelling way. However, if you are teetering, trying to decide if it is worth it for you to expand your story beyond film, here are five reasons that you might…

A couple days after San Diego Comic Con, Deadline Hollywood made me go ape shit with this tweet. Which lead to this article. And much squeeing was had. What was the big fuss? Deadline broke the news that Warner Brothers has optioned The Dragonriders of Pern world from Anne McCaffrey’s estate. Anne McCaffrey is one of the most well known female science fiction writers of the last century. For female science-fiction* readers, her books show that there is room for strong, smart, powerful women. She was the first woman to win a Hugo award for fiction, a Nebula award, and…

One of the things I enjoy about the transmedia community is that it is still relatively small. Everyone that I have met (from both coasts and around the world) is genuinely interested in hearing about new projects others are working on or discussing ideas, theories, and opinions on the state of the entertainment industry. It was through Transmedia Los Angeles that I was able to meet Alison Norrington. Alison is a Transmedia Storyteller, TEDx Transmedia speaker, PhD researcher, novelist, and playwright. Her latest project, The Chatsfield, creates a world based on a series of romance novels by the Harlequin UK…

Living in Los Angeles has its advantages, the most recent being the ability to attend the L.A. premiere of the new transmedia web series, “The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy”. “The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy” is a modern adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s “Peter and Wendy” told as a romantic comedy through twice weekly episodes (for a total of 24 episodes) and through various other online media forms such as twitter and The Kensington Chronicle website. This delightful series was co-created by Kyle Walters and Shawn deLoache and written by Shawn. Kyle is most recently known for his role in Welcome to Sanditon. Walters…

There is something special about a good story;  a story that leaps off the page and takes your entire attention. That has you enthralled through a whole movie experience, or reading a book the entire way through, not even stopping for sleep or meals. These stories and the story worlds that the author creates are escapes from reality, a safe place from the insanity of the world. When you create a story that has such a massive effect on its audience, it is natural they want more. That they want to be engrossed in a wider “expanded universe”, so to…

You can expand your story world online in various ways. By taking your story offline and bringing it into the physical world you can experiment with many exciting and varied techniques to reach new audiences that may not connect with your project otherwise. Here are some ideas (big and small) to help bring your story experience into the real world. Character events: I have noticed that many fans of transmedia storytelling love to interact with the characters of the world. Is it possible for you to have a in-person event with one of your characters and a small group of…

This month we are taking a time-out of the nitty gitty of cross platform storytelling to talk about one of my personal favorite industry conferences: South by Southwest (or SXSW for short). For reference, SXSW is actually three conferences in one that you can attend individually, or in any combination thereof, and takes place in Austin, TX in March. The conference is comprised of: Music, Film, and the ever growing Interactive segments. Personally, my experience lies with SXSW Interactive (SXSWi). I have had the opportunity to attend the last two years, and will be doing so again this March. However,…

Previously we have talked about using transmedia as the building blocks of a fictional story world. However, thinking about cross platform expansion is also valuable when building your personal brand across your own field of expertise. Below are some things to think about when building out your brand across social platforms. Consistency: It should be easy for people to find you across multiple platforms. One way of doing this is keeping a consistent screenname across all platforms. For instance: You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, and various other platforms under “AngeliqueToschi”, including my website. Also, your social networks should…

Building a transmedia storytelling plan for your project can seem overwhelming at times. Below are just some examples of types of other media (both new and old) that can be used as weapons in your creative arsenal when creating additional story content to expand your world. Twitter/ Facebook Character Fan Page – Using these types of social media you could create in-character pages (although not Facebook profiles) that can interact directly with your fans as the characters they’re fans of. Blog – A blog could be in multiple forms; it could take a 3rd party narrative view like a newspaper…

On November 23rd, 2013 Doctor Who turned 50 years old. This makes the British series the longest running science fiction franchise in television history. But the most extraordinary thing about the series is the different ways in which it keeps reinventing itself and expanding the storyworld. Doctor Who is considered by some to be cross generational. Not only are there people who have grown up with the Doctor and have watched every episode, but there is a community of newer, younger fans that continues to grow. This is evidenced by the intensity of the Doctor Who fandom on the popular…

Some of us know how to experience stories told in a shared universe.  Like the Marvel or DC Universes, or Star Wars, these additional stories expand upon the core storyworlds we’re already familiar with.  The use of social media to help expand the story experience is a newer concept.  With multiple media platforms having content that all feeds into the main story narrative, it can be a bit overwhelming at times to know where to start.  My hope is that this article can serve as a suggestion on how to experience transmedia storytelling, such as Emma Approved, and the upcoming #Hamlet.…

In light of “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” recent Emmy win for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media, I thought that this would be an appropriate time to revisit the origins of the Transmedia Web Series and how it has evolved to where it is now.  This article was original published in Quarters Magazine. Once upon a time a teenage girl filmed herself talking to a camera about the mysterious religion that her family belonged to and then put those videos on YouTube. Hundreds of people watched these videos, and became engrossed in this girl’s life. And they then bombshell dropped…

Walt Disney, in my humble opinion, is one of the best storytellers of the 20th century. His stories live on today in movies, books, comics, and, of course, theme parks. The fan community around his properties began before Disneyland opened to the public and has only grown since then. Therefore, it should come to no surprise that they have their own fan convention. The D23 Fan Expo is a Disney owned fan convention that is held every 2 years in Anaheim. This year marked the third convention, with the fourth scheduled for the year 2015. The theme for this year’s…