It was Jeff Gomez, steward of such “story worlds” as Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean and Coke’s Open Happiness, who drew the biggest cheers at the two-day StoryWorld Conference + Expo.
“What a relief to get up here and not have to explain what I do,” Gomez said, and was rewarded with enthusiastic applause and a deluge of retweets.
Billed as the first-ever conference of people engaged in transmedia – or multiplatform – storytelling, StoryWorld was a Dungeons and Dragons-meets-TED Talks gathering of filmmakers, writers, producers and marketers devoted to telling age-old stories in exciting new ways.
The spirit of collaboration and creativity in the Parc 55 Wyndham was palpable – no doubt the conference was a success – but I’m not so sure we’ve moved past definitions just yet.
Sure, everyone at StoryWorld agrees that “the story always comes first,” as the oft-repeated mantra goes. But what is the story, who owns it, and how do we tell it in a collaborative, fair, and profitable way?

Jeff Gomez (Image by James Duncan Davidson via Flickr)
Everything is a story (wait, what?)
The word “story” has gone mainstream, as John David Heinsen from Bunnygraph Entertainment pointed out in a Monday morning session. Let’s say a screenwriter, a producer and a brand marketer sit down at a table. Each may think they’re a storyteller. But they’re not talking about the same thing.
It turns out the words “story” and “storyteller” are fluid and their meanings depends on who’s using them.
Another example of how semantics are important (and confusing) occurred later in the day. Toward the end of a breakout session on “building buzz” someone used the word “brand.” Everyone groaned.
The speaker apologized profusely. But that’s essentially what people mean when they talk about a “story world” – a piece of intellectual property that has multiple extensions on different platforms. A brand by any other name.
Of course, the problem is that the word “brand” has become a buzzword. And if we’re not careful, the beautiful word “story” will become one too.
Story worlds are not new
Stories have been around forever (since cavemen and campfires blah blah blah) and so have story worlds. Think J.R.R. Tolkien (proudly invoked by Tricia Pasternak and Lenny Brown from Random House), George Lucas or, of course, Walt Disney.
In a Tuesday morning keynote Disney’s design director Orrin Shively noted that story worlds exist in the real world too; Disney has been creating theme park rides that expand on its branded universes (from Snow White to Finding Nemo) for decades.
What has changed is the variety of platforms available for storytelling, as well as their interactive potential.

Robot Heart Stories
Collaboration is key (but so is consistency)
A fundamental aspect of transmedia storytelling is collaboration – both with other storytellers and with the people formerly known as the audience.
We heard countless examples of transmedia stories “co-created” with fans, from Brent Friedman’s branded TV series Valemont, to Jim Babb’s playful Socks, Incorporated. Transmedia pioneer and Monday keynote Lance Weiler even collaborated with inner-city fifth-grade students on Robot Heart Stories.
Transmedia storytellers also collaborate with each other. While creative types often guard their intellectual property like Gollum guards his ring (sorry, two full days with self-professed geeks), multiplatform storytellers are like jazz musicians: happy to jam on each other’s tracks.
Novelist Sparrow Hall, for example, invites musicians, artists and videographers to riff on his short stories, which he packages into transmedia ebooks. Of course, collaboration requires trust, which means content creators are only willing to share their story worlds with collaborators who are on the same page.
A fundamental rule of story worlds is that they must be consistent across every platform and in each iteration. As Jeff Gomez put it in his presentation, storytellers need to “Show me you care about the story world. Show me it’s real.”
The same lesson applies to all (gasp) brands – whether it’s a magazine, an airline, or a TV franchise.
Collaboration is complex (who owns the story?)
Collaboration fuels transmedia storytelling but it’s also what makes it so incredibly hard to pull off.
In a Tuesday session called “Navigating the Silos,” panelists from Bravo, BBC and LucasFilm commiserated about the roadblocks involved with launching cross-platform initiatives within their own organizations (“I can accept that I.T. is a silo but there’s no excuse for Communications,” bemoaned former BBC content commissioner Rosie Allimonos).
So you can imagine how messy it gets when numerous copyright holders, licensers, and distributors are involved. A Tuesday afternoon session entitled “Co-managing in Collaboration with Stakeholders” attempted to navigate these complexities; it sort of hurt my brain (this probably shouldn’t have been scheduled as the last session of the day).
The key takeaway for prospective transmedia practitioners: “Get a lawyer.”
This question of “Who owns a story?” came up throughout the conference. Some, like “brand fiction” pioneer Helen Klein Ross (who has more than 31,000 followers as the unofficial Twitter voice of Mad Men’s Betty Draper) feel that once it’s released to the world a story belongs to the world.
Others, like Blacklight CEO Zak Kadison, insist a story’s creator is its rightful “gatekeeper.” While this question remains open, it made for one of StoryWorld’s most emotional and important debates.
Stories are good for business
In the end, there’s a practical reason for both Madison Avenue and Hollywood to embrace transmedia: There‘s money to be made.
As Innovative Artists’ David Tochterman put it, transmedia “gives buyers multiple ways to say yes.” Or put slightly differently by Universal McCann’s Jeff Bernstein, “If you’re a storyteller you have a tremendous advantage; you can design an experience that’s scalable.”
But perhaps most crucially – this was stated by multiple speakers – mutliplatform is good for business because it’s what audiences and customers expect. End of story.
Sparksheet is an official media partner for StoryWorld Conference + Expo, which took place October 31-November 2 in San Francisco.
A storyteller that changed the world … so powerful was his story telling technique that changed the world forever and all he spoke was HIS Story! No wonder studying HIM is called “History” till date that’s the best stories going around. The power to ignite , Faith , Belief and passion so deep that people change their complete character when they are born Again ! HIS concept of new living.. everlasting Life .Powerful story
Five Lessons from StoryWorld http://t.co/UUZWvR95 #swc11 roundup – @jeff_gomez @adbroad @sparrowhall @jimbabb @dtoc @bfree63
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from @StoryworldConf http://t.co/FLNjZnBY /via @jimbabb,@sparksheet #swc11
Psyched to be included in @Sparksheet Mag's roundup for StoryWorld 2011 w/ @jeff_gomez @dtoc @adbroad @jimbabb http://t.co/5TqhXrmd #swc11
Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/3vaiM0yJ #transmedia
RT @jeff_gomez: Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/qPMlraHN #transmedia @sparrowhall
RT @jeff_gomez: Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/Q6ZNPADY #transmedia
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 | Sparksheet: http://t.co/AGvsyOaj via @AddThis
RT @Jeff_Gomez: Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/CmhQ13hR #transmedia
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/Zn1BU5S6 #transmedia
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/Zn1BU5S6 #transmedia
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 | Sparksheet http://t.co/rnKm4s3M #transmedia
RT @jeff_gomez: Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/qPMlraHN #transmedia @sparrowhall
http://t.co/EZv3c7L5 #swc11 #transmedia
RT @jeff_gomez: Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/qPMlraHN #transmedia @sparrowhall
Five Lessons from StoryWorld http://t.co/UUZWvR95 #swc11 roundup – @jeff_gomez @adbroad @sparrowhall @jimbabb @dtoc @bfree63
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from @StoryworldConf http://t.co/FLNjZnBY /via @jimbabb,@sparksheet #swc11
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/1UPQakUB via @zite
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011: http://t.co/axFWYYMA
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011: http://t.co/axFWYYMA
Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/3vaiM0yJ #transmedia
[…] was on the ground in San Francisco and reports that there’s more to this story than you’d think.Via sparksheet.com Be Sociable, Share! Related PostsNo Related PostNo tags for this […]
Five Lessons from @StoryWorldConf 2011 http://t.co/tlCkUOze via @mattestanz #swc11
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011: http://t.co/DFlXa0mE
"The word #brand has become a buzzword. & if we’re not careful, the beautiful word #story will become one too. http://t.co/H9TVja9m
StoryWorld 2011: "Dungeons and Dragons-meets-TED Talks" with @Jeff_Gomez http://t.co/bCf2z4CR #transmedia #pervasivecomm
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from @StoryworldConf http://t.co/FLNjZnBY /via @jimbabb,@sparksheet #swc11
Final summaries of Storyworld Conference #transmedia #swc11 http://t.co/carykZyw http://t.co/XBQAAJ5S http://t.co/uKl1LJJX
TX! RT @Sparksheet 5 Lessons from StoryWorld http://t.co/D3iPhGB6 #swc11 roundup – @jeff_gomez @adbroad @sparrowhall @jimbabb @dtoc @bfree63
TX! RT @Sparksheet 5 Lessons from StoryWorld http://t.co/D3iPhGB6 #swc11 roundup – @jeff_gomez @adbroad @sparrowhall @jimbabb @dtoc @bfree63
5 Lições do StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/a4RY3e0V #transmedia
RT @4DFiction: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from @StoryworldConf http://t.co/MWm6BXY3 /via @jimbabb,@sparksheet #swc11
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from @StoryworldConf http://t.co/FLNjZnBY /via @jimbabb,@sparksheet #swc11
Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/3vaiM0yJ #transmedia
nice RT @Jeff_Gomez: Overview by @sparksheet: Finding the Story: 5 Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/fLDVknMb #transmedia
http://sparksheet.com/finding-the-story-five-lessons-from-storyworld-2011/
Finding the story: five lessons from StoryWorld 2011 – http://t.co/SFNBaZY1
I'm not a conference recap person, but @danjl's post sharing some lessons from StoryWorld is full of good stuff: http://t.co/gTqUwIgJ
Thanks! RT @TeresaBasich: Not a conf recap person but @danjl's lessons post from StoryWorld is full of good stuff: http://t.co/TTUfvE5F
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/5FRg4rpj via @sparksheet #storytelling #contentmarketing
Story is good for #business: Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 @danjl via @sparksheet http://t.co/eWPbpdrF // great read #storytelling
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/5thO6jZE via @sparksheet
Finding the Story: Five Lessons from StoryWorld 2011 http://t.co/5thO6jZE via @sparksheet
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[…] transmedia crossed the threshold from industry buzzword to just plain industry with this year’s StoryWorld conference, where we met multiplatform storytelling pioneers from Hollywood, Madison Avenue and around the […]
[…] No publisher in their right minds would entertain you unless you have a sound blueprint for monetizing and scaling up — designing your books to be modular and scalable. Stand-alone books can hardly be relied upon to generate enough demand for print runs to breakeven. You’d need chapters that turn into books, characters that can spinoff into other plotlines, version 1 and versions 2 and 3 of your story…broken down into coloring books for children and adapted to coffee table format. And you’d still not sell enough. How many writers actually run the numbers on the economics of publishing books before they write? Download the terms of agreements with various houses for various book formats — talk to an agent about sample margins from small-run trade paperbacks, read Google’s e-book agreement, Amazon’s digital text platform guide, see RandomHouse’s AllBooks terms of sale. Attend a webinar about the economics of book publishing. When you’re done with your business plan for the book then perhaps you’ll be where I am (and I’ve been making budgets for a multinational company for a decade), which is fully embracing storyworlds for transmedia. […]