Sitting Down With the Creator of #WarGames*
Staff – June 8, 2018 at 2:11 AM
Media innovations today seem to resemble a lot of modern-day gaming, increasing the interaction and control viewers have in the storytelling. HelloEko is leading the way with their experimental series #WarGames, which takes user-generated storytelling to an entirely new level. Creator, Sam Barlow answers questions on how it all works and what the future impact may be on Hollywood.
1. Why are dynamic narratives important, in your opinion?
What I love about these kinds of interactive stories is that it makes everything personal again. That one-to-one feeling you'd get from a campfire storyteller, or the connection with the audience that you get in live theater -- with digital we can make the audience part of the telling again, we can see how they react to the story and tweak it. These new ways of telling stories can make those stories feel more intimate and real.
2. Where do you see the medium in five or 10 years? How might this impact Hollywood storytelling?
My hope is that this kind of personalization, of there being a feedback loop between the audience and the story, and it being so personal and intimate -- that this is something that really takes hold in how we experience our live action stories. As much as broadcast media has allowed creators to reach an audience of millions -- and that's such an amazing thing -- you can feel disconnected from the audience. And I think this medium allows us to close that gap again, to allow you to get much closer to your audience again. I love the idea of people getting into a show and the water-cooler discussion being about how everyone had a different, unique version of that show. And not different in a silly way, but in a way that's about character and nuance. That people might have a sense of ownership of *their* version of a show, a version that resonates more powerfully with them. Watching an interactive Breaking Bad, how my Walter White differs from your Walter White might say something about me, and give me *more* insight into that character. It will be so powerful!
4. Why WarGames?
So Eko and MGM proposed the IP to me and at first I was reluctant -- just to using an existing IP in the first place, but also I was worried this was another 80s nostalgia trip. Then I thought more about the movie and what it meant to me as a kid and how its themes -- generational conflict, young hackers saving the world, applying technology to solve human problems -- were very current. I really liked how optimistic the original movie was, how Broderick's character was outgoing and somewhat naive. And how that cut through the B.S. of the Cold War and Professor Falken's nihilism. And I pitched myself on the idea of making a hacker show where you never really see the screen -- because you're always looking *out of the screen*. It seemed like a fun solution to how do you film that kind of action? And I started to think about the camaraderie and friendship in the online world and trying to put that on screen -- how do you show a group of friends who hang out all the time but are all in different countries and have never met in real life? So I pitched everyone on an idea that was fairly out-there -- how we could reboot WarGames in the modern day and build this experience that was very different as far as interactive stories go! No one objected so I got on with it!
5. What’s the premise behind this new narrative take on the classic movie?
So the show revolves around Kelly. She's a young woman who is part of a gang who hang out online and participate in some online pranks and stunts. And as the show progresses, we kind of explore that progression you saw with some of 'Anonymous' from jokes to more serious, political action. I really wanted to come up with a new version of Broderick's Lightman character for the modern day -- true to how likable and funny and charismatic he was. That seemed like a hacker character we still haven't seen much of. And the show revolves around this -- so you're always looking at a bunch of screens that show Kelly's online world at that time -- the video chat windows of her and her friends, a live stream of TV News, some hacked CCTV cameras, that kind of thing. And your sole action is to jump around these windows, as if you were part of that video chat, choosing who and what to look at at any given moment. We want you to feel like you're hanging out with these people, with Kelly at the center.
6. This isn’t a game. You watch and choose focus. How do these choices impact the experience?
So the system is tracking you throughout. It records what and who you're watching, all the time. And we assign values to that. If you like a certain character, a certain type of character, a certain type of action? We're going to notice that. And as the show progresses, we use that information to shape Kelly's character. We nudge her towards one or other of her desires or conflicts, we see different sides of her. And that changes the story. Events unfold differently. So you get your own version of the show. It's like when you go to see a stand up comic on tour -- they have their set routine, but they're going to throw in some local jokes, they're going to read the room and remix their material on the fly -- this audience doesn't like dirty jokes, I'll pull back on that stuff; you get a big laugh out of a political gag, OK let's throw more of that in later. It's like that, except it's one-on-one with the show and you. Because the Eko system is streaming, there's no technical limit on how much variation there can be, so I think a rough rule of thumb is that two different people are probably going to have 50% or more of their show be entirely different. The big picture story is going to be the same, the external forces will be unchanged, but Kelly changes -- and so how she reacts, how she talks to people, the relationships she has, they're all going to get shaped by how you view the show. To me that's the stuff that actually matters to me as a viewer and gets me excited.
7. What about WarGames are you most proud of and why?
We did some focus testing and I think one of the questions was 'What was your favorite thing about the show?' or something like that. And we had a bunch of answers that were along the lines of "Kelly. She felt real to me." That for me was amazing -- you can throw in all the theory and experimental stuff and that's great, but the point is to get to that outcome -- to have the characters come alive for people. So that was huge for me.
8. Any final thoughts for potential audiences?
Let your curiosity drive the experience. Enjoy hanging out with these characters and going along for the ride. And at the end of it -- talk to your friends and share your different experiences!
