THE RISE OF THE PRODUCER-NOVELIST: SHIFTING PERCEPTIONS OF AUTHORSHIP IN TRANSMEDIA PUBLISHING.

• Author: Andersen, Michael Jon

INTRODUCTION

In October 2006, Running Press Kids, an imprint of Perseus Books, published the novel Cathy's Book: If Found Call 650-266-8233, written by co-authors Jordan Weisman and Sean Stewart. (1) When confronted with the book's title, the reader may find it necessary to follow the book's instructions and call the telephone number. (2) Upon dialing the number, the reader is greeted by the following message:

Hey, this is Cathy and I can't come to the phone right now... because cell phones can be traced and not always by the good guys. If this is mom, don't worry: I'm okay. Emma, if this is you, I left my book under your porch. Take a look. I think there's stuff buried there we haven't figured out yet. Okay, leave a message at the beep. (3) The number then prompts the reader to enter a four-digit access code to retrieve Cathy's messages; however, because the reader does not have Cathy's access code yet, the reader must proceed to open the book and discover what might be hidden within the book's pages. A plastic pouch filled with evidence is attached to the inside cover and sealed with a red sticker that reads "Em--Here's the proof. Keep it safe. Cathy." (4) Inside the "evidence packet" are clues like newspaper scraps, photos, a page from a day planner, and a napkin with a lipstick "kiss" that lead to additional telephone numbers, MySpace profiles, and a variety of websites that extend the story beyond that which is told through the printed word. (5) The illustrator for Cathy's Book, Cathy Briggs, further extends the narrative by liberally littering the book's pages with doodles and sketches made by the fictional Cathy Vickers. (6)

Cathy's Book is an exemplar of a growing trend in publishing in which novels interweave story threads from different media to create a cohesive and interactive storytelling experience for readers. Professor Henry Jenkins refers to these stories as "transmedia storytelling." (7) But while transmedia storytelling affords authors the flexibility to switch media at will in search of the most appropriate medium of storytelling for each story element, it also poses unique challenges to Romantic views towards the authorship for literary works, a central element of copyright law. (8) Increasingly, individuals and companies serving in a directorial role assume the mantle of authorship in the transmedia publishing space, in light of the specialized skill sets and resources needed to produce these multimedia works.

Part I of this Note will attempt to define transmedia publishing in the context of digital convergence and competing models of cross-platform story telling. Part II will demonstrate how transmedia producers use a variety of strategies to assert ownership rights over the transmedia novels that emerge from their ministrations. Part III will discuss the interplay between transmedia authorship and copyright law that encourages the shift in authorship from writer to producer. Part IV will explore the historical context that shapes our understanding of authorship under the existing copyright regime, providing context for the current realignment of incentives. While the shift in authorship contradicts conventional assumptions of authorship, the result offers the best chance for encouraging future innovation in the transmedia publishing space.

1. IN SEARCH OF A DEFINITION FOR TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING

   In order to properly explore the ramifications of transmedia publishing, it is first necessary to properly explore the scope of transmedia storytelling, which exists as part of the larger context of media convergence. For the purposes of this Note, transmedia novels will refer to forms of transmedia storytelling that rely on books as a primary storytelling mechanism whereas transmedia publishing will refer to the process of distributing these works to the public. (9)

   1. Enabling Transmedia Storytelling Through Convergence

      As David Thorburn and Henry Jenkins note in their introduction to Rethinking Media Change, the idea that disparate media could converge to tell a unified story is not a new concept. (10) For instance, "the Bayeux tapestry (c. 1067-1077) combined both text and images, and was explicated in spoken sermons--a multi-media bridge between the oral culture of the peasants and the learned culture of the monasteries." (11) Thus, while the concept of transmedia storytelling may seem novel, it is deeply rooted in a rich history of media convergence. Instances of convergence occur on a regular basis but are "especially likely to occur when an emerging technology has temporarily destabilized the relations among existing media." (12) Transmedia novels have emerged as a reaction to the destabilizing force of digital convergence, which refers to the process of unifying different types of media into a single device. (13) The introduction of the Internet and mobile devices to the media landscape have caused more traditional media like print and television to seek new models of relevance that blend these new technologies into existing models of content creation.

      Digital convergence enables transmedia storytelling by making it easier to switch seamlessly from one medium to another, allowing individuals to interact with a variety of texts across platforms. Publishers can also release applications that merge multimedia functionality onto a single device. (14) Thus, a reader of Cathy's Book in possession of a cell phone could call the telephone number on the book's cover with relative ease. With a smart phone, the reader could navigate the websites scattered throughout the pages in the book without having to find a computer with Internet access. Alternatively, the reader could download the Cathy's Book iPhone app that incorporates the story's audiovisual elements within a single mobile application. (15)

   2. The Franchise Model of Transmedia Storytelling

      Enabled by technology, transmedia storytelling is a story that "unfolds across multiple platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole." (16) Henry Jenkins explains that each element of the transmedia franchise must be a self-contained story in and of itself that can serve as "a point of entry into the franchise as a whole." (17) The Producers Guild of America has embraced this definition of transmedia, defining a Transmedia Narrative product or franchise in its Code of Credits as a story "that consists of three (or more) narrative storylines existing within the same fictional universe. ... These narrative extensions are NOT the same as repurposing material from one platform to be cut or repurposed to different platforms." (18)

      Under the franchise definition of transmedia storytelling advanced by Jenkins, transmedia works can be characterized as a series of self-contained, yet related stories that are expressed across different media. Thus, in order to be successful under this model, transmedia franchises should work "to attract multiple constituencies by pitching the content somewhat differently in the different media." (19) This model, however, does not include transmedia novels like Cathy's Book that rely on discrete cross-platform elements that do not tell a story when isolated from the greater work. Rather, it embraces serialized branded experiences as its vehicle for communication. And while the franchise model is a valid exercise of transmedia storytelling, it does not generate the issues of authorship that are the focus of this paper, since these franchise extensions would fit within the original creator's derivative work rights. (20) Indeed, any derivative work that seeks to extend the narrative beyond the original would likely fall under the franchise model of transmedia storytelling. When viewed in this light, transmedia storytelling focuses on the original authorship of the franchise as a whole rather than any one story told within the story.

   3. The Spiderweb Model of Transmedia Storytelling

      Monique De Haas articulates an opposing view of transmedia storytelling, describing it as "communication where the storyline will direct the receiver from one medium to the next." (21) Rather than focusing on the existence of a franchise that transcends a single medium, this definition emphasizes the narrative's transition from one medium to the next to tell a single, unified story. This form of storytelling allows creators to guide readers through the work, capitalizing on differing media to tell each individual story element.

      Marshall McLuhan famously theorized that media can be divided into "hot media," which conveys a high definition of data with little actual participation in the process, and "cool media," which conveys a low definition of data paired with more active engagement with the medium. (22) Thus, by trading off between hot media storytelling elements that can effectively advance the story's exposition and cool media that actively engage the audience in the storytelling process, transmedia storytelling can create a nuanced experience for the reader. Under the franchise model of transmedia storytelling, these transfers between hot and cool media are temporally separated as consumers proceed from one franchise component to another. However, under the opposing model, consumption with hot and cool media has the potential to exist contemporaneously.

      Andrea Phillips, a transmedia writer and game designer, labels this competing model of transmedia storytelling as the spiderweb model, describing it as "one that uses multiple media to tell disparate pieces of a single cohesive narrative." (23) Rather than telling a series of distinct stories that could exist as self-contained stories in their own right, transmedia stories under the spiderweb model compel readers to piece together the story, much as a lawyer would piece together a narrative by assembling pieces of evidence. In some instances, information gleaned from one medium is necessary to proceed with the story in another.

      In Cathy's Book...