Anne Toole, writer

Story 360: Speaking on transmedia in Singapore

writingiswriting — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:08:56 +0000

In case you didn’t get your fill of transmedia at last month’s NAB talk, I’ll be speaking on transmedia and webseries next week in Singapore for Transmedia SG 2013. Wondering how transmedia can up your engagement? Curious how technology can offer you transmedia gold? Then check out these sessions if you happen to be in Singapore!

Day 1, May 28th, 2013
2:30-3:30pm

FORUM SESSION 2: WEB SERIES BEST PRACTICES: FROM CONCEPT TO TRANSMEDIA
Moderator: Christine Weatherup, Producer, Writer, Actress
Matt Enlow, Creator, “Squaresville”
Anne Toole, Writer / Game Writer / Aurthor
Marco Sparmberg, Transmedia Evangelist / Award-winning emerging media producer

Day 2, May 29th, 2013
1:00-2:00pm

FORUM SESSION 4: CONTENT CREATION AND INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES
Anita Ondine, Transmedia Producer / Creative Director, TransmediaNext
Anne Toole, Writer / Game Writer / Author
Siobhan O’Flynn, Transmedia storytelling consultant at NarrativeNow; pluscitydesign.com

Come on down and join the fun. And if you won’t be enjoying the humidity in Singapore, feel free to ask your burning transmedia questions in the comments below!

Writing LOST GIRL: THE GAME

writingiswriting — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:09:02 +0000

The hit Syfy series LOST GIRL recently launched their first mobile game for iOS and Android, called, plainly enough, LOST GIRL: THE GAME. If you’re reading this, you’ve already figured out the second part: I was the writer. Even better, I wrote it with one of the show’s writers. A TV series that actually cares about a game being in the show’s canon? True transmedia? Madness! Next thing you know, it’ll be all the rage! At least on Syfy.

Here’s a brief description of the game story:

Something is not right in the City: While the Light and Dark Fae continue to focus on their bitter rivalry, an ancient power is stirring, a great evil that will stop at nothing to step foot again and wreak havoc on the earth, and only you can help stop it!

Lost Girl: The Game is a completely free mystery-style hidden object game based on the hit TV series Lost Girl. Making your way to the famed Dal Riata, a neutral ground and waystation for the supernatural creatures known as the Fae, you are drawn into a tale of intrigue and power.

LOST GIRL is not the first Canadian Syfy series I’ve written a game for. I acted as the first head writer for STARGATE WORLDS, the ill-fated MMOG based on the long-running Syfy series STARGATE SG-1. The Lost Girl game was a lot of fun to work on, because I got to read all the scripts, just like I did working on STARGATE WORLDS.

With STARGATE, DEFIANCE, and now LOST GIRL, which series do you think is next for a game adaptation?

Webseries: from concept to transmedia at NAB

writingiswriting — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:28:04 +0000

Interested in webseries writing, development, transmedia, and distribution? Or just want to hear from hit webseries creators? Either way, you’re in luck, because at NAB next week, you can join me, Bernie Su (LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES, LOOKBOOK), Christopher Kubasik (BOOTH AT THE END), and Matt Enlow (SQUARESVILLE) for a whirlwind tour of the scripted webseries business. It’s all part of the Creative Master series at NAB, the premiere show for broadcast content. So I guess that makes me a creative master. Kneel before Zod! Here are the deets:

Web Series Best Practices: From Conception to Transmedia
Date: Wednesday, April 10
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm

Location: Las Vegas Convention Center, S220

Spread the word, or follow us on twitter. Any suggestions for a good hashtag?

Pride & Prejudice at 200: Want to play a game?

writingiswriting — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 23:14:45 +0000

First the webseries, now a game?

Fans everywhere are celebrating Pride & Prejudice’s 200th anniversary today. By now, of course, you know about The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, the hit webseries adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. If you don’t, check out the front page of the Arena section of the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and the episodes I’ve written. But if you can’t get enough Jane Austen, I’ve also worked on the game Jane Austen Unbound, and my storyline will go live on February 4th.

Jane Austen Unbound (fka Rogues and Romance) will allow you to play in the Jane Austen universe, when characters from many of her books have gotten loose and are starting to wreak havoc in the wrong storylines. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to bring Elizabeth and Darcy back together again, without messing everything else up in the process. Feel free to check out this hidden object game on Facebook, or wait until the new storylines go live on February 4th.

Award-winning webseries, oh my!

writingiswriting — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:45:20 +0000

LBD on the Red Carpet

So this thing happened with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries this month. Well, a lot has been happening on the show — haven’t you been watching? But the big news involves an IAWTV Award nomination and a trip to Vegas. Spoilers: we won!

The 2nd annual IAWTV Awards were held earlier this month, celebrating excellence in webseries. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was nominated for Interactive experience, for all its ancillary twitter feeds, tumblrs, mystery websites… You can keep tabs on some of them here.

The IAWTV Awards were an experience. I’ve been to the WGA Awards a couple times, and let’s just say Awards + Talent = more snazz. Or maybe the WGA puts all their money into the food, which I generally approve of. But the IAWTV was covered with publicists, so you can hear from the cast and crew of LBD and see my premiere on the red carpet, which was actually blue, here.

Stay tuned next week for some stimulating updates on writing for games and the game industry!

Tomorrow! Digital Leaders navigating the entertainment world

writingiswriting — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:36:07 +0000

Guess who’s speaking about digital entertainment as part of the Ivy Entertainment/Digital LA Digital Leaders panel? Big Bird! I’m kidding — it’s me. Below is the rundown on the event. RSVP here, and I hope to see you there or at the afterparty!

Join us for our panel with IVY Entertainment Digital Leaders who will share stories of their career path to digital, and share their success stories and advice on keys to success digital entertainment. We’ll also discuss how digital impacts the creation, development, distribution and marketing of content and entertainment services. This panel is right before our annual Digital LA – IVY Entertainment holiday party at the Station at W Hollywood.

Speakers include:

Jeff Berman
Yale Law
NFL Digital Media, GM
Formerly at Buddy Media, The Berman Group, MySpace.com President of Sales and Marketing.

Shelia Marmon
Harvard Business School, Princeton
Mirror Digital, CEO and Founder.
Mirror Digital is an interactive media and advertising company connecting leading brands to the growing U.S. multicultural market.
Tom Andrus
Yale
AEG – AXS.com, SVP and GM.
Tom leads the AXS.com team as part of AEG, where his team creates online ticketing combined with live-event experience. Previously, he ws MySpace SVP of Product. He has served on the boards of Rhapsody, Roozt.com, and Buysight. He has led or participated in growing businesses across $100M in revenue six times in his career. @tomandrus

Anne Toole
Harvard
WGA-nominated writer on Video Games, Comics, TV, Web series
Writers Guild nominee Anne Toole has written computer games, comics, webseries, and television. She acted as the first Head Writer for STARGATE WORLDS, a game based on the long-running TV series, and has since written for multiple platforms, with clients including Zynga and Ubisoft. She’s currently writing the hit webseries THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES, which is up for an IAWTV award for its interactive component. She also serves on the board of the IGDA-LA, an organization for game developers.

Sope Ogunyemi
Dartmouth, USC
Eventful, Account Director. Founder, Epos. Eventful digitally connects over 20M people to local entertainment and live events like concerts & movies through q comprehensive database of events. Eventful was named to OnHollywood’s 2012 list of 100 top private digital entertainment companies and in 2012 won the OMMA Award for Best Integrated Online Movie Campaign for its third consecutive year. Through Epos, Sope also helps entrepreneurs, small businesses and non-profits like Africa Fashion Week LA & Real Medicine Foundation with marketing & business development. @ny_la_lag @eventful

Moderator: Kevin Winston
Yale, Harvard
Digital LA, CEO.
Kevin is founder and CEO of Digital LA and Silicon Beach Fest. He was named on a Forbes list of 12 Entrepreneurs Changing LA. @DigitalLA @kevinwinston1

Fitting writers into the game development process

writingiswriting — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 18:26:19 +0000

When it comes to writers in games, which simile is best? Is incorporating writers into the game dev process like:

…ramming a square peg into a round hole.
…ramming a car into a brick wall.
…ramming a bullet into a well-greased chamber.

If you’re not prepared, it could end up being like the first, or worse, feeling like the second. Fortunately, I’ll be speaking tomorrow at the #AltDevConf about how to make the process more like the third, so that your bullet is primed and ready to blow your players’ minds! And not just any bullet, the bullet of justice! I’m kidding; I’m a little punchy this morning. Here’s the 411:

Fitting Writers into the Development Process
When: Sunday, November 11th, 2:30pm Pacific time
Where: Online!
Game developers are sometimes left scratching their heads on how to incorporate writers into the game development process. This talk will take attendees through the stages of development to identify how a writer can integrate with the team and add value to the game, whether it be narrative-driven or narrative-light.

Break out and write animation!

writingiswriting — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 15:45:22 +0000

Woops! Forgot to mention I’ll be speaking today at Long Beach Comic Con on… animation writing? ”Hey!” you may be thinking. ”Don’t you write games mostly, and also the LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES webseries, and maybe a bit of Nanowrimo?” The answer is yes, but oh, so much more. So to learn what I know about writing animation, or find out other fascinating knowledges about the animation industry, check out this panel:

Long Beach Comic Con at the Long Beach Convention Center
Sunday, 11:00 – 11:45, 4 November, Room 102A
Breaking Into Animation
Animation is a great area to work with a lot of different jobs as part of the process. Writing, storyboarding, animating, character design, production jobs, programming, voice acting, and more. But how do you break in? Just how do you get a job working in animation?
Sean Bishop, Mike Blum, Kelly Hobby, Anne Toole

Personally, I’m looking forward to what the other panelists have to say about directing, storyboarding, and working in the art department. Hoping for some laughs and to see a few smiling faces. See you there!

Write a book; watch a book

writingiswriting — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:46:24 +0000

Ever wanted to write a book? Next month is your chance to do so! It’s Nanowrimo, aka National Novel Writing Month, where writers all over the world craft a 50,000-word bio. If this is your first time or your 8th (like me), I gave a few tips to the Book Goodies podcast on how to face down that word count like a pro.

But if you’re not in the mood to write a book, why not watch one? Lizzie Bennet Diaries aired two episodes this week written by this woman, Anne Toole — maybe you’ve heard of her. If you missed my previous episodes or my first post on it, LBD is a modern-day adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, delivered twice a week to Youtube.

Episode 57: Weirded Out: Lizzie thinks Darcy is acting strangely.

Episode 58: Care Packages: Fitz drops a disturbing truth bomb on Lizzie.

Can you guess where we are in the book?

Attend “Social Games: Bane or Paragon of Social Media?”

writingiswriting — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:26:44 +0000

Social Media Week is just around the corner, and IGDA-LA will be hosting an action-packed panel on Social Games! Okay, maybe it’s just an informative panel, but you’ll never know if you don’t attend! RSVP now! Here’s the low-down:

Social Games: Bane or Paragon of Social Media?

Hosted by the International Game Developers Association, this conversation explores how Facebook games use social media techniques to engage, market, and manage the gaming audience. How do social games drive innovation in and improve social media? Have social games created distrust in social media, and if so, how can they win it back? Join leading social game developers as they discuss the social game revolution and what it means for social media.

Panelists:
Ed Kim, Project Manager at Insomniac Games
Ann Glenn, Director, Social Media Marketing at Sony Pictures Interactive
Darion Lowenstein, Vice President, Interactive at Digital Artists Entertainment
Josh Yguado, Partner and President of Game Development and Operations at Social Gaming Network
and Moderated by Anne Toole, IGDA-LA

When:
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
2:30-3:30pm
Where:
io/LA
7083 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

RSVP now!

Do you have any burning questions about just how social games take advantage of social media? Are you wondering how traditional game developers move into social games? Post your questions in a comment below, or come in person to ask on the 26th! Even if you can’t make it, be sure to follow or post about it on twitter with #SMWSocialGames !