The document discusses new legal challenges around transmedia storytelling and derivative works. It defines transmedia as stories that unfold across multiple media platforms, with each platform contributing something integral to the overall narrative. This allows stories and brands to be expanded through various media like films, television, books, video games and merchandising. It provides examples like The Matrix and Star Wars franchises that pioneered this model of immersive stories across different platforms.

1. An Overview of
New Legal Challenges
Connie J. Mableson, Mableson Law Group
SELSA Annual Conference 2010
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

2.  1. Right to make Copies
 2. Right to Distribute
 3. Right to Perform
 4. Right to Display
 5. Right to make
Derivative works
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

3. A derivative work is a work based on
or derived from one or more already
existing works.
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

4.  Book to Movie
 Comic Book to Movie
 Painting (original) to Prints/ Lithographs to
Posters
 Adaptations – Play to Film; Play to Novel
 Typically no creation of a new storyline unless
it is necessary to the adaptation. When there is
a new storyline or character, sometimes
audiences get upset (as well as the author if no
creative control)
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

5.  Films (Theatrical , TV, hotel-motel, in-flight, public
transportation, home video, netflix downloads,
sequels, prequels and spin-offs)
 TV (free, cable, network, premium subscription,
PPV, syndication, foreign)
 Musical Composition (foreign language)(SR use,
music on hold, dance studio, bar-restaurant,
grocery store, concert venues, other uses)
 Sound Recording (album version, single version,
radio version, extended version-radio, dance mix,
extended dance mix, madonna mix, club mix, DJ
mix, synch use)
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

6. Derivative Rights are called Ancillary,
Subsidiary & Allied Rights
Publishing Contract with Book publishing
House
Grant of Rights from Author to Publisher
 Primary Rights are publishing rights, hardcover
rights, trade paperback
 Subsidiary Rights are mass market, audio books, e-books,
foreign translation, book club, serialization
 Allied Rights include dramatic rights, movie and
TV rights
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

7.  Written narrative
 Oral, written (book), dramatic/theatrical (plays,
film)
 Every communication tells a story
 Essence of a good entertainment property is good
story telling
 “Entertainment Property” = creative property &
beyond- books, film, music, visual art, dance,
dramatic and theatrical, games (real or
virtual/MMOs), sports game…
 Entertainment Property= Entertainment
Experience= Entertainment Economy =
Storytelling (live or recorded)
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

8.  Was MIT media studies professor and in a 2003 MIT
Technology Review Article referred to “Transmedia
Storytelling”
 Wrote Convergence Culture and described it as the notion of
spreading narrative across multiple media platforms with
the aim of having each platform contribute something
integral to an over all storyline.
 The notion of convergence culture is not primarily a
technological revolution; Jenkins shows that it is more a
cultural shift, dependent on the active participation of the
consumers working in a social dynamic. He references
media franchises like Survivor, The Matrix, and American
Idol to show how the new participatory culture of
consumers can be utilized for popular success and increased
exposure
 Transmedia looks at narrative as a HYPERSOCIAL activity
in which a story can evolve across multiple platforms, with
multiple story arcs, manifesting in an array of products and
various revenue streams.
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

9.  Trans= Multiple story lines, story arcs
 Media = platforms and media outlets
 A transmedia story unfolds across multiple
platforms, with each new text making a
distinctive and valuable contribution to the
whole. In the idea form of transmedia
storytelling, each medium does what it does
best – so that a story might be introduced into a
film, expanded through television, novels and
comics.
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

10.  Transmedia storytelling occurs when an
integral element of a fiction gets disbursed
across multiple channels – to create a unified
and coordinated entertainment experience.
Ideally content produced on each medium
makes it own unique contribution to the story.
So this content not only becomes part of the
branding, but also part of the exposition.
Think of it as content that transcends the
original medium to become richer and more
enjoyable through the participation of fans.
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

11.  Multi-arc storytelling
 Multi point of entry
 Immersive
 Take the story in a new direction
 Multiple story lines
 World building
 Audience Interactivity
 Immersing an Audience in a story world and
engaging them with interactivity
 Telling good stories
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

12.  Multiple forms of media
 Multiple Platforms (hardware/devices &
Software on a device)
 Active Audiences/Active consumer
 Multiple Audiences – engagement based
entertainment
 Platforms = theatre, tv, web, Facebook friends,
MMOs, RPG’s, Augmented Reality, Alternate
Reality Games, Virtual Reality Spaces, mobile
devices, iPad, twitter, Flickr,
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

13.  The filmmakers plant clues that won’t make
sense until we play the computer game. They
draw on the back story through a series of
animated shorts, which need to be downloaded
off the web of watched of separate DVD. Fans
raced, dazed and confused, from the theatres to
plug into Internet discussion lists, where every
detail would be dissected and every possible
interpretation debated. (The Matrix)
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

14.  First transmedia franchise
 Films –story line
 Books- different story lines
 Merch, tie-ins, endorsements, sponsorships
 Role playing groups
 Small group of people dedicated to building
r2d2 units at home (audience
participation/community formation)
 MMORPG - different story line. Player starts
out as Darth Vadar and then moves away from
the dark side but not until lots of game play.
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

15.  Book -HARRY POTTER by JK Rowling
 Primary Rights are publishing rights, hardcover
rights, trade paperback, mass market,
 Ancillary Rights are audio books, e-books, foreign
translation, book club, dramatic right, film rights…
 Potter Stuff
 Active Engagement and Immersion
 http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/
 RPG
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

16. Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

17.  Marketing Transmedia
 Builds a story around a brand or a specific
property
 OLD SPICE
Created individualized story lines deriving
from original story line
Cross Platform
Audience Participation/Immersion
User Generated Content

18.  TV Ads started it all
 AD1
 July 13 one day 74 personalized vids shot based on
Tweets from people wanting the old spice man to
personalize an ad for them
On Twitter, @GStephanopoulos wrote "@OldSpice Hey
Old Spice Man -- Political question: President's lost
some female support. How does WH get those women
voters back?"
GeorgeVid
 Voicemessage - created by independent group of
people (audience or user generated content)
 Voicemail

19. Represent the Actor or the Ad Agency/P&G
Question: What will the actor be doing?
Old Answer: Principal performer in a TV commercial
New Answer: TV Commercial
Tweet or allow us to Tweet for him
(name and likeness issues)
Photo Stills
Personalized Vids (Trans – story lines)
Print Campaign
New Content and approval issues
Social Marketing
Personal Appearances (tours, freebies, give
aways)
Merchandise (on the deodorant, calendar)

20.  Film, 2 console games, books, action figures, clothing, etc.
 Augmented Reality
Mattel brings innovation to the toy aisle with augmented
reality, marking the first time the technology has appeared
in a retail toy product. Each action figure, vehicle and
creature will come with a 3-D web tag, called an i-TAG,
which consumers can “scan” using a home computer’s
webcam. Scanning the i-TAG will reveal special content
onscreen unique to the corresponding product. Exact
content varies for each item, but could include biographical
information, additional images and animated models of the
figures. When the i-TAG for deluxe figures, vehicles or
creatures are placed under a webcam, animated 3-D models
will “come alive” through engaging, evading or defending
moves. Place two i-TAGs from the “Battle Pack” together
and the 3-D images will interact with each other.

21.  ToyReview
 Battlepack
 Toys and games feed back to movie
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

22. Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

23.  A Transmedia Narrative project or franchise must consist of three
(or more) narrative storylines existing within the same fictional
universe on any of the following platforms: Film, Television,
Short Film, Broadband, Publishing, Comics, Animation, Mobile,
Special Venues, DVD/Blu-ray/CD-ROM, Narrative Commercial
and Marketing rollouts, and other technologies that may or may
not currently exist. These narrative extensions are NOT the same
as repurposing material from one platform to be cut or
repurposed to different platforms.
 A Transmedia Producer credit is given to the person(s)
responsible for a significant portion of a project’s long-term
planning, development, production, and/or maintenance of
narrative continuity across multiple platforms, and creation of
original storylines for new platforms. Transmedia producers also
create and implement interactive endeavors to unite the audience
of the property with the canonical narrative and this element
should be considered as valid qualification for credit as long as
they are related directly to the narrative presentation of a project.
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

24.  1. Blurring between ancillary, subsidiary and allied rights.
 2. Content creators (writers) additional exploitations thru
Transmedia that will have to be considered in licensing
deals.
 3. “Rights conveyed” language in license deals must be
closely scrutinized.
 4. Need to ask forward thinking questions about what the
IP may be used for (future rights).
 5. As a practitioner, need to keep a list of all the platforms,
all the allied rights and keep updating it.
 6. Characters are more important than ever. Character
protection is complicated already.
 7. Territorial rights may become significant.
 8. Transmedia is still experimental and currently is a risky
venture (business side). But without acquisition of proper
legal rights, it cannot be done.
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA

25. Thank you
Connie J. Mableson
Connie J. Mableson, October 30, 2010
SELSA