Story is King
By Stephen Schleicher Producer
05/29/00

When I open any industry magazine or website, I see a lot of advertisements spouting the ease of getting content on the Internet. Words and phrases like 'fun' 'complete', 'one-step', 'blazingly fast' 'quick, simple, convenient', and 'stupidly easy' convince us that the next generation of media delivery will be available to everyone. That is all well and good, but what about words and phrases like 'theme', 'character development', and the most important, 'story'?

When will people learn that story is king?

Last week, in the office, a co-worker said that I was, "a very hard guy to please." To an extent that is a true statement. I like to be so totally engrossed in a story that I forget where I'm at. I want to care about characters, if they will reach their goal or not, I want to be entertained. It shouldn't be a lot to ask, but judging from the stuff I've seen lately, producers are forgetting story all together.

Avoid the following if you want to save your money and mind:

If a movie trailer/commercial says, "the best special effects I've seen all year". That is a sure sign that "they" are trying to cover up an awful storyline.

"Funnier than the original!" If the original wasn't that funny, why'd they make a sequel? On average sequels as of late have not done as well as the original.

"Two thumbs up!" If I remember my ancient Roman studies, a thumb up meant death. Two thumbs up? Yikes.

"If you like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, then you'll love _____". Unfortunately that is how programming is done today; copy an original.

Anything based on a comic book. I love reading comics a much as the next geek, but you can never do the cool things that comics can, and every person I've seen play a comic book character roll falls flat. There is a comic book based movie coming out later this summer, I'm not a big fan of the comic, but this one looks like it could be on the mark (at least with one character)

Star Trek XXIII. Enough said.

However, if you want to spend your time and money wisely:

"The most original story seen all year"

"Shocking! An ending you wouldn't expect". That phrase can actually be a bad thing too. If you are trying to guess what the story is all about because of bad structure then you've wasted your money, but if you've seen The Sixth Sense then you know it can be done.

"Insert Name Here was suburb, a most convincing performance."

What makes a good story?

Create a beginning, middle, and end. This is typical of 99% of all films, television shows, and webcasts.
Create interesting characters that the audience can sympathize with. Think of your favorite movie/show of all time, what made those characters unique and original?
Give the story a unique twist. Sixth Sense, Usual Suspects, and Wild Things are all great examples of stories with a twist. Not all stories have to be that extreme, but it should give you a starting point.
Limit your number of characters. If your audience has to keep track of a large number of characters it can make the story confusing.

That's just a sample of the many questions that can start you on your way to telling a great story. Remember it may be easy to deliver and distribute your content on the web, but if no one cares about story or characters, why will they continue to visit your site or continue to watch what you have to offer?

Comment on this editorial on the Digital Webcasting Forum

Stephen Schleicher Stephen has crossed the country over the last 6 years, going from Kansas to Georgia and now California. Prior to joining Digital Media Online, Stephen ran his own freelance animation business (Thunderhead Productions) providing content for clients in and around Atlanta. As Operations Manager of the Media Production Department of The American InterContinental University in Atlanta, GA, Stephen installed and built out an entire video facility from the ground up. In addition to having a strong traditional and interactive video production background, Stephen has shared his tremendous technical and production knowledge as an instructor at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas and AIU in Atlanta.
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