Tonight I went to an interesting panel discussion about writing stories for video games and film. The conversation focused on the possibility of bringing some of the strengths of video game writing, such as interactivity and choice, into film and television writing. Along with their other projects, the panel members are working on interactive projects with the company Interlude. Ken Levine is working on a new interactive Twilight Zone, and Sam Barlow is working on an interactive project based on the WarGames film (Will Gluck didn’t give specific details about his project).

Before working with Interlude, Will Gluck discussed looking at doing interactive projects at a number of places such as Amazon or Netflix. However, he said they weren’t sure about the technology involved in interactive projects.

Interactivity is key to video game writing, and player choices and branching narrative are also commonly used. However, these techniques have not been used often in television or film. One of the panel members mentioned the movie Clue as one film that did use it. He also said that oftentimes when it is done in movies or television, it is not done well. The panel members hope to change that with their new projects. I look forward to seeing how their projects turn out!