For the past four years, UCLA and USC have co-hosted the public symposium Transmedia, Hollywood, which has explored the role of transmedia franchises in today’s entertainment industries. Led by Denise Mann (UCLA) and Henry Jenkins (USC), Transmedia, Hollywood has turned the spotlight on media creators, producers and executives, engaging them in critical dialogue with top researchers across a wide spectrum of film, media and cultural studies to provide an interdisciplinary summit for the free interchange of insights about how transmedia works and what it means, as well as looking at the dramatic changes in the entertainment industry as it adapts to a digital economy.
This year’s Transmedia, Hollywood conference is taking on a new challenge—tracking the major changes taking place in the television industry. Companies like Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and Microsoft Xbox, all of which began with very discrete goals—online retail, online streaming of network TV shows, direct-to-home DVD rentals, next-generation gaming, user-generated videos—have slowly begun dipping their toes in the original content waters. 2013 saw significant developments on this front with Netflix releasing three original series (“House of Cards,” “Hemlock Grove,” “Orange is the New Black”) and producing a new season of the cult hit “Arrested Development.” The first foray into original programming was a success by many accounts, including 18 combined Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations and four wins.
This evolution is a sure sign that big change is afoot in the entertainment industry. For that reason, UCLA and USC’s fifth annual Transmedia Hollywood becomes Transforming Hollywood 5: The Future of Television. The one-day symposium, set for April 4, 2014, will examine the landmark transformations that are impacting creators, distributors and audiences in extraordinary ways.
Topics to be covered include reinventing TV for the digital future, video streaming on demand, independent content creation, as well as re-imagining television consumption.
Continuing in the tradition of previous years, panelists—cutting edge industry leaders and innovators, content creators, artists and scholars—will tackle these issues in a series of lively debates that take into consideration both the practical and business realities of these shifts, as well as their cultural implications.
More information about the conference can be found on the conference overview page.
