A Brand Is An Interactive Story

Battlestar Galactica – one of the top 5 best written shows in television history, easy – ends tonight.

I came across an interview with the show’s mastermind, Ron Moore, today. In it, he discusses his biggest mistake in the series, which was the mention of a character named “Daniel” to whom they never intended to return:

Q: How about fan theories over the show, like mention of a missing Cylon named Daniel? After his name was mentioned, the fans just went wild online. Did you intend for that to happen, and was he supposed to inspire this big fan-driven backstory?

A: You know, the Daniel thing is going to be one of the great fiascos of the show, in terms of what fans thought and what the truth was. Because Daniel was not intended to be anything more than an interesting bit of backstory in that episode. And that’s how we approached it. It was just a story that Cavil and Ellen tell each other, that sort of goes to the idea of who Cavil was and how deep his resentments were, and his jealous nature – and [we wanted to] do a Cain and Abel allegory. That was all it was.

And then after the show aired. I started picking up all this stuff about how fans were obsessing about Daniel and how [people thought] Daniel was Kara’s father, and he was the big surprise. I started thinking, “Oh shit, slow down people, I don’t want you to really get invested.”

I usually don’t like to go out there and say, “Oh, that’s a bad theory,” because part of the enjoyment of watching the show is coming up with ideas. But this was gathering such momentum, I didn’t want people to be going into the finale and really be waiting for the Daniel shoe to drop, when there’s no shoe. It’s one of those things where you’re inside the show, [and] you look at it, and go one way. And then it’s broadcast, and an audience sees it, and then they seize on this piece that you never really anticipated, and then you’re sort of amazed. And you’re saying, “Slow down, no – come back.”

What’s interesting to me here is the extent to which modern storytelling, even in the linear form of series television, has become a dialog. I see this popping up with other great TV writers lately, as in this recent interview with Joss Whedon about the evolution of his Buffy The Vampire Slayer series, which was heavily influenced by fan reaction to different characters and storylines.

One interpretation of all this is that if you write fantasy stories for geeks, you need to listen to what they say online. Stepping back a bit, what I see is that when people become passionate about something, they feel compelled to respond to it. To the extent that the object of those passions reciprocates, a dialog is established that benefits all involved.

If you want to inspire passion about your brand, check to see if anyone is passionate enough about it already to respond. If someone is – or if you’re really lucky and a lot of people are – try engaging them in a way that creates value for both of you.

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Tagged as: Battlestar Galactica, Joss Whedon, Ron Moore, Television