Multitainment: Afterworld

I just got a press release entitled "Sony hails the 'multitainment' age " (multitainment! No!), in which Sony's most recent interactive entertainment project is unveiled:

Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) unveiled Afterworld at 3GSM this week, an ambitious cross-platform animated series designed to crack converged media and carve out a new genre.

... says the release. Here's HollywoodReporter on it:

Taking a leap into the future on several levels, Sony Pictures Television International has signed a landmark agreement to exclusively acquire all international television, Internet, digital sell-through, gaming and mobile rights to "Afterworld," a futuristic animated episodic drama.

There's been a lot of talk of this kind of thing in the corridors of tellyland: one thing that's nice to see is writers and authors getting excited at the concept of episode length that is beyond the usual half hour or hour episode (euh, 20 and 40 mins).

As part of the agreement, SPTI will acquire 130 two-minute episodes to be distributed across TV, Web and mobile outlets, creating a "tailor-made brand" for today's multiplatform consumer. The episodes will be made available as two-minute episodes as well as 13 half-hour episodes for traditional broadcasters.

Yep, the maths works. 130 x 2m, or 13 x 20m. Clever. Here's another interesting snippet:

Noted Friedman, "As much as I've enjoyed working in all the conventional mediums, I believe we have created something that represents a new form of content -- the online convergence of television and video games."

Oho.

.. and here's episode two and episode three too. They're good!