Barry Levinson, the Oscar winning director of Rain Man is partnering with eko on an upcoming interactive series called “The Jury Room”. The live action drama series is slated for a 2020 release on eko’s own platform.
The Jury Room (which is currently the show’s working title) is set during the trial of a domestic terror event, in which unearthed evidence of possible government involvement and a subsequent cover-up is debated by twelve jurors.
The viewer is one of the jurors, and has to navigate the social dynamics of the jury room, as well as the evidence itself to decide the verdict.
“At eko, we are all about giving viewers meaningful choices that deeply shape the narrative. So it is a particular thrill to collaborate with a master of filmmaking like Barry. His films are truly part of the American canon, and it’s a testament to his relentless creative curiosity that he’s making a choice-driven series with us,” said Alex Vlack, Vice President of Creative at eko. “We can’t wait to have Barry at the helm of this project.”
“I’ve always been fascinated by the dynamics of a jury room,” said Levinson. “That the fate of someone can be determined by those dynamics. In a certain way, it represents how we debate each other, form opinions, hold biases, but ideally reach an agreement by being good listeners while also standing up for what we regard as the truth. To play out those elements in an interactive story makes the series really exciting for me.”
Interest in interactive storytelling surged amid the popularity of Emmy-winning Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, the feature-length Black Mirror episode which took home the 2019 Emmy for outstanding television movie.
[Related: “War Games” Rejects Overt Interactivity for Narrative Flow]
eko’s live-action fiction series include That Moment When with Olive Bridge Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment, and #WarGames with MGM.
The company has also partnered with Bullitt, Duplass Brothers’ DBP Donut, Paul Feig’s Powderkeg, GLOW’s Kimmy Gatewood, Nora Kirkpatrick and Funny Or Die, and others on upcoming interactive series.
More as it comes, folks!
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