Next Stage: Immersion 101: Inventing the Future of Entertainment

Thanks to the Internet, a new type of narrative is emerging – one that's told through many media at once in a way that's nonlinear, participatory, and above all immersive. Yet every time a new medium has come along in the past—movies, radio, television—it has taken people 20 years or more to figure out what to do with it. Last year was the 20th anniversary of the birth of the Web. So, how are we doing? "Immersion 101" will look at five key examples of immersive entertainment from the past year—apps, ARGs, marketing campaigns, or all three. What made them work? What could they have done better? What can we learn from them? What do they point to next? Moderated by Paul Woolmington of Naked Communications, the panel—Frank Rose, author of The Art of Immersion; Susan Bonds, CEO of 42 Entertainment; and Ted Hope, producer of such films as 21 Grams and Happiness—will deconstruct each project and engage the audience, and each other, in a debate about the future of entertainment.