I’m a huge fan of Frank Darabont. His initial run as showrunner of The Walking Dead brought the best episodes of the series in my opinion. It’s on Netflix. Recommended binge-watching.
Darabont’s next series, Mob City, pits mobsters against police for control of 1940s Los Angeles. The series features one of my favorite actors from The Walking Dead, Jon Bernthal.
The Mob City website touts a Mob City Twitter Preview, which consists of tweet after tweet of lines from the screenplay with accompanying photos & videos from the premiere using #MobScript:
Mob City Based on the book by John Buntin. Pilot Episode “A Guy Walks Into A Bar” #MobScript http://t.co/D13Qjzheoj
— Mob City (@MobCityTNT) December 2, 2013
— SCENE ONE — Open on the exterior of a New York City street at night. #MobScript http://t.co/kWBC8PKpan
— Mob City (@MobCityTNT) December 2, 2013
They stop, lay their violin cases on the pavement. Suddenly, 2 thugs pop from a dark alley aiming pistols. #MobScript http://t.co/6bxdkxqdGU
— Mob City (@MobCityTNT) December 2, 2013
And so on… Tweet… after Tweet… after Tweet.
Is this an effective marketing strategy for the series? Is this a reader-friendly way of sharing the screenplay? It’s an interesting experiment, and I’m not sure “First Screenplay to be Adapted for Twitter” is much of a draw to anyone, but it’s interesting their marketing team ran with that angle. As a fan interested to see this series, I can’t say this engages me and I’m not sure I’d advocate this strategy for building interest in a series, whether it’s a TV series, comic, or novel.
Thoughts? Please leave a comment below!