ON PRODUCING CRUSHING IT: The Audience has Spoken

The audience didn’t leap panic-stricken from their computer screens and smart phones.

They stuck around and played with the story. And that’s what we wanted them to do.

In this funny, sudsy romp called “Crushing It”, the week began with, “Who will hook up? Who will be left alone? You decide.”

As each day’s episode unfolded, the story’s ticking time bombs went off one by one until, in that moment when all seemed lost, Barbara (@barbology) stomped out of her wedding leaving Laurence (@about2bhitched) at the altar. The audience was pondering, ‘what next?’, when all eyes turned to see Carmella (@findcarm) striding to the altar in her here-comes-the-bride-bitches dress. Amidst stunned wonder and happiness, @abouttobhitched and @findcarm tweeted “I do”. There wasn’t a dry eye in Twitterville.

It was invigorating to see how the story flourished in the interface between creators and audience. During live performances, I did some product research by following along, observing audience participation and how the writers spun out the story while engaging the audience. I have to confess, following the twists and turns, some of which were audience inspired, was fun and a bit addictive.

As this was a trial project, we were free to test a number of things: format, platform use, and audience engagement. We also tested the impact of audience participation on story arcs. In other words, how could the story maintain integrity while being flexible enough to respond live to audience input?

So integral was the audience to the story, they inspired a very human response on the part of the characters. As the final scene concluded, the show didn’t just fade to black or go to credits. The characters turned to the audience and ‘took a bow’, so to speak, as they tweeted their thankyous.

Then the curtain came down.