The Crossover

A couple days ago, while catching up on many summer movie trailers, I stumbled upon a curious trailer for a fairly unknown film called “Every Little Step.” At first glance, “Every Little Step” seems like your typical documentary. However, this movie is a prime example of what’s happening to media today.

You see, “Every Little Step” follows the casting process of the Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line,” one of the most beloved musicals of all-time. The trailer promises viewers singing and dancing, as well as deep, introspective discussions on the difficulties of being a performer in the cutthroat entertainment world. This subject material might not be something new and revolutionary. In fact, just by watching the brief 3 minute and 26 second long trailer, I noticed that “Every Little Step” seems to follow a generic formula for a documentary studying the competitive performing arts world.

However, from a business standpoint, “Every Little Step” is a brilliant idea and a perfect example of “the crossover.” In all forms of media today, stories are being swapped between mediums and told time and time again with slight variations. Musical artists are appearing in movies to promote their new albums (i.e. “8 Mile” and “Hannah Montana: The Movie”). Video games are being produced to coincide with the release of the major motion pictures they’re based on. And, movies are being created with Broadway adaptations in mind while Tony winning shows slowly become Hollywood blockbuster films.

In many ways, this trend of the media crossover is a perfect example of Henry Jenkins’ idea of convergence culture and the comingling of various forms of media. Now more than ever, producers are ripping story ideas from other sources and adapting them to suit their specialties.

In a way, one has to wonder what this is doing to the creation of new stories. With so many stories being carried from one medium to another, we aren’t writing books with just the intention of publishing a novel; we’re writing books with the notion that we’re creating a book, a future movie with a big soundtrack and possibly a series that continues on for years. The same stories are being used to the point where new stories are considered huge business risks; it’s much easier to adapt a Broadway show to a film (i.e. “Doubt” or “The History Boys”) than to come up with a new and engaging plot that might totally tank.

However, we shouldn’t be afraid to take risks on new creative material. After all, breakthroughs in art require new thought, not rehashed leftovers of old, used ideas. We need to continue to strive to make something completely new, no matter how impossible that task may seem.