Twitter to become part of the plot line in SyFy’s series Haven
Haven is one of my favorite shows and if you haven’t seen it yet (it’s in its second season) think of a dash of X-Files and a drop of Fringe mashed together to come up with a really unique and fun show. Well it seems that social media, in the form of Twitter, is set to invade the show starting this Friday; and is expected to be an integral part of the plot line for the next seven episodes.
The trick as far as Craig Engler, Senior Vice President at SyFy Digital, is to make the involvement of Twitter organic to the plot. It will all start this Friday as two of the show’s characters join Twitter as part of a game to see who can get the most followers at which point strange Tweets start to appear.
What’s more, Twitter-savvy viewers have the opportunity to follow along, with viewers on the East Coast, where it airs first, having the added advantage of following the Tweets in near real-time. Audience members can visit the Twitter feeds of the individual characters (@VinceHaven, @DaveHaven) or go tosyfy.com/haven. But it isn’t necessary to look at Twitter to follow the show’s plot.
When SyFy first approached Twitter about the plot line Robin Sloan, Twitter’s media partnership manager, advised the show’s writers not to focus on the “twitterness” or that the show’s characters are using Twitter. Sloan also has said that this is a first for Twitter.
Robin Sloan, Twitter’s media partnership manager, told Digits that the way Syfy uses Twitter breaks new ground. While past shows may have featured a joke about Twitter or a character who uses Twitter, the social network was “never core.” In the case of “Haven” case, Sloan says, “If you took Twitter away from the plot, you would feel that something is missing.”
Sloan was initially contacted by Haven’s producers about their Twitter plotline. His advice: don’t focus on the “twitterness,” or the fact that the characters are using Twitter. “Fundamentally, what matters is the content itself,” Sloan said.
