Jay Bushman
Los Angeles, CA, UNITED STATES
Emmy Award Winning Transmedia Producer and Writer
Biography
JAY BUSHMAN is an award-winning writer, experience designer, and producer of transmedia and platform-independent entertainment.
Named by one publication as “The Epic Poet of Twitter,” Jay is a visionary and an innovator in the transmedia community, where he pushes the boundaries of next-generation entertainment. Jay is also a founder and the Chief Creative Officer of The Horizon Factory, an early-stage startup building a platform to enable unified multiplatform story experiences.
Jay was the transmedia producer, principal interactive architect and a staff writer for the smash multiplatform web series THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES. An innovative video and social media modernization of Jane Austen’s "Pride & Prejudice," LBD became the first YouTube series to win an Emmy Award, in the category "Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media - Original Interactive Program."
Jay was the co-creator and co-showrunner of LBD’s sequel interactive series, WELCOME TO SANDITON. Based on Austen’s unfinished manuscript, this show took the interactivity a step further, allowing for the audience members to play characters in the story and to create canonical story content. Sanditon fans created over 600 in character twitter profiles over the show’s first weekend, and created over 200 pieces of video content in the first week.
Previously, Jay worked as a writer, producer and the Director of Social Media at the groundbreaking entertainment company Fourth Wall Studios, where he created content for their cutting edge RIDES.TV interactive platform. While at Fourth Wall, Jay helped to create the series DIRTY WORK, winner of the 2012 Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Original Interactive Programming. He also wrote and created the show AIRSHIP DRACULA, an animated steampunk reimagining of the classic Stoker novel.
Jay is the co-founder and a leader of TRANSMEDIA LOS ANGELES, a professional organization and resource for people interested creating and learning more about transmedia. Transmedia LA has grown into one of the largest and most active transmedia organizations in the world.
Industry Expertise (1)
Entertainment
Areas of Expertise (3)
Transmedia
Social Media
Content
Accomplishments (6)
Sundance Institute's New Frontier Story Lab - Invited Fellow (professional)
2013-10-24
Invited fellow to the 2013 Sundance New Frontier Story Lab with my project Hashtag Hamlet.
Emmy Award (professional)
2013-09-22
Winner of 2013 Emmy Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media - Original Interactive Program, for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
IAWTV Nomination (professional)
2013-12-13
Welcome To Sanditon nominated for Best Social Media/Interactive Experience at the 2013 International Academy of Web Television Awards
IAWTV Award (professional)
2012-01-04
Winer of the 2012 IAWTV Award for Best Social Media/Interactive Experience for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Emmy Award (professional)
2012-09-16
Recognized for contributions as Associate Producer of Dirty Work, winner of the 2012 Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Original Interactive Programming
Streamy Awards (professional)
2012-03-16
Winner of Streamy Awards for Best Interactive Series and Best Comedy writing for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Education (2)
George Washington University: BA, Theater 1993
University of North Carolina at Greensboro: MFA, FIlm and Video Production 1997
Affiliations (4)
- Producers Guild of America
- Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
- Transmedia Los Angeles (Founder)
- Writers Guild of America West
Links (1)
Sample Talks (1)
How Jane Austen Conquered Social Storytelling
Kids today don’t care about old, moldy literature. Girls don’t watch web video. Social media is only good for brands who want to engage their customers. ALL LIES! The Emmy Award-winning series "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' compiled over 40 million YouTube views, hundreds of thousands of followers, and a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign that were all part of the story in a year-long modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. All with a marketing budget of zero. Find out how.
Style
Availability
- Keynote
- Moderator
- Panelist
- Workshop Leader
Social