Email Shows - The Show Must Go Online
By John Evans
Email Shows is a website that provides "epistolary" continuations
of well-known movies.
At least one novel has already been written in the form of emails
between characters, so it shouldn't be surprising that there are websites
taking advantage of this form of expression as well. Email Shows offers
nine "shows", told in the form of emails sent between characters.
Registered users are themselves emailed with the story emails, a sort
of "email eavesdropping". In this manner, the user is assured
a steady supply of new entertainment on a regular basis, which they
can read at their leisure.
The real draw of Email Shows is that it deals in "continuations"
of famous movies; or, as the site calls them, "eQuels".
Readers can listen in on the inspirational emails of Erin Brockovich,
or be chilled by the writings of the American Psycho. In essence,
the whole site is a marketing tool for the film studios. Which is
not necessarily a bad thing, as the stories provide free entertainment
value. The site also mentions a viral marketing aspect to their strategy,
as users may forward emails to their friends and get them interested
in the stories.
In all, Email Shows is a clever concept in two ways. First, the idea
of an email epistolary story is an interesting one. I have heard of
other "independent" publishers who provide serial email
stories for a fee. Email Shows, however, takes this a step further
by working with famous film studios. This attracts users as well as
letting the whole site be free to use. While Email Shows may not change
how media is presented, it seems destined to become a widely-used
tool in film studios' marketing strategies.