Digital Storytelling Festival

Next Exit

Introduction:

What we are trying to do with PricewaterhouseCoopers and with Coca-Cola, is to take a mixture of these well-produced little modules which I call story segments - that can be produced in a somewhat more traditional manner, and intersperse those with these live segments where our presenters, our storytellers, ground them in their own point of view and their own personal stories. Every time you come out of one of these higher-level pieces you come right back to why this person is doing what he is doing and why she is standing there.

JL: Let's talk a little bit about your experiences with Coca-Cola. I mean how does Dana Atchley, digital storyteller, get hired by Coca-Cola?

DA: There was no way a couple of years ago that I could have gone and knocked on Coca-Cola's door and said, "I am a digital storyteller and you should be interested in this." They would have just said, "What are you talking about? Get out of here!" The fact is that somebody at Coca-Cola, who was in a position to make a decision, saw me perform. They saw it in a different venue, a museum [in Atlanta, as Dana was touring with Next Exit]. He later called me and said, "It was a choice between you and Aida, and I decided to see as much of your show as possible and then go see Aida. I saw something there, the possibility that what you were doing could be helpful for working with one of our top executives."

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