{"id":323,"date":"2025-01-29T22:40:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T22:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/?page_id=323"},"modified":"2026-06-18T16:04:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:04:28","slug":"the-block-2001","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/?page_id=323","title":{"rendered":"The Block (2001)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-wistia-inc wp-block-embed-wistia-inc\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"The Block Video\" src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.net\/embed\/iframe\/ofnm9d6oy7?dnt=1#?secret=mTiVx6XYki\" data-secret=\"mTiVx6XYki\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"500\" height=\"309\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CONCEIVED way back at the turn of the Millennium, long before Facebook and YouTube were part of our lives, The Block was a visionary project I co-authored with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/hari-kunzru-110b60281\/\">Hari Kunzru<\/a> and J<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jessecleverly\/\">esse Cleverley<\/a> at BBC Fictionlab.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A drama that would run in parallel on TV and the Internet, The Block was also designed to be interactive in a very real sense. Via an online social media environment, the audience would be able to have their own apartments in,&nbsp;Halcyon Point,&nbsp;the skyscraper at the heart of the drama. They could invent characters, interact with other participants, and &#8211; if what they invented was compelling enough &#8211; could be invited to take part in the drama itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The show was on the verge of being greenlit when Osama Bin Laden flew two airlines into the World Trade Center. Suddenly a interactive drama set in a kilometre-high building didn&#8217;t seem so fun any more, and the project was shelved. Such a shame, as it would have been awesome. You can get a flavour of what we were trying to achieve from this promo we made.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CONCEIVED way back at the turn of the Millennium, long before Facebook and YouTube were part of our lives, The Block was a visionary project I co-authored with Hari Kunzru and Jesse Cleverley at BBC Fictionlab.&nbsp; A drama that would run in parallel on TV and the Internet, The Block was also designed to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-323","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":356,"href":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323\/revisions\/356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesflint.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}