The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

A classic, in the present tense.

Co-created by Bernie Su and Hank Green, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries reimagines Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice through the vlogs of a modern grad student.

The story extended beyond its 100 main-channel episodes. Characters posted, replied, and shared their lives across social platforms, giving the audience more ways into the world between videos.

It became the first YouTube series to win a Primetime Emmy. Its combination of adaptation, character-driven video, and social storytelling helped establish a new approach to digital narrative.

The story continued between episodes.

Lizzie’s videos were the center of the experience. Social accounts and companion stories expanded the characters’ lives without losing the emotional core of Austen’s novel.

Bernie led the writing and helped design the narrative across platforms. The approach continued to evolve in Emma Approved and, later, his live interactive work.

Watch the work.

▶Watch The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Open on YouTube ↗

Further reading.

• The New York Times A Modern Pride and Prejudice Spins Across the Web↗
• PBS MediaShift How The Lizzie Bennet Diaries Won an Emmy for Social TV↗
• Wired How The Lizzie Bennet Diaries Reinvented Jane Austen for YouTube↗
• The Atlantic The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and the Future of Television↗
• Tubefilter Finale Interview with Bernie Su and Hank Green↗
• Tubefilter Emmy Win Coverage↗
• Forbes The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Digital Storytelling↗
• Open Repository The Lizzie Bennet Diaries as Transmedia Narrative↗
• ResearchGate From Pride and Prejudice to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: A Transmedia Adaptation↗
• Oxford · Adaptation Adaptation journal — multiple papers cite LBD as a landmark adaptation↗
• PBS MediaShift Lizzie Bennet Diaries — archive tag↗
• Tubefilter Lizzie Bennet Diaries — archive tag↗
• Television Academy Emmy archive — The Lizzie Bennet Diaries↗