Fiction app developers hope Hollywood will get Hooked

Serial entrepreneurs Prerna Gupta and husband Parag Chordia launched their mobile reading app Hooked in September as a way to publish fiction for the social media generation.

But during the past year, the Silicon Valley upstarts have been making a bold pitch to Hollywood – use data to find the next Harry Potter.

Hooked, which publishes experimental short stories in the form of text message conversations, has won investments from entertainment business heavyweights at companies such as Warner Bros and talent agency WME.

Why would studio executives care about a fiction app for the Snapchat-addicted? Some think the San Francisco startup might have a diamond in the rough – the data it uses to figure out which stories are working for its readers and which aren’t.

Hooked is one of several tech companies trying to bring better analytics to Hollywood, which is trying to find new ways to target younger audiences who aren’t going to movies as frequently as their parents.

Backers of Hooked, including Warner Bros production head Greg Silverman and former WME agent-turned-entrepreneur Charles King, think Hooked could identify new material and writing talent, and test scripts and story ideas before they become movies and shows – taking some of the guesswork out of the inherently risky business.