So, an almost overwhelming week at Storyworld
in San Francisco is over, jet lag is slowly fading, the heaps of work await and
it’s time to take stock of what was learned during the conference. From my POV,
as a creator and developer of tv formats – multiplatform, cross media,
transmedia ones – here are a couple of points:
The transmedia crowd is a fine one
I’ve been involved in enough startups of
different kinds to know what it’s like; the feeling of unity, the stage that Michel Reilhac called the ”Rebel Stage” of ”Us vs Them” (that in all fairness is now giving
way to the Pioneering Stage where we’ll see more acceptance of the movement,
best practices being carved out, and a route set to finally enter the Business
Stage). It’s a good stage to be in, no matter that everyone’s definition of
”transmedia” differs somewhat from everyone else’s. What I like the most,
however, is that most people involved in transmedia readily acknowledge that
we’re better off thinking about ”Us AND Them” from the outset, a realization
that can take other types of movement ages to achieve. Not to mention the fact
that all the people I met at Storyworld were quite brilliant in their own way
and a genuine pleasure to meet and talk to.
Non-fiction transmedia is on few radars
Most of the examples and most of the talks at
the conference centered around transmedia based in fiction. Of the examples
that were presented during the speed pitches at lunch on Monday and Tuesday,
only Storm Surfers could be described as non-fiction – OTOH, the background
story on that show was more fleshed out that most of the fictional ones. Now,
don’t get me wrong, I enjoy good fiction as much as anyone, both when it comes
to creating and to consuming or experiencing. Still, I would have liked some
more talks on and examples of non-fiction transmedia; documentaries, television
formats, non-fiction art etc. Creating transmedia formats for television, for
instance, is a process that brings with it a bunch of demands not encountered
when dealing with transmedia fiction; the need to be able to repeat for season upon
season, the need for financial sustainability, the need to find a background
story to hook the transmediated content on…. Perhaps at SWC12?
I was extremely thankful to many of the people
on different panels – Liz Rosenthal for instance – for insisting that we do not
forget the audience at any time. I totally agree; having worked in traditional
media for 10-odd years, in radio for many of them and developing 50-odd shows
during those years; keeping close tabs on your audience and involving them as
often as possible is very much key. Acknowledging this, I would have thought
it’d be interesting to invite someone representing the audience, or someone doing
audience / UX research to the conference? Again, perhaps next year we’ll see a
panel of two-three avid ARG-players/ transmedia audience members paired with
one or two researchers in the field, that could talk on transmedia from ”the
other side”? As I stated above, the transmedia crowd is a fabulous one, but we
might be a bit environmentally damaged…
The art of getting lawyered up
The collective gloom that set in during the
panel on the importance of getting lawyers in would have been funny if it hadn’t
been such a serious subject. Now, the panel members might have been banging
their own drum – I’ll not get into that debate – but the truth is, you can’t
cover all your bases while producing and distributing transmedia content
without legal advice. Still, there is absolutely no need to pay thousands of
dollars to an established Hollywood lawyer, unless that is exactly what you
need. I would argue that anyone doing transmedia projects – or any kind of
creative work – would be better off starting out with a project that is not of
uttermost importance to them, i.e. not the work of their lives, the one project
that they burn utterly for. With a less important project, it is possible to
make all the mistakes, take note of them and make a better effort the second
time around. Simon Pulman wrote a good post on this matter, from a US
point-of-view, but most of the points are viable for transmedia people in other
territories as well.
Network of networks
The meetup of meetups was interesting, as
there are quite a few meetups happening in the name of transmedia around the
world. I know there are a lot of efforts being made at the moment to get all
these in touch – which many of them already are – and create new ones where
there is a void to be filled. For my own part I’d be looking to help create a
Transmedia Nordic meetup, as we have quite a few practicioners, researchers and
students active in the field. On another level, I’d be looking to see if a
Transmedia Europe meetup could be organized, perhaps as a annual event. And,
naturally, people from other territories would be more than welcome. Perhaps in
the context of some other happening, such as the Pixel Market or
TedxTransmedia? Let’s talk, Liz, Nicoletta, Karine and everyone else who's interested!
All other thoughts I had, regarding
development, distribution, partnerships etc, are things I’ll write about a bit
later as I force my mind to put them into the right context. Will keep you all
posted!
Thank you all who were involved. It was an
absolute pleasure to meet you all. Looking forward to next year already! And,
yes, thanks Alison, for pulling all of this together! Brilliant!
