Talking with the lovely Alison Norrington last month, we talked about the genesis of transmedia projects. Of the projects being created in my wider circle, the transmedia creators are often producing their own projects too, and I wonder about this – as quite often the person with the story is not the person who wants to do the hustling. Hmm- I guess I define ‘producing’ as ‘hustling’.
Many brilliant people can create a compelling storyworld and also be more than able to pinpoint the opportunity to get it made, and bring on the people and the resources to make it happen. But that’s so rare because it’s very difficult for any individual to get their own stuff made- in any media, but particularly true when it’s an individual trying to seed a story across multiple platforms.
So who are resourced to produce the transmedia stories? Well, there are the PR/Marketing/Ad agencies working with a brand’s marketing budget, and the dedicated cross-platform production companies.
Lately, though, there’s been a critical mass of indications that both those crowds are seriously lacking great content.
Firstly, there was my cup of tea with Alison, who related her experiences talking to some self-made transmedia producers- smart people who’ve ‘spotted the next big thing’ and set themselves up with a ‘transmedia’ company- and then come to her, looking for advice on where to find content.
Then a few weeks ago I had a meeting with a cross-platform production company who are so keen on finding the next great transmedia writing talent that they’re spending considerable time and energy on training events to develop ‘old media’ writers into transmedia ones.
And this week I met with a world-leading PR agency, who are marshalling top cross-platform production companies so that they can get in on the ground with transmedia talent. But what they really want is to access content (and the whizzkids with the instincts to exploit it best)
It seems to me that there are a lot of people circling each other and not getting very far.
Alison’s view is that its a collaborative process. That’s one that I’m used to. Coming from a theatre background, I’ll keep in touch with many theatre-makers and often we’ll develop ideas together. Perhaps some agencies and production companies will be doing just this in the future, if they can find the resources to.
samhoweynunn 