commissioners

When it comes to the television industry, the area I know a (little) bit about is drama. And I’d guess that drama is the genre that will be seeing more and more transmedia approaches to its content.

I’m wondering how the commissioning process will accommodate these entirely new propositions. Take the traditional model of commissioning. The first time the broadcaster gets first sight of the story, it’s usually via a pitch document- anything from 1 to 10 pages. If they like that, they commission a full treatment. If the treatment passes muster, a script is commissioned. That script will go through X number of drafts, all with the broadcaster breathing over the writer’s shoulder. (The writer is contracted to complete 2 drafts- after that, the commissioner can draft in a new writer).

Its a process that guarantees, as far as possible, full commissioner control.

Perhaps transmedia producers will be coming up against this sooner rather than later. When a transmedia project is often (some would say always) interactive, and much of the story will be led, and written, by the audience, then the transmedia producer is not going to be able to go in with that many guarantees- only a sense of the general direction. I’m curious as to how that’s going to go down with commissioners used to fail-safe processes.

If there’s a clash of expectations, how is the infrastructure and process going to reform itself to accommodate this?

And if transmedia projects don’t make commissioners feel safe, what are the parameters that can be put in place to encourage faith in transmedia projects and smooth the way to commission?

mapping digital influence

A bit of an attempt to map how digital tools have influenced the theatre ecology, bringing in the film, broadcast and games industries. Click through to read….

With the explosion of digital into arts and entertainment, affecting content creation, marketing and distribution in all industries in myriad ways, my visual brain needs a mindmap to encompass the whole- and this barely scratches the surface.

It’s been an interesting exercise, not least because I can quite quickly see that all the company names that spring to mind are in the pervasive games/immersive theatre corner (top right), not least because this is the work I have been involving myself in for the past few years. As I extend my knowledge and skills horizontally towards the left of the map into transmedia, I’ll be populating that side soon enough.