ISSUES OF SUSTAINABILITY

I’m returning to Rotterdam after a 10-year absence. The last time I was here we were screening my first feature The Last Broadcast.

Last night I enjoyed a dinner with Nekisha Cooper (Pariah) and Ben Howe (Treeless Mountain) two up and coming producers who are attending the Rotterdam Lab. I was struck by the fact that the conversations from a decade ago were still so relevant today. Sustainability was an issue then and is even more so now. Unlike a decade ago the technology is now a reality. But along with this advancement comes the changing of roles. As prep, production, post and distribution become one it creates a different set of responsibilities. There’s a need for new crew positions and different working methods thanks to social media, audience building and the management of a project’s rights. Producers are in a unique position to help usher in this change.

I know personally that my process has changed. The methods in which I’m working are very different from a decade ago. In addition to attending CineMart with my newest project, I’ll be sharing some of my process with the producers from the Rotterdam Lab.

The following is piece that I was asked to write for the IFFR “Daily Tiger” about the value of transmedia / cross-media storytelling and how it has impacted my process.

I don’t consider myself a filmmaker anymore. I rarely shoot on film, don’t cut on film and often my work is shown digitally. I’m not sure what the new term will become but I feel more like a story architect.

As people become more connected thanks to technology, I find myself drawn to making stories social. Social in the sense that they can bring people together and hopefully inspire an individual to pass them to another. The concept of letting audience members step into the shoes of a protagonist or any character for that matter is incredibly exciting to me. My work has become a fusion of film, gaming, tech, and design. I create a project universe where stories are meant to have multiple touch points, where the audience can enter, add to the experience and exit only to return again.

In the work that we’ve done in this emerging area we’ve seen audiences spend on average 8 to 10 hours a week with our stories. Audiences have extended the worlds we build by writing fan fiction, creating characters, remixing media, all the while spreading story elements across the web and into the real world. In one instance a couple met through the storyworld we created and got married! If that’s not social engagement I don’t know what is.

My newest project entitled HIM, which is participating in CineMart is designed to be a film, series, game, and social experience. The design and build for HIM is being handled by the company I co-founded called Seize The Media. STM has built these types of experiences for our own original content as well as clients like Ubisoft, myspace, CAA, and others. Our approach to crafting a project universe or storyworld is very calculated. Each element is designed to serve the story and its characters while taking into consideration the best ways to foster audience engagement.

This transmedia / cross-media approach is mirroring a change in audience habits. The audience is evolving. They are their own media companies. They can push button publish text, audio and video to global audiences. Whether anyone is watching is a different story but the tools and desire to create are there. Transmedia offers many benefits to filmmakers in the sense that it can offset costs around production, generate awareness, drive traffic, and increase the life of a film beyond its initial release. This is not theory it is actually happening.