Archive for February, 2008

I’ve been off the grid for a while. A victim of that heinous strain of flu virus that’s been curb-stompin’ my peer group. The worst of it was being kept from attending THE GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE in San Francisco. This annual event brings together the video game community for a week of keynote speeches, presentations, parties, and other assorted mindshare. My part to play was a presentation about some of the transmedia work I’ve done, but more importantly the collaborative approach to content creation we use at HEROES. Our system has much in common with SCRUM, and I was looking forward to sharing stories about our successes, and failures. But the influenza said “Nix.”

I’ve been obsessed with GDC for years. Primarily because I’m always trying to learn how to be better at what I do. But also for inspiration. The speakers at GDC often have a tremendous passion for their work, a willingness to share what they’ve learned, and a forward looking spirit that gets my mind excited about how I can be a part of “what’s next.”

I don’t think there is a similar culture of continuing education in Hollywood. And certainly not a week long event where the greatest minds in the industry gather to… err… help each other. The closest you can get would be some of the more candid DVD commentaries. (All the Robert Rodriguez comms are great, Spy Kids 2&3 in particular.)

To get you on the continuing education tip — I want to point you toward a few talks from past GDC’s that I found incredibly valuable. Though the speakers were talking about GAMES, and the games industry, everything they said resonated with my experiences in TV, and MOVIES. They are available for download at gdcradio.net (the search function isn’t the best, but it’s worth the effort)

Episodic Content: Viva La Evolution! Neil Young — GDC 2002
Neil was lead designer on a video game called Majestic. It was essentially a serialized Alternate Reality Game for monthly subscribers. It was a work of genius. And a financial disaster. The lessons Neil learned from the experience, and shares in this brilliant talk, are germane to all my take-homes from ALIAS, LOST, and HEROES. Then why am I still in the serialized storytelling business? If more people would listen to this talk. And get educated about the form. People wouldn’t keep making the same mistakes.

This is Not a Game: A discussion on the creation of the AI web experience. Elan Lee — GDC 2002. Elan is one of that brilliant gang responsible for the new form of storytelling called the Alternate Reality Game. The most culturally impactful being the THE BEAST, which was built as a viral marketing campaign for the Spielberg Film A.I., and I LOVE BEES, which supported the launch of HALO 2 on the the XBOX. Elan’s enthusiasm, and candor in discussing his team’s lack of preparation for the way players dedicated themselves to cracking the secrets of the game, is similar to my experiences working on the ARGs for ALIAS, and HEROES. Elan’s dogmatic support of never breaking the fourth wall is something I disagree with strongly. And I think he may have come to a different take on this as well. ;-]

Production Through Collaboration: Escalating Demands on the Producer. Dave Perry — GDC 2004. This is a great primer for anyone wondering what a Producer does. From the gaming perspective, but applicable to FILM, TV, and anything else that needs producing. Dave’s eloquence, willingness to share his secrets, and his ability to highlight the relevant bits you never thought of, is worth multiple listens. Attach to brands!

Missing this years conference was a crushing disappointment. But soon I’ll be able to download Ken Levine’s presentation about the narrative in BioShock. And all the others too. By not being there in person, I’d like to think I prevented a pandemic. But I’m sad I wasn’t able to infect them with my ideas, respect, and gratitude.

PS — The worst part? I was supposed to meet Jane McGonigal! In person! ARRRRGGGGG!

The WGA strike is over. After months without work, and income, it’s a tremendous relief for everyone. It will be years before the WGA’s true victories can be understood, but significant gains appear to have been made toward establishing guild jurisdiction over content produced for the web. One of the main areas of contention between the WGA and the AMPTP was residual payments for content distributed via the internet. I’m kind of a moron when it comes to talking about numbers. I never really got above Algebra 1. So my understanding of what 4% of distributors gross — the new internet residual formula — actually means as applied to streaming of episodes, is pretty much nil.

One thing I have a better handle on is the streaming window the WGA acceded to the AMPTP. During this period of time, it varies between 17, and 26 days, the networks can stream episodes of tv shows, without applying the residual formula. Essentially getting a free rerun. In theory, I didn’t have a problem with some sort of streaming window. There is already a precedent for this kind of thing, where the network can rerun a show during it’s first week on the air, without paying a residual fee.

But then I started to think about some of the things we do at HEROES.

We stream EPISODES of our show on the web the day after they air on broadcast. But we also stream an episode of the show that has cast/crew VIDEO COMMENTARY streaming alongside it. The viewer can flip back and forth between the two video streams at their leisure. (This was my idea, so I only have myself to punch in the head for this one. Doh!) We also stream an episode of our show that includes POP UP TEXT information about what’s happening on screen. Little clues, and insights into the show. There are plans for a feature that will allow fans of the show to gather online and watch a streaming version of the show, via chat client. So they can share comments as they watch, and exchange social currency with each other. I think ABC has a version of this up and running for LOST.

So that’s FOUR potential versions of the show that are available online. The day after the show is broadcast. And we’ve found that our fans watch ALL of them. They watch the show on the air. And then they watch EVERY version of the show online. Sometimes they watch them MULTIPLE times. When do they do this? During the week the show is broadcast, in preparation for the following week’s episode.

So during that streaming window, one individual may be watching an episode of television as many as FOUR times. And after that streaming window — they’re watching the NEXT episode FOUR times. So if most of the traffic hits for an episode come during that streaming window, by a significant multiple. 4x?

What exactly will the WGA be getting residuals on?

I’m sure I’m wrong about this. I’m wrong about most things. I didn’t think there was going to be a war in Iraq. I didn’t think George Bush was going to be elected president. So I’m sure I’m missing something here. I’m sure these present day, real world, non-hypothetical, metrics were factored into the decision to give up a residual claim to the streaming window.

But like I said, it will be years before the WGA’s true victories can be understood.

I’m sure you’re grokking this already. So I won’t blame you for skipping this post. ;-] But sometimes I need to type something out to really understand it, and rewrite my creative DNA.

You know all that web content that’s been created under the marketing umbrella? To support the launch of your favorite MOVIE, TV-SHOW, and CD? That stuff is not ephemeral. That stuff is evergreen. It’s awesome content. And it needs to be taken seriously. And given a home.

The ARGs. Teaser websites. Prequel comic books. Webisodes. All that content that has been created for viral marketing campaigns, it shouldn’t be discarded by the companies that pay for it. It needs to be re-purposed, and supported. With so many TV SHOWS having a shelf-life, there is no reason new consumers shouldn’t have access to that narrative content in the future. And after all the hard work, creativity, and money that went into making the stuff, to abandon it seems… wasteful. We need a more sustainable model.

One HEROES example — Our awesome marketing team gave us money to create the 9thWonders website to help launch the show. It was designed to be a place where all the fans at The San Diego Comic Con could come together after seeing the pilot, and chat. 9thWonders grew into an amazing fan community. But because it was built with marketing cash — there was no plan for how to pay for the site to be updated post premiere. Thanks to some amazing admins, the site still has a vibrant community — but they deserve more updates, cool stuff, and exclusives.

Sometimes HEROES gets it right — The video commentaries, and documentaries that were created as web content, were used on the DVD. Kind of a no brainer. Right?

But what if from the very beginning a business model took into consideration how the marketing content would live-on, alongside the franchise? I’m sure that would complicate how the production of the content was paid for. But I’m also sure it would be more profitable for its investors in the long run.

I was motivated to crank out this post after checking out all the stuff BAD ROBOT has been doing for CLOVERFIELD. Those guys are brilliant. And I’m sure they have a plan to bring the story of Tagruato, Chuai Station, and Dr. Nightingale, off of scattered websites, and share it with the broad audience it deserves. A book. A DVD. Something. And when they do — I’ll buy it. And I think others will too.