64
Definition-business strategy:
“the essence of strategy is [...] choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals.”

Gives very PRACTICAL advice: specific numbers, costs, prices, positions, tasks, etc.
Mentions transmedia 3 times.
Quite radical from a filmmaker’s perspective. I specifically mean indies, who always seemed to see themselves as a smaller Hollywood -> Hollywood’s concepts / business models / etc. should also work for them. Which they never did. But now it’s becoming more clear that they don’t and perhaps never will.
Not radical enough from my perspective. It’s a filmmaker sharing his insights from his struggles within the film industry. It’s not a step back to reassess the big picture.

29-36
Define who your film is for (hopefully not for yourself) and how you will reach it.

37
“The new 50/50 is as follows:
50 percent of your time and resources should be devoted to creating the film. 50 percent of your time and resources should be devoted to getting the film out to its audience, aka distribution and marketing.”

45-52
A good “overview of rights, markets and windows”; how they have been and how he reconceptualises them.

53-59
Know what YOU want to achieve and think about how to get there.

61-72
He describes “the bare minimum” of team members you need, and some more recommendable positions if you have the money.

127-131
His “Introduction to Transmedia” is less than 5 (!) pages short.

128
“media consumers don’t consume in one unified pattern anymore.”

129f
Definition “extradiegetic”:
“This material is called “extra-diegetic” and includes all content that is not part of the final released film, especially material that is created but never intended to be part of the final released film. However, as our understanding of film expands, there will not need to be a separate classification between diegetic and extra-diegetic; it will all be part of a seamless whole.”

133-136
Chapter 13: Redefining the Theatrical Experience
His new Definition-theatrical:
“It is time for filmmakers to reclaim the meaning of a theatrical release so that it is inclusive of a multitude of live-screening event scenarios. The theatrical experience needs to be redefined as people watching “films” with other people. Any place. Any time. Any media.”

143
“Unfortunately, due to contract obligations, IFC is currently only set up to do VOD day-and-date with their Festival Direct Program.”

151
“[...] Chris Hyams (the head of B-Side) did the research and found that all films (studio and independent), on average, lose money from theatrical.”

171
“I believe that incorporating aspects of an event into your screenings is the future of independent live event/theatrical releases.” A bit of a nonsensical sentence, but it goes back to stressing experiences.

172-174
“Ways to create a sense of an event:

1. Personal Appearance by the Filmmaker/Cast
2. Personal Appearance by a Celebrity
3. Parties
4. Partner with an Organization
5. Sell Advance Tickets
6. Live Audience Participation Part 1 (?)”

174f
“Transmedia Aspects to Screenings

1. Live Musical Remix
2. Live Film Mixing [Peter Greenaway]
3. Add Live Storytelling Elements to Your Screening [Head Trauma]“

175-177
Other options:

• One-Night Events
• The Film Tour

195
“The alternative theatrical grassroots screening model has shown the way to democratize and return a shared film experience to the control of individuals and groups,. With that newfound power, people will continue to find new ways to exhibit and congregate in order to watch films.”

243
“I think transmedia has tremendous potential for how narrative filmmakers can find new audiences and engage with them. Again, this is not just about marketing, it is about finding and engaging the audience for your film and your oeuvre.”

244
“Audiences don’t consume media as they once did. They have their own preferences, whether it is a movie theater, DVR, their iPhone, Xbox console, etc. Audiences have media and art form preferences. You can’t bend them, you must accommodate them.”

245
“Part of the death of DVDs has been due to people realizing that they didn’t need to watch a film more than once. Transmedia creates a life beyond the one viewing of a film.” -> Not sure about that. Isn’t transmedia even more ephemeral than a traditional movie?

275
“merchandise can be points of entry for films or narrative extensions – so they can be important to a transmedia strategy.”

289
“Television’s core business is repeat viewers.
It is difficult for television to command repeat viewers with individual films. When there was a plethora of fledgling channels such as HBO, Starz, Showtime, AMC, etc., they needed to buy movies to fill their schedules. But as those networks have matured, they have turned to series to bring back repeat viewers. Even indie stalwarts IFC and Sundance are buying fewer films in favor of series programming.”

296
“Ways to monetize your digital rights”:

• “Fees Charged Per Download, Rental, or Viewing”
• “Ad Revenue Share”
• “Subscription Fee”
• “Merchandise Sales”
• “General Promotion/Theatrical Launch”
• “Ad Sales/Banner Ad Sales”
• “Branded Entertainment/Product Placement”
• “Sponsorship”
• “Pay What You Want/Online Tip Jar”

299
“There is an argument I have heard on panels lately: Most filmmakers have a greater problem with anonymity than with piracy. I think this is a false argument.” If nobody wants to pay for it, perhaps nobody wants to see it, so perhaps the film is simply shit or doesn’t have an audience. -> Market it properly!

347
“Dentler observes that if you look at the history of consumer media, you always have different models for different types of publications. Some things are free, some things you pay for. He uses print media as an example, pointing out the difference between the Wall Street Journal and the Free Press.“

Wonders if the PGA’s definition is a good thing.

Sees “transmedia” as the new buzzword after “ARG”.

She’s against the rule of 3 platforms, which she misunderstood: it’s three narrative threads as part of one story world, as Jeff Gomez explains.

This was probably the first opinion piece about the topic right after Nikki Finke broke the news.

She broke the news that the PGA introduces the title of Transmedia Producer.

“More importantly, for the first time in the guild’s history, they voted on and ratified a new credit – that of the Transmedia Producer – which had been shepherded by such Hollywood names as Mark Gordon, Gael Anne Hurd, Jeff Gomez, Alison Savage, and Chris Pfaff.”

Definition-transmedia producer is copied from the PGA’s website. See Woi Woi.

6
Definition-narrative:
“How do you communicate pattern-type information to a pattern-recognizing mental module using a sequential medium such as language? In computer terms, the data is in the wrong format for the communications link!
What’s needed is a reformatter, something that converts one thinking format to the other. Narrative is that reformatter. It’s an ad-hoc solution to an ugly interfacing problem that arose early in the development of language.”

64-82
Describes approaches to how a story can evolve:

1. 64-67, Knowledge-based Approach: don’t really understand
2. 67-70, Simple-Link Approach: basically the way hypertext/links work; user clicks his way through a story
3. 70-74, Multiple Character Approach: user interacts with characters (see 72: story engine) and learns the story from them
4. 74f, Puzzle Approach: user moves from puzzles to puzzle and learns the story on the way; ARGs do this -> downside: Sean Stewart: TNAG
5. 75-78, Traffic Circle Approach: user starts at a central place from where he goes down story lanes and always returns to the central place
6. 78fSingle-Stream Cinematic Sequence Approach: moving pictures tell something in their order, even if the user is able to choose in what order to watch them
7. 80-82, Folded Approach: not sure this is a real category (perhaps he just wanted to present his past creative work); a main character tells sth (as a moving picture?) -> user can click on screen anytime -> detail about that scene is then told by 12 characters discussing it -> user can click on on of the 12 to hear his perspective (second fold) -> user can make main character talk to that character (third fold)

72
Definition-story engine:
“the term story engine is used to describe a set of software algorithms designed to make decisions regarding how a computer-based story should proceed.” The user does something and the story engine responds in a certain way.

93
“the metalinear form extends the writer’s narrative voice so the writer can say more things in more ways.”

95
“A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them.” William Stafford, from WRITING THE AUSTRALIAN CRAWL, February 1982

201
“Metalinear narrative is the name proposed by this research for this new narrative form. The metalinear narrative is a collection of small related story pieces designed to be arranged in many different ways, to tell many different linear stories from different points of view, with the aid of a story engine which sequences the story pieces.”

202
“Metalinear narrative has three primary components:

• An abstract story structure composed of narrative primitives which a writer can manipulate and rearrange according to her creativity. The story structure provides the narrative framework, or spine, for the many linear narratives to be produced from the metalinear narrative
• A representation of story granules to be resequenced in various ways. This repre­sentation includes annotations of how each granule fits into the story structure and the narrative relationships between the story granules
• Methods of resequencing story granules based on their representation and the pro­vided abstract story structure. The story engine chooses granules which fit the sto­ry structure according to predetermined narrative styles

My thesis is that a writing tool which offers the author these three key elements, as well as knowledgeable feedback about narrative construction and context during the creative process, is essential to the task of creating metalinear narratives of significant dimension.”

205
“Met­alinear narrative may make it easier for all of us, not just a few of us, to tell our stories.” -> empowerment

Mentions “storyworld” on page 521.
References offer some texts I can quote for:

• Dawson’s Creek
• Babylon 5
• Twin Peak

519
Definition-transmedia:
Definition-transmedia storytelling:
“Taken by itself, the term “transmedia” simply describes the process of content moving or expanding from one medium into another. As such, transmediation can describe practices ranging from adaptation (e.g., turning a novel into a film) to merchandising (e.g., creating action figures in the likeness of film characters). However, the notion of transmedia storytelling is more specific, and is used to describe the process of further developing a coherent narrative (or elaborating a narrative universe) by distributing related story components across multiple media platforms.”

520
“While most major media franchises of the 1980s expanded to include both licensed merchandise (toys, clothing, breakfast cereal) and transmedia components (films, television series, video games, comic books), many of the most popular franchises were actually financed and launched by merchandisers to help sell their products.”

521
“are these transmedia extensions being developed primarily to tell better stories, or to generate higher profits?”
“Meanwhile, each “platform” serves as an advertisement for the others, and hence for the whole, thereby allowing media corporations to make money from their advertisements.”

521f
“The most significant shift toward horizontal integration and media franchising came in the 1930s, when Walt Disney introduced a new business model that he described as total merchandising. Under this model, all Disney products served dual purposes: branded merchandise, television shows, animated movies, and amusement park rides all simultaneously functioned as entertainment and as advertisements for every other Disney product. Disney’s characters were not the first to be featured on merchandise or appear in multiple media, but they were almost certainly the first characters designed to serve as entertainment “brands.””

522
Description of The Lost Experience.

523
“The 1980s, in particular, brought an explosion of youth- focused media franchises. Countless film, television, and comic book characters were introduced (or reintroduced) as transmedia franchises, complete with comic books, multiple cinematic releases, animated television series, and a wide range of toys and branded merchandise. In fact, during the 1980s, many of the most popular entertainment franchises were launched not by media companies, but by merchandisers and toy manufacturers looking to build audiences (and markets) for their properties (see “1980s Media Franchises” sidebar).”
“But while branded bed linens, breakfast cereals, and soft drinks encourage children to consume products, it is important to recognize that toys, games, and many other franchise products can enable children to interact with, and take control of, a franchise’s stories, themes, and characters.”

524
“These [The Matrix'] problems indicate the degree to which transmedia stories must now carefully balance some viewer’s desires to dig deeper into the story world with other viewers’ desire not to feel left out.” -> You could simply ignore the casuals, but then you won’t get their money!

525
“From this framework, we might then understand today’s expansion of storytelling across media as providing greater opportunities for involvement, and as representing development in narrative form and technique, not just an explosion in cross-media promotion.”

526
“One of the clear signs that transmedia storytelling might be developing new ways to tell stories, and not just new platforms from which to reap profits, is that many writers and directors are becoming intimately involved in the transmedia proliferation of their products.” mentions Simpsons, Matrix, Lost as examples.
“as many transmedia tales have also been synergistic goldmines for their corporate parents, often the economics of the media industries have encouraged media corporations to vigorously pursue and solicit projects that can cross various media. Concerns regarding the hidden persuasions of product placement and the monopolistic tendencies of synergy continue to exist, but they are now being accompanied by some writers’ and consumers’ excitement at the prospect of yet more developed story worlds.”

She says: business model = story. Is this the same thing as the “Why? of business” like in that TEDx talk?

86f
“A good business model remains essential to every successful organization, whether it’s a new venture or an established player.”

87
Definition-business model:
“They [business models] are, at heart, stories-stories that explain how enterprises work. A good business model answers Peter Drucker’s age-old questions: Who is the customer? And what does the customer value? It also answers the fundamental questions every manager must ask: How do we make money in this business? What is the underlying economic logic that explains how we can deliver value to customers at an appropriate cost?”

88
“a successful business model represents a better way than the existing alternatives. It may offer more value to a discrete group of customers. Or it may completely replace the old way of doing things and become the standard for the next generation of entrepreneurs to beat.”
“Creating a business model is, then, a lot like writing a new story. At some level, all new stories are variations on old ones, reworkings of the universal themes underlying all human experience. Similarly, all new business models are variations on the generic value chain underlying all businesses.”

89
“This was something new. Before the personal com­puter changed the nature of business planning, most successful business models, like Fargo’s, were created more by accident than by design and forethought. The business model became clear only after the fact. By en­abling companies to tie their marketplace insights much more tightly to the resulting economics-to link their assumptions about how people would behave to the num­bers of a pro forma P&L­ spreadsheets made it possible to model businesses be­fore they were launched.”

90
“Profits are important not only for their own sake but also because they tell you whether your model is working.” -> and which part of it is working.
“Business modeling is, in this sense, the managerial equivalent of the scientific method – you start with a hypothesis, which you then test in action and revise when necessary.”
“When business models don’t work, it’s because they fail either the narrative test (the story doesn’t make sense) or the numbers test (the P&L doesn’t add up).” -> story here means what you do and how.
“Ultimately, models like these fail because they are built on faulty as­sumptions about customer behavior. They are solutions in search of a problem.” -> I think she mentions 1990s interactive TV.

91
“Every viable organization is built on a sound business model, whether or not its founders or its managers con­ceive of what they do in those terms.”
Definition-business strategy:
“Business models describe, as a system, how the pieces of a business fit to­gether. But they don’t factor in one critical dimension of performance: competition. Sooner or later-and it is usu­ally sooner-every enterprise runs into competitors. Deal­ing with that reality is strategy’s job.”
“When you cut away the jargon, that’s what strategy is all about – how you are going to do better by being different.”

92
“When a new model changes the economics of an industry and is difficult to replicate, it can by itself create a strong competitive advantage.”
-> Dell:
copy it -> die (“If Dell’s rivals tried to sell direct, they would disrupt their existing distribution channels and alienate the resellers on whom they relied.”)
don’t copy it -> die (if they didn’t copy Dell, they would have to pay all the middle men and their profit margin would shrink and it would become impossible to ever catch up with Dell)
“It’s true that any attempt to draw sharp bound­aries around abstract terms involves some arbitrary choices. But unless we’re willing to draw the line some­ where, these concepts will remain confusing and difficult to use. Definition brings clarity. And when it comes to concepts that are so fundamental to performance, no or­ganization can afford fuzzy thinking.” -> This is what I’m doing with EA!!!

Definition-transmedia producer:
“A Transmedia Narrative project or franchise must consist of three (or more) narrative storylines existing within the same fictional universe on any of the following platforms: Film, Television, Short Film, Broadband, Publishing, Comics, Animation, Mobile, Special Venues, DVD/Blu-ray/CD-ROM, Narrative Commercial and Marketing rollouts, and other technologies that may or may not currently exist. These narrative extensions are NOT the same as repurposing material from one platform to be cut or repurposed to different platforms.
A Transmedia Producer credit is given to the person(s) responsible for a significant portion of a project’s long-term planning, development, production, and/or maintenance of narrative continuity across multiple platforms, and creation of original storylines for new platforms. Transmedia producers also create and implement interactive endeavors to unite the audience of the property with the canonical narrative and this element should be considered as valid qualification for credit as long as they are related directly to the narrative presentation of a project.
Transmedia Producers may originate with a project or be brought in at any time during the long-term rollout of a project in order to analyze, create or facilitate the life of that project and may be responsible for all or only part of the content of the project. Transmedia Producers may also be hired by or partner with companies or entities, which develop software and other technologies and who wish to showcase these inventions with compelling, immersive, multi-platform content.
To qualify for this credit, a Transmedia Producer may or may not be publicly credited as part of a larger institution or company, but a titled employee of said institution must be able to confirm that the individual was an integral part of the production team for the project.”

PGA ~ Credit Guidelines for NEW MEDIA (06.06.2010)