I recently had the good fortune to attend a couple enlightening, multi-day events back to back early this month, one in San Francisco and the other in Los Angeles (actually Santa Monica).  And they both could not have been more different in their content, ambiance and attitude.

The first event was the Story World Conference + Expo, which billed itself as the ‘first major gathering of content creators, platform providers, and entertainment industry leaders dedicated to exploring new business models and working together across media boundaries.’  For the most part it was about the growing trend of ‘transmedia’ in the entertainment industry, and how creatives, technologists, and business people can take advantage of this mulit-platform form of storytelling.

And yes, I have talked about transmedia in the past, and yes, those of you who have experienced our ‘Dreams Awake Portal’ have gotten a piece of our transmedia.  It is something we are still growing, and something we also plan to institute in our next film project.

So we decided to see what others were doing in this field and headed up north to check it out.  The fun and amazing thing about all this is that most of the people operating this space are still trying it figure it out.  Meaning that the pioneering trails are still being blazed, and all the rules certainly are not set.

After three days there I think we came up with several new transmedia ideas we can work up for our future film projects.  Of course, this whole area of endeavor is still wide open, fresh and exciting, but I have to admit that to correctly run transmedia for any entertainment properties, it takes a number of dedicated people working awfully hard.  At least if you want to serve the demands of an engaged viewing audience.  And that is the challenge before us.

I think the thing that got me most excited about how all this works was the idea that transmedia could be actually used for positive change in the world.  I truly can see and believe that is possible.  That’s why going to the next event was so opposite and so disillusioning.

This second event we attended was the American Film Market (AFM), which was a much less friendly environment for creative types, for it is almost purely about the business of the film industry.  They say they are ‘premiere global marketplace where Hollywood’s decision-makers and trendsetters all gather under one roof.’  Also ‘where over 8,000 industry leaders from over 70 countries converge for eight days of deal-making, screenings, seminars, networking and parties.’  Whew, that’s a lot of happenings going on there.

Yes, overall this was much less enjoyable to attend.  However, it was worth our time to attend, if not at least to observe how business is done at this level.  Even though it attempts to tailor itself for indie filmmakers, it was really for larger production companies and studio types.

We did attend a number of seminars for finance, marketing, distribution and production, and we did learn a few things here and there that will serve us in the future.  But the philosophy of our company, Way To Go Media, doesn’t seem to quite fit what almost everyone was selling there.  I don’t know how many more vampire, werewolf, zombie, or super-hero movies I can take.  But that seemed to be mostly what was selling there.  Oh, there were a few other types of course, but l bet if I had pitched a film that had all of those elements I could have gotten financing right there on the spot.  These elements seemed to take the forefront, while story was only an afterthought (or so it seemed).  Too bad some of these people hadn’t attended the Story World Conference.  Totally amazing.

Anyway, I will take whatever positives I can from those experiences and move forward with where we want to go.  I think there is a ‘Way To Go’ from here to there.  And I look forward to the journey.  Trying to add more storytelling to our ‘transmedia’, and still be able to ‘sell’ you on what we’re trying to communicate, in a positive and uplifting way.

JAD