What do Copernicus, Felicia Day & Owen have in common?

Last week I was fortunate to be able to participate in the Banff World Media Festival. This is the same festival as the Banff World Television Festival, but with the merging of NextMedia and BWTF into one event, the organizers decided that it made sense to change the name to reflect the broader range of delegates and their various areas of expertise.

I was invited to present as part of the Tech Hub through Digital Alberta. My talk presented an analogy that compared Copernicus' revolutionary thinking that placed the Sun at the centre of the universe to the shift in thinking that is happening with transmedia production models where intellectual property is central to a variety of media production forms and the TV/film is just one of many forms for the IP to take.

I wasn't alone in my rant either! Transmedia production goddess Felicia Day (who won a NextMedia award of distinction for the Guild) spoke about the shifting landscape of media production and how there is no longer a need for a gatekeeper between the producer and the audience. Her success is a case study in independent production stamina that is an inspiration to those fringe producers out there who want to explore new ways to engage their audience. The power of her work is based on a strong intellectual property that has spawned multiple production variants that tap into her audience in fun and interesting ways. Rarely gimmicky, it is the IP that determines what the most valuable next production property rather than some imposed monetization plan.

Networks are going to need to redefine themselves (at least from a production standpoint) in order to stay relevant and keep up to the "little guys." (this is a reference to another panel of broadcast media executives who were asked, "what keeps you up at night?" Their response, "the little guys.") It is these "out of nowhere" productions that are the biggest threat, mainly because there are a growing number of them. It's a bit like Zulu warfare. At some point the network execs will have to say, "if we can't beat 'em, join 'em." I look forward to what happens next when the digital natives finally take the helm.

This is an ongoing discussion I want to keep having. If you are interested in carrying on, contact me (owen [at] gurudigitalarts.com).

Owen making some kind of point about something.