LAST WORD
Nuno Bernardo, CEO, BeActive The Producer’s Guide To Transmedia W
hen I sat down to write this book I had to ask myself two questions that I suppose every writer has to address at some point. The first question was
why am I writing this?
The second was who is going to read it? Well, to answer the first question, I figured that I wanted to write something that would capture my experiences as I developed my own Transmedia projects. There are a variety of approaches to Transmedia, as you will see later when I set out some other valid approaches regard- ing the development of this type of entertainment. My wish is to put on record my own approach and tech- niques and what I learned along the way as I developed products and grew my Transmedia business. The second question concerns not just those who people interested in learning more about Transmedia but also, more precisely, those people who may ben- efit from reading this book. Generally, I hope that people working in the media sector will gain some- thing from reading about my approach. More specif- ically, it is my intention that independent television and film producers, creative writers for different entertainment forms, brand managers and advertis- ing professionals will see new opportunities - and, of course, new revenue streams - in the Transmedia sto- rytelling approach that I describe here.
The world is your oyster?
We live in a world where, if you post a clip on Youtube, nearly everyone in the world can look at it. Still, I would argue that it is somewhat erroneous to think that you can just post material on the internet and, hey presto, you’ve got a worldwide fan club. The fact is you will face significant barriers when you bring your brand to an international audience, be it a language barrier or simply the limited reach of your marketing effort.
Just a word of explanation on what I mean by the limited reach of your marketing effort. Even if you have ‘marketing partners’ who are helping you to push your material regionally, and even though you’re on Youtube, it is still unlikely that your brand will spread beyond your territory. As a matter of fact, typically only the Americans really can distribute sto- ries with the marketing power sufficient to engage a worldwide audience. They also have the distribution
44TBI June/July 2011
and marketing power that ensures that their products are not just consumed on their own territory but also are spread around the globe. For example, Glee is now one of the biggest shows on Earth; it was made in America, broadcast initially on the Fox network in the US and then almost immediately afterwards by broadcasters around the world. This is, however, just one facet of Hollywood’s huge media power, which, quite uniquely, allows them to create content in one territory and make it immediately available around the globe.
Success starts at home
This is, of course, all well and good if you are work- ing within this US media. However, if you are, like me, not a Hollywood insider then you probably don’t have the marketing power or international distribu- tion network that you need to gain instant attention on the global media market. In that case, you may want to think about what you need if you are to try and go global. The first thing that helps when you are going to the international market is a taste of success at home. What I mean is that you can only sell inter- nationally what has already been success in a nation- al market. Even with Glee, before it became a global phenomenon it had first to be successful in the American domestic market. Trying to originate and produce an idea in an unfa- miliar territory is extremely difficult. So it makes sense that you start by originating and producing your brand in your own country. If you then make it succeed at home, you can then try to convince an international partner it will work in their country. It stands to reason that you have a better chance of con- vincing an international partner that you can make money in their country if you have already managed to do so in your own. Of course, there are exceptions to this, such as the film Cinema Paradiso, which was a flop in Italy but was bought and distributed inter- nationally by Miramax and became a worldwide suc- cess. I say this by way of instancing an exception to the rule. Still, in most cases, you should wait until you are successful at home first before attempting to find need a national hit before you go international. TBI
The Producer’s Guide To Transmedia is published by BeActive Books
For the latest in TV programming news visit
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