It’s Pitch Season!

This week I’m working on a demo for a new reality show idea that Spectrum Productions has conceptualized, and I have to admit, I’m having so much fun!

Each January, Spectrum Productions/Mindclay Creative focus a great deal of effort and resources to come up with new, cool, interesting, funny, you-name-it programs. Why January? Because every year there is a conference for networks and production peeps to get together and hash out new show ideas, called the Real Screen Summit. The best show ideas have a chance of being picked up.

As an editor, there’s something exciting about being part of an incubation period, the trial-and-error stage, and the excitement of the plausible possibility that some of these ideas do turn into something more than just an idea. (And it makes me feel just a little cooler to be in the know.)

But pitch season isn’t only awesome because of the possibility a new show might be picked up by a ginormous network. I think it’s also incredibly valuable to flex the muscle that is creativity. To always be looking for new ideas. Even if it’s just an exercise, and there is no decisive payoff, there is that much more growth within your own company’s tools, capabilities, creative ideas.

And that is pretty cool.

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Make Your Story Matter!

Here’s an interesting question, found on one of the online discussion groups I belong to (Digital Storytellers):

If you had to describe in several steps (5 to 10) the key steps of good storytelling, what would they be?

Since this is a subject near and dear to my heart, I’ll make certain to share my take within the discussion thread, but also thought I’d share it on MindoMondo as well.   The points I’m addressing here are adaptable to all stories, regardless of their medium, delivery platform or length.

For me the list really can be distilled to five simple points. I’m far too lazy for ten! Sure, these can be expanded on with tangential ideas, but, within my own creative approach, these are always the core absolutes, inspirational and indispensable:

1.   Empathy

Your story only matters in as much as it delivers meaning to those who might come across it.   Everyone has their own ongoing life story.  Yours has to mesh with it in a way that mirrors and even provides answers to the reader’s/viewer’s/user’s own anxieties, loves, hates, hopes and dreams.  This is true in short form, long form, linear, and even non-linear stories.

2.  Honesty

If you need empathy for the narrative appetite of others, then you also have to tap into your own internal motivations, even if you’re telling a story with no true personal connection. You HAVE TO find that thing within yourself that makes you care about this story.  Your  job is to find the psychological bridge that allows you to connect.

3.  Analogy

I’m going out on a limb with this one, but I think all good stories have an analogous quality.  To me, it’s just like visual compositions.  You rarely take an interesting picture by approaching the thing head on.  Angles are the thing!  Analogies are the storytelling equivalent of that visual rule.  Analogies (and their metaphorical cousins) provide the narrative geometry that compel us to look at things anew and with a fresh, receptive perception.

4.  Characterization

This one sounds pretty obvious.  Of course stories have characters!  However, I’m always amazed at how many stories shortchange when it comes to interesting characterization.   Remember honesty?   (see key step #2)   If you haven’t mastered honesty, you’ll also have a tough time with characterization.   It’s only the ability to acutely observe, both internally and externally, that allows us to share items of interest.   People are generally the subjects of stories.  You have to be a keen observer to mine the veins of human characterization.    Likewise, you also have to apply those same powers of observation to elements of place and setting.   All these things demand thought in terms of characterization.  Even if the thinking does not make it overtly into the story, your observations still power the backstory and imbue the whole thing a sense of depth and credibility.

5.  The Unexpected

Produce something I didn’t see coming, and I’ll remember you.  Give me everything I expected, and I’ll resent your consumption of my time.  That simple!

There. That’s my  take on it.  I know, I didn’t mention pacing and voice, and I didn’t give metaphors their full due.  No apologies here.  That’s just the kind of imperfect blogger I am!   Though, I do hope you have your own list, and I hope you’ll feel free to vehemently disagree with some or all of the above.  Just one thing – when you reply, at least be sure to include a smidgen of Key Step #5!

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Dealing with an Insanely-Busy Workload

As an editor, I deal with my share of deadlines.

Sometimes in life and in work, there are so many simultaneous deadlines, it can feel like the onset of schizophrenia. And if not dealt with carefully, I’m afraid, you might fall into actual psychosis. (The really nutty kind.)

So, here are my five tips on how to avoid being sent to the looney bin after a maddeningly-busy week.

1. Stay Calm. Remember to breathe.

2. No matter how busy you are, take that extra five minutes for coffee. You will need it.

3. Even if you’re feeling stressed, cranky, psychotic, emotional… try and fake cheerful anyway. You might find that it can actually convince yourself, as well as those around you.

4. Prioritize wisely. By assessing the situation at hand, and giving each project a value of importance related to time, you will find that your plate doesn’t look nearly as full, and you will be more able to complete your tasks without going nuts.

5. Don’t allow your work to monopolize your time at home. That is much-needed rest time for your brain. Try your hardest to check out fully from work when you leave for the day, knowing that you will restart again in the morning. Obsessing over it all night never helps, and the only thing that will come from it will be some truly wacky dreams.

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Incidental Media: The Now and The Soon-To-Be

I just came across an interesting short film entitled “Incidental Media”.

It talks about the mixing of media devices and services found in today’s culture, including how our brains deal with the App culture, and the large scale information streaming (such as social media and the news).

The film then goes on to explore and experiment with what tools might be used in the near future for social media and marketing, and it shows some pretty innovative and eye-grabbing concepts!

(I especially enjoyed the idea of the minimalist color spots toward the end of the film.)

Enjoy this video, and consider just how plausible many of these ideas are!

Media surfaces: Incidental Media

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There’s Not an App for That

I’d be a hard-hearted individual, indeed, if I didn’t feel at least a modicum of sympathy for Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.  The world is his technological oyster, yet the pearl of good health eludes him.

Image via Wikipedia

His recently announced medical leave of absence – certainly not the first – and his disturbing transformation from robust looking entrepreneur to gaunt survivor (though I thought he’d been looking better lately), should cause any sentient being to pause for a moment of reckoning – an accounting, if you will.   Kind of like the tally currently taking place on Apple’s own App Store web site.  You’ve, no doubt, seen the counter ticking away, heralding the onset of the magical 10 billionth download.

As these little digitally-generated numbers twirl relentlessly forward, some lucky downloader of the near future draws ever-closer to the ultimate prize:  a $10,000 iTunes gift card.  Wow!   Apple went all out on that one.  Just think of how much richer that person’s life will be with a practically endless stream of recycled Beatles tunes!

At this point, I know I’m supposed to just take this counter for the opportunistic marketing ploy that it is, and leave it at that.  But I just can’t.  I can’t let it be.  Sorry Beatles.   The counter speaks to me.  What were all these apps?  How many were really used for good?   How many were just idle trifles?  How many were used for ill intent?  (Such as kids using the sub-frequency Mosquito Repellant app in classrooms to annoy the heck out of other students as they try to concentrate.  A certain 16-year-old progeny of mine says it’s a common practical joke).

I wonder what kind of impact report you could generate if you categorized all those app downloads and gauged their effect.  Have they achieved more for constructive good, or does the balance swing the other way?  For that matter, I also wonder if Steve Jobs has his own gauge running.  His personal counter of achievements has been spinning in overdrive for decades.    But what happens when that counter stops?  Does the big guy (or gal) in the sky run an impact report?  It’d be great to massage those numbers a bit ahead of time.  But I suspect there’s not an app for that.

That’s the metaphysical thought for the day.  Now stop reading blogs and go download some apps.  Your choices range from Carbon Footprint Calculator to WinAsUGo Mobile Casino. Good luck with your own counter!

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The Talented Mr. iPhone

So, it’s pretty much common knowledge that iPhones reign supreme among most tech-savvy and creative people. Generalization? Maybe.

However, check… this… out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3A3XanquHM

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Putting a Price Tag on Facebook

In a recent news story, I saw that Goldman Sachs has just invested over $450 million in Facebook. And then I learned something even more jaw-dropping, that the current valuation of Facebook is more than $50 Billion. With a B!

After the initial shock and the excess saliva over that much dolla bills, I started wondering, how do you put a price tag on Facebook?

Other than the recently reported numbers (which are massive), there’s the non-monetary value to consider as well. The sheer amount of people streaming in daily, hourly to the site. The creator who just won Time’s Person of the Year, who seems to have unlimited tricks up his sleeve. The immeasurable potential for growth. I could go on and on.

Here’s an interesting video that talks about this release, and goes on to talk about legal and privacy concerns, once attached to large private businesses, and the amazing potential for Facebook’s growth.

Very interesting…

http://vimeo.com/18438186

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An Alternative ROI for Social Media

Social Media in business is constantly confronted with the challenge of proving ROI (Return On Investment), and very understandably so. Any responsible business is concerned with every type investment — money, time, energy, focus, or whatever — providing some type of benefit.

The huge dead end many managers find themselves in is to expect a direct profit return from an investment in Social Media. In the best of cases, serious budget reserves are directed towards Community Managers and varied tools and systems, and in the end, that direct return is nowhere to be seen.

My first thought is that much like in all forms of PR and awareness-type advertising, Social Media’s benefits are indirect and cumulative. Indirect, in that the benefits can be analyzed by looking at traffic and other types of action generated from your brand’s own activity. Cumulative, in that this activity isn’t simply 1:1, but requires action and patience for results to sprout organically.

Yet the main point I want to press is that in Social Media, there is another essential type of ROI that may be often overlooked:

Real Online Interaction

Real: By utilizing Social Media to its full potential, you can quite inexpensively speak to hundreds, or even thousands of current and potential customers.

Online: Your customers are not required to walk into your store, make an order, or be cold-called by you in order to gain a glimpse of what your brand is all about. Whenever and wherever they are, they can have a dialog with what you seek to represent.

Interaction: Social Media is a two-way road. Your audience can speak and listen to your brand, and they can (and will) be very honest. The good thing is, the higher their level of honesty, the greater likelihood they will be expecting a response as well. A captive audience is any business person’s dream come true.

How much is Real Online Interaction worth to your business/brand?

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