A Transmedia Masterclass – Tim Kring

Transmedia – Tim Kring

Heroes – it all started with a television show.

Where did transmedia come from?  Started on November 17, 1978 during star wars holiday special.  On it, there was a short cartoon, which introduced a new character into the world.  So if you were watching the special, you wondered who he was.  That summer, on the release of the action figures, the character was part of the series, and was a limited edition.  For fans, it was a wanted item.  Create something on one platform that migrates onto the mothership of the company.

Heroes:  TK was a tv writer working in the traditional Hollywood model.  Crossing Jordan – procedural drama, one way of reaching audience.  Create content, push it out.  Only feedback, months later when show was on the air, was Nielson ratings.  Those ratings started slipping as audience migrated to other platforms.  Transmedia was to reach people where they were.

The show itself was about “saving the world”.  Put a message into the world about interconnectivity and global consciousness, post modern about what a hero is.

The wide, wide world of HEROES

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/125/the-wide-wide-world-of-heroes.html

The number 1 illegally downloaded show:  reflected fan base.

Marketing is now content.  Was Kring the one to curate the content?  A constant liaison between writers’ room and dot com room for NBC.  Everything pushed out audience came from the writers’ room.  Thin thread that connects you to a fan base is authenticity and that thread can be severed easily.

Who is watching the audience? It’s hard as things are moving so fast.  Most successful brands today are those whose audience fell they own the brand.  Guide them but let them feel that way.

Multi platform work could generate big revenue.

Get out of one way street of pushing content at people.  Audience wants to feel connection and to participate.  Want to feel they have influence.  The sense of participation is an absolute must now for building fan-dom.  To pitch a show in hollywood now, you must think about extension to other platforms.  Taking the property/idea/story and don’t put tv show at center, but put idea at center and decide what part of that can live on tv.