Anthea Foyer | Plays Well With Others:
How, When & Why to Incorporate Participatory Actions in Digital Properties

Participatory Culture has become a bit of a buzzword lately, but what does it all mean? This discussion will centre around what participatory culture is, how it can be used effectively within the story, as a marketing tool and to raise finances for your project. Two short case studies from The Labs collective will be presented: The Conversation, an interactive companion project for Sarah Polley’s film Take This Waltz. This experimental advertising campaign was designed to build a community and audience for the film several months prior to the release of the film; Time Tremors, a transmedia science fiction story for kids currently in development.

• 6:30 – 8:00 PM, Wednesday, March 28th
• W2 Media Café – UPSTAIRS (stairs are on the right of the counter), #250-111 W Hastings Street
• Tickets $5 – Please bring cash

Anthea Foyer is a Creative Director, Digital Strategist, and co-Founder of The Labs. She likes to make beautiful things using technology and to start conversations between strangers & friends. She can often be found speaking about new forms of digital storytelling at places such as SXSW, StoryLabs {Australia} & NXNE.

Creative Entrepreneurship & Social Mobile Games: The survived experience and wisdom of Jordan Weisman

Businesses are often not founded by business people with a plan, but rather by creative people with a vision. Mr. Weisman is one such “right brain” person who has founded, built, buried, and/or sold numerous companies. He will discuss his learnings and observations from his 30 plus year career including his latest ventures in social and mobile games. And he will noodle on his theories of how to identify creative opportunities and how to manage the creative and emotional risk of being an entrepreneur.

• 6:30 – 8:00 PM, Monday, March 12th
• W2 Media Café – Basement (stairs are on the right of the counter), #250-111 W Hastings Street
• Tickets $5 – Please bring cash

Jordan Weisman, CEO, Harebrained Schemes

Jordan Weisman has been the creative force behind several interactive entertainment companies, including his latest ventures: Harebrained-Schemes LLC and Go Go Kiddo Inc. Along the way, he created MechWarrior, Shadowrun and Crimson Skies, three of the longest running franchises in the game industry.

Weisman got his start in the paper game industry founding FASA Corporation in 1980, where he created BattleTech/MechWarrior and Shadowrun. He pioneered publicly accessible virtual reality at his second company, Virtual World Entertainment, which he sold to the Disney family in 1992.

Jordan founded FASA Interactive to develop his properties for PC and sold the company to Microsoft in 1998. After the acquisition, Jordan became the Creative Director for Microsoft’s Games Division where he oversaw the first two years of all Xbox titles, including the launch of the Halo franchise.

In 2000 Weisman founded Wizkids when he invented the collectible miniature figure game format for MageKnight, MechWarrior and HeroClix. Wizkids grew quickly and was acquired by Topps Inc. in 2003.

After Wizkids, Jordan co-founded 42 Entertainment to build upon the pioneering transmedia experience he created with Steven Spielberg for the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence which spawned the new genre of Alternate Reality Games. As Chief Creative Officer of 42 Entertainment, Jordan oversaw the creation of “I Love Bees,” for the launch of Halo 2, “Why So Serious,” for Dark Knight, “Year Zero,” for Nine Inch Nails, along with many other landmark ARGs.

Weisman is a New York Times bestselling fiction author, winner of the Northwest E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year award, Time Magazines Ten Best Ideas, and dozens of design awards. He is an adjunct professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and co-founder of the Center for Serious Play at the University of Washington.

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The What’s Going On Salons are a series of presentations about specific areas in the rapidly changing media landscape. Designed to be entertaining, accessible, inspiring and above all, informative overviews, each salon helps busy professionals demystify and better define the digital terrain.

Melting Silos is a program to connect local filmmakers and new media talent in a way that educates both parties and facilitates the development of project materials to be ready for production. Melting Silos is supported by Agentic Communications, the National Film Board, BC Film & Media, CMPA BC Producers Branch, and Telefilm’s Canada Skills to Screens.

The goal of the Melting Silos Program is to connect local filmmakers and digital media talent in a way that educates both parties and facilitates the development of project materials to be ready for further development.

As the filmmakers need not have digital media skills, but a curiosity and desire to dive into this world with a creative idea, the digital media professionals provide technical and creative support for the projects. Digital Media Developers need not have story writing/telling expertise but possess a strong understanding of the interactive medium and have production proficiency.

The end product for partnered participants of the Melting Silos program is a developed online concept pitch package ready for production financing. The concept development process involves 4 days of workshops, keynote presentations from industry leading subject matter experts, off site mentoring and support and final vetting of concepts in a peer juried pitch session.

Applications accepted from December 16th, 2011.

See the Melting Silos website for more information and past participant testimonials

The Secret Weapon of Keyword Research & Online Data

With Annelise Larson of Veria Search Marketing and our very own Sue Biely of Nudge Consulting, The What’s Going On Salons is proud to present a new format for this special skills building workshop – Where’s Your Audience? The Secret Weapon of Keyword Research & Online Data.

Where is the audience for your story? Every successful media project starts with a good story, but on its own this will not help make you a living as a screen media creator.  For that you need an audience, a market that will support your film, TV, web series, transmedia project.

Many recent indie success stories have proven that the more you can define your market, the greater your chances for a hit. Funders, investors, broadcasters and distributors are looking for this data, and it can also help you (the creator) reach your audience directly. The good news is the internet gives you the power; it provides you with all the data and tools you need to identify, find and engage with the individuals who make up your niche market.

In this three-hour applied workshop you will learn the following:

• An overview of key sources of online audience/market data;
• Keyword/search market research skills & data specific to your project;
• Social media market research skills & data specific to your project;
• How to use this information for funding applications & digital marketing plans;
• Summary of current online tools to simplify audience engagement.

This curriculum will give you market research data you can use for your current project, as well as takeaways and skills you can use over and over again for every project in the future.

Space is limited so sign up before all the spots are taken. You must have a specific screen media project to apply, and you will need to bring your own wifi enabled laptop.

CONTACT US and send your name, project synopsis, phone number and email to annelise (at) veria.ca. We will followup with a confirmation email and contact you for payment information.

Brought to you by the What’s Going on Salons

• Cost: $75
• Venue: W2 Media Cafe, 111 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC
• Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2011
• Time: 9 AM to Noon

Instructors:

Annelise Larson, Veria Search Media Marketing

Annelise began her career as a film and television producer/director, but transitioned to the internet in 1995. Considered a digital marketing pioneer, she has experience in all aspects of internet promotion with a focus on search and social media marketing. She has planned and implemented strategies for hundreds of clients of all sizes, across countless industries in the US and Canada, and works with many funders and companies in the Canadian film and television industry. She also regularly teaches, writes and speaks on digital marketing, especially about how it can be of benefit to screen media.

Sue Biely, Nudge Consulting

With 15 years of experience in the independent media sector, Sue has been a funder, producer, broadcaster, innovator, new media entrepreneur, and teacher. She has also recently completed her MA in Organizational Systems Renewal which is all about managing change in complex organizational systems (perfect skills for the foundational change going on in the media-verse in Canada today). Sue is often called upon as a speaker, facilitator, curriculum designer and consultant to work with both interactive and traditional media. She brings her understanding of policy, funding and production to this complex dialogue as well as her passion and ability to cross pollinate between worlds and motivate people to think outside the box.

In this three-hour applied workshop you will learn:

• An overview of key sources of online audience/market data;
• Keyword/search market research skills & data specific to your project;
• Social media market research skills & data specific to your project;
• How to use this information for funding applications & digital marketing plans;
• Summary of current online tools to simplify audience engagement.

• We have some new sponsors: Telefilm Canada has brought some support to the salons through their Skills to Screens program; and ever faithful BC Film is also coming to the table.
• We’ve secured a new home! Salons will now be in the W2 Media Café – #250 111 West Hastings (See map for directions, enter through the Woodwards Atrium)
• We’ve been shortlisting some fantastic guest speakers for you!
• We’re kicking off the 3rd season with our return guest speaker, Brent Friedman – Founding Partner of Electric Farm Entertainment and prior Star Trek writer – to talk about Today’s Audience: A Moving Target. Hope to see you there!
• And last but not least, you may have noticed we have a new website – we welcome your feedback!

In the rapidly evolving media landscape, most professionals are focused on new iterations of technology, platforms and even content forms. But there is an equally important variable to consider: the audience. To fully understand the opportunities and challenges of engaging today’s audience on any platform, one must consider important questions such as: How have general viewing habits changed in the last 5-10 years? Are there different audience compulsions for every media form? What has interactivity done to audience expectations? And what media are audiences actually willing to pay for?

Armed with a better understanding of contemporary audiences, media professionals can deliver more personalized, meaningful content experiences that will better help them reach – and hold – their target demo.

• 6:30 – 8:00 PM, Monday, September 12th 
• W2 Media Café Basement – #250 111 West Hastings (See map for directions, enter through the Woodwards Atrium)
• $10/ticket – Please bring cash

Brent wrote and produced EFE’s first two ground-breaking webseries, Afterworld and Gemini Division, for Sony & NBC. Brent served as Executive Producer on EFE’s recent webseries, Woke Up Dead and Valemont, the latter that he also co-created for MTV. Currently, Brent is writing and producing the sequel to Valemont.

Video game projects include Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, released by Electronic Arts in 2007. Brent served as a story consultant for SCEA in 2009 and also created the franchise reboot on Duke Nukem for 3D Realms. Additionally, Brent is currently consulting and writing on a slate of upcoming social games for industry leaders, ngmoco and Zynga.

What happens when a storyteller hands over his world to a gamer? What happens when writing skills must weave into a player-driven structure? How do you write for characters, worlds and stories where the user chooses the path?

John and Tyler both write stories that exist between the worlds of traditional linear content and the user-driver world of video games. Together they will share their tips, tricks and opportunities in taking the craft of writing into new forms. They will discuss environment specific writing, open and closed worlds of games, ambient elements, the differences between game writing and other forms of writing, and provide some insight into the changing video game climate and the opportunities within it.

• 6:30 – 8:00 PM, Tuesday, April 19th
• W2 Storyeum, 151 West Cordova St
• Tickets $10 – Please bring cash

John Meadows’ first feature film, Wisegirls, premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Starring Mira Sorvino and Mariah Carey, Wisegirls was directed by David Anspaugh (Hoosiers, Rudy). John has since worked extensively as a screenwriter and story editor in Canada, Australia, England, and the US. In video games and interactive media, John has written several major titles including James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game and Lost: Via Domus, based on the hit ABC television show. His television credits include episodes from seasons one and two of Guinevere Jones for YTV and Channel 10 Australia, and he is also developing a new television series with André and Maria Jacquemetton, the Emmy award-winning writers and co-executive producers of AMC’s Mad Men.

Tyler Smith is a Vancouver Film School graduate whose work has crossed over into several mediums. In the past year he has been a screenplay finalist in the Slamdance Film Festival and Champion Screenwriting competition, as well as a television writing finalist in the Austin Film Festival for a 30 Rock spec episode. His video game credits include working with United Front Games and Activision on a revamp of the True Crime franchise. He is currently a participant in the CTV Diverse Screenwriting program, and works as a story editor and freelance writer in Vancouver.

Brent will start with the basics of transmedia storytelling, from definition to uses in both mainstream and digital experimentation. We’ll learn about his company’s recent MTV hit series, Valemont, and use it as a case study to explore all aspects of the project, from development to production to multi-platform deployment. We’ll look at various aspects that helped to make this a successful transmedia blueprint: fractal design, gamification techniques, and the creative cornerstone – a universe worthy of devotion. Brent will take us beyond the theoretical and philosophical ideas and into the important practical matters of monetizing strategies, engaging community, and crowdsourcing content.

• 6:30 – 8:00 PM, Wednesday, March 9th
• W2 Storyeum, 151 West Cordova St
• $5/ticket – Please bring cash

Brent V. Friedman, Founding Partner, Electric Farm Entertainment

Brent created, wrote and produced EFE’s first two ground-breaking webseries, Afterworld and Gemini Division, for Sony and NBC. Brent served as Executive Producer on EFE’s recent webseries, Woke Up Dead and Valemont. The latter he also co-created for MTV. Currently, Brent is writing and producing the sequel to Valemont.

Brent’s video game projects include Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, released by Electronic Arts in 2007. Brent was story consultant for SCEA in 2009 and created the franchise reboot on Duke Nukem for 3D Realms. Brent is currently consulting and writing on a slate of upcoming social games for industry leaders, ngmoco and Zynga.

Brent’s extensive TV credits include Writer/Producer on Star Trek: Enterprise, Twilight Zone, and co-creator of the NBC cult-hit series Dark Skies. He was also Supervising Producer on the SyFy Channel original movie, Lost City Raiders. And in 2009, Brent wrote a four episode arc for Season 4 of Cartoon Network’s hit series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and is currently writing another four episode arc for the upcoming Season 5.

In features, Brent co-wrote the screenplay for Foodfight! – a computer animated feature to be released by MGM in Fall 2011. Other feature projects include writing work on Tomb Raider and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Friedman got his degree in Creative Writing from UCLA and currently resides in Washington.

This two hour session with Siobhan O’Flynn will be a whirlwind tour of the past year’s most important developments in the digital space for content producers. Some areas touched on will be:

• Creating films in a Web 2.0 world
• Exploratory interactive documentaries
• Integrated development models for all components of transmedia projects
• The power of story for connecting with your audience
• The possibilities of crowdsourcing for content, financing, distribution & promotion

See full details and speaker bios on the Events page.