Of Brainstorming, Bootstrapping and Incubation

While it looks like the entertainment industry is flying apart at the seams, in fact, what we are witnessing is a confluence of media venues becoming available and accessible to focus the audience on a given story, group of characters, or fictional universe. A Convergent Entertainment field means that writers will necessarily take control of their own careers in a way only a few media moguls have done in the past. You will be the Aaron Spelling, the Lorne Michaels, and the Gene Roddenberry of your own future. You thought it was unique to deliver your unsolicited script to an agent as a free pizza? Now you must simply think better than that. Today you should be thinking about creating an app to promote your screen stories. You should be thinking of how to make trailers to entice investment in your projects. You should be planning your viral campaign.

In another era, this was known as “bootstrapping” and this is what you’re going to be doing a lot of in the coming years. As always, the entertainment industry easily weans the weak-hearted, the lazy and the fearful away from production, but it may be the industry itself that goes through the most upheaval. Here is the thing about bootstrapping: it doesn’t favor giants at first. They move too slowly, and by the time the little person has his boots on and is running madly towards the finish line the giant has just located the boot that was sitting at his feet. True. Charlie Chaplin was a bootstrapper. He would have been fine to jump into this race. So use his gumption and simplicity as a talisman. We are back in Nickelodeon times, and I don’t mean the kids’ show network owned by Viacom.

I hate to say it but film and television is late to this party in a way. It is because the technology for it is just coming together, but if you really want to see examples of how this new convergent entertainment, confluence of media has worked you need only look at the post-Napster music industry.  Make note of Justin Bieber’s rise to fame. Look at the monetary worth of some obscure-seeming Heavy Metal band. Notice how images, samples and loops are being repurposed everyday.

Right here in Colorado, there are stock footage film and video companies like Thought Equity who are here FOR YOU. All you have to do is imagine how to tell your story with images that may have been filmed decades ago. You can make a film. I’m telling you that it is within your capabilities to create in new ways. Still, you have to write a decent story. That’s the thing. There are so many media choices out there, and if your story is boring, no matter the whiz-bang effects or celebrity attachments, no one will share it with their Facebook friends. It has to be sharp. It would be best to be funny (look to Chaplin), and having a good soundtrack is going to help.

Here’s the other thing about giants. Once they figure out their shoelaces and set out for the future, they can do it fast. One step for a giant is lots of legwork for a regular human being. If you think of the resources a studio has, once it is reconfigured into a leg, that giant can catch up pretty quick. So, this is an imperative moment. There is no time to waste on perfection. However, what can you do if you’re a writer that has been, well, writing, and not thinking about all of this?

Incubate. Find a group of friends and colleagues, who are so inclined, interested and even committed to getting in the convergent media race. Brainstorm and bootstrap and do the work to make your idea happen on many media platforms until they converge, creating a concentrated focus on your creation. That’s it. That’s what you have to do.

Alternatively, you can wait until the giant has all the rules and regulations in place, and his toe on the finish line. What’s it going to be?