Film Courage: I know you've said that numerous people have reached out to you since our
interview about a year and a half ago and I'd love to hear all of the emails
but one in particular that you were just talking about reading beforehand was
about sort of the moral issue of transmedia? And I'm probably not saying
it correctly but what the email was about? Houston Howard, instructor and transmedia author/speaker: Sure. This is the real common
question that I get from people "Is transmedia immoral?" And it's kind of
you know first time someone asked me that I thought it was it I didn't really
understand what they were saying and like digging in with with with these
people to have those questions it's it sort of rooted in is this just
capitalistic exploitation of the audience is this manipulation of the
audience or you taking advantage of people in a bad way and you know is this
just the is this just a big cash grab that you don't really care about the
people you just care about taking their money and there's all these issues that
that people have with it and my you know my typical answer is that like anything
transmedia can be used in an immoral way of course like it depends on who the
Creator is and it depends on what their intentions are and what they're trying
to do are there people out there trying to just use it as a cash grab are they
like just you know capitalistic jerks that are just trying to take advantage
of opportunities and and of course just just like regular film producers there
they're doing the same thing or television producers or like morality
doesn't have anything to do with platforms it's all about the intention
of the creator and the intention of the business people that are trying to sort
of propagate this idea and this model and whatever they're trying to do in the
venture so so is transmedia immoral per se of course not you know I mean if my
my kitchen knife is an immoral per se if I use my kitchen ice to stab you then
all of a sudden I've committed an immoral thing with an with a you know a
morally neutral object right so a solid depends on on the intention so I
I'm when it comes to like the capitalism aspect of it like I am very passionate
that we were speaking about this before I'm very passionate that that artists
don't have to be starving artists that artists don't have to choose between
making money and and and doing their art and that's usually people feel like it's
a binary choice people feel like I can either sell out and and make money or I
can pursue my art which is somehow more pure right and and really I think in
traditional entertainment that has been the choice that people make is I can
either make studio movies or superhero crap or I can do make the movies that I
love and and so you're either forced into these one of these two options I
think in a 1i I'm not opposed to making money I mean I'm very I'm very much a
capitalist I'm very much like I love the fact that we live in America that allows
us to create an opportunity to be able to maximize our brand and maximize
opportunities in a way that allows me to feed my family and and have this be my
career I think that's awesome I what I want for every screenwriter out there
every filmmaker out there every producer every director is is I want them to be
able to do their dream has their career I don't want them to work at Burger King
and make movies on the weekend like no offense against Burger King I don't want
them to have to like work at Starbucks or Hobby Lobby as they try to like have
a filmmaking be their side hustle like if they're doing that that's awesome
that's what you have to do but eventually what what my wish is for them
is is they get to a level where they can just do filmmaking full-time and in
order to get there you either need to be independently wealthy or you need to be
able to understand how to generate revenue this is the entertainment is you
is is creating product that people will purchase buy you know spend their money
on and if you don't make stuff that people want to spend money on then
you're not going to be in business very long no one's going to invest into your
stuff or no one's gonna come see it there's there's no revenue flowing
therefore you're you can't make this your business it's a very practical
question I don't think that's immoral to say I want to be a career creator I want
to be I want filmmaking to be my career in order to do that you have to figure
out how to make money now here's the cool thing about transmedia this is why
I think transmedia is the opposite of immoral really if you think about it in
that in the terms of capitalism if if if let's say a filmmaker wants to make a
very non commercial art house film that that you you know that this very
specific niche II that that breaks all the conventions it's very like terrence
malick right it's like terrence malick without
Terrence Malick's brand and so that's probably not gonna get a wide
distribution it's probably not gonna get picked up but this is this is the thing
that's in their heart that they want to make so if that's all you have if that's
all you have then you're gonna have to make the choice do I make this movie and
and have to do it on a small budget low budget no budget and do it on the
weekends because nobody's going to invest in it or it's not going to get
options not gonna picked up I can either I could either make that
movie or I can change it to two then add the 3x structure and they can read a
blake Schneider book and they can add the save the cat stuff in it and make it
commercial and then all of a sudden now I can sell it I can get the investment
except I get distribution for it etc etc so both options I think are bad options
one option has you has you being a starving artist which I think sucks
the other option has you selling your soul in order and not do
the thing that's in your heart just in order to be able to you know have this
be your full-time gig that's the binary option now in a
transmedia model that option that binary choice isn't the choice anymore now you
can say you know what I'm gonna do my weird terrence malick art house film and
i'm going to do it as is now if you have that as part of the bra of a broader IP
now all you have to say is if this thing isn't gonna make money which it probably
won't what are the other things that I can do to surround this film with that
will generate my revenue so if I can point to now a novel or you know a
digital thing or you know a comic book series or a mobile game or whatever it
is that you can surround this thing with and these other things can generate
revenue now this weird arthouse thing could almost be like a lost leader that
fuels the the the revenue and the interest of these other things and so it
doesn't matter what the way the studio's work is is they work with a resource
allocation model to where if they release 14 movies in a year they know
that all 14 movies aren't going to be solvent they're all not gonna make money
they they hope and pray out of the 14 movies they release a year that there's
four tentpoles that that that overperformed to make up for the
deficits of the movies that financially failed and they know that moving into
the year like every studio knows that everything they're they're gonna do
isn't gonna be hit they they know that most of the stuff is gonna make is gonna
lose money there's gonna be a few things that make money those things uphold the
tint that's why they call them temples so it's got a resource allocation model
if you take that same thinking and apply that to a transmedia project and if you
say I know my art house movie is not gonna make money that's totally fine you
still do that because that's what's in your heart but now you just need
something else to over perform and make enough money that
that it that it compensates for the deficit created by the film because the
film cost money to make which means it's going to technically that that one
element is going to lose money but as long as you make that up somewhere else
now it's a net net gain and so and so usually when I talk to to to indie
filmmakers that are very precious about their one thing and they don't want to
change it because they don't wanna make the binary choice they're less precious
about things and other platforms right like they're fine with having a New York
Times bestselling novel and doing a very commercialized novel they just don't
want to change their movie right they're fine with having a very successful
mobile game like classic ant clans but they just don't want to change their
movie and so and so all of a sudden for the people that don't want to make the
binary choice the transmedia model is the perfect thing for them because now
they can they can figure out how to maintain the artistic integrity of the
one thing that they love while figuring out how to drive revenue from other
places and with that you can still be able to better position that for
investment I had a wonderful Maker that was telling me he said he said I make
movies for me I don't care if anyone likes them and I don't care if they make
money I make him I make it for me and and I said I said that's great I said
you know what do you want to do I said I want to be a career from filmmaker my
question is how are you gonna finance it can you imagine going to an investor
interview and saying I want you to give me a million dollars to make my movie
but I don't care if anyone likes it I don't care if it makes money it's not
gonna happen it's just not gonna happen and so but if you walk into the investor
and say listen my movie is gonna be weird it's gonna be art house it's gonna
be niche I don't care if this makes money but that's okay because I make it
money here here here here here and it's all gonna work together right but my
movie the artistic integrity of my movie is gonna be maintained that investor if
they're all if all the numbers line up in the bottom line lines up
now you at least have a puncher's chance for before you had zero chance so so all
of a sudden like you don't have to make that choice which i think changes that
calculation a little bit about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing
is this just commercialism gone awry or is it actually a tool for independent
artists to be able to do the things that they love for the rest of their life and
and that's that I think shifting that thinking is is is
a big shift now the other thing about this is that I think is really important
is is something that I call soapbox the so a soapbox is basically a the theme
the message of your of your film like where how do you how does your film how
does your script tap into like the passion that's in your heart what are
you trying to say what what is your commentary on the world how do you make
your your project feel not just cool but important because it's tapped in to
something I think the greatest art from throughout history comes from the
passion and perspective and the heart of the creator I think you know things like
something like get out what they came from like the heart of the crater and it
had an importance attached to it not just a cool factor it wasn't just a cool
high concept it was it felt like an important film because it was and I
think when you when you when you read Hemingway or you listen to an Aretha
Franklin song there there's something about the passion and the authenticity
about what these creators want to say with her art that makes this art
sustainable and makes the art resonate better with the audience I think
Tarantino every every every film that he that that he makes is is just dripping
with his passion and you can see it and it comes across in a very soulish
intangible way but the audience receives it differently so if in today's world
it's important to do things and to create things not just because they have
a you have a cool high concept idea it's because you're actually passionate about
an issue passionate about something a perspective something of importance that
gives your story a moral depth to it that that is interesting now that could
be in something like you know something like get out or something like Roma or
on the other end I think you know I think George Lucas was saying something
very important and specific when he created Star Wars he was supposed to
direct Apocalypse Now he before Francis Ford Coppola because he was so
passionate about the Vietnam War the movie got delayed so we wouldn't did
Star Wars instead which I think ultimately was better for Apocalypse Now
but the but he took all all the passion he had for imperialism and colonialism
and overreaching government and that same passion that made him a hippie back
in the 60s as a college student he poured that into like a larger IP
personally I don't think that black pen black panther technically is one of the
best pictures as far as like the Oscar conversation I don't think the the
technical aspect of black panther is best picture worthy but Black Panther
had the technical had you know I think solid superhero technicality they got
great costumes whole thing but black panther was routed and tapped into an
importance that that elevates the film above just being a normal superhero
movie it's important to people it's important to culture and it connects to
people's hearts because of what it stands for and so if if if if creators
understand what they want to say with their art not just how to make money but
what they want to say what are you trying to say as a person as a human
being what are you trying to convey like they would like the world's on fire in a
thousand different ways and filmmakers have an opportunity and to to to have a
platform to actually say something about the world and in today's environment
that's actually wanted and desired by the audience is this not an agenda and
the millennial generation they're not like like my generation of my parents
generation where we just wanted popcorn stuff they they want something real and
authentic and important and so I say all this to say as a filmmaker if you have
something important to say and if you put it in your movie and you
release your movie some people will hear your message and there will be the
people that watch a movie but in today's
oversaturated commoditized highly competitive entertainment landscape not
everybody watches movies right what about the the people that don't go to
the movies and all they do is listen to music or play video games or what about
the people that don't watch TV or movies at all just they play board games all
the time there's so much stuff that people what about the kids that all they
do is they have their nose in the book and they just read all the time do they
not need to hear your message as well if they're so important to you if your
message is apps actually important if you have commentary on on immigration
issues or racial issues or political issues or not just any political
hot-button issues but if you're passionate about anything then then
doesn't the person that's in the in the basement playing board games don't they
need to hear that as well the kid that just sits on their phone and plays
mobile games don't they need to hear what you have to say as well of course
they do if your message is actually important of course they do all of a
sudden in order to reach all those people you have to diversify the way
that like you have to diversify your IP because once you start looking at
transmedia less as a cash grab and more as an opportunity to deploy your message
and your passion and your heart to everybody doing everything around the
world all of a sudden makes a lot more sense right now your IP is becoming all
things to all people right and then being able to operate and
connect that message with everybody's heart which then leads them back into a
community of people community of other fans that all share that that that same
you know that same message and that's what makes the that's what makes IP
important right so so talking about this question the immorality I think again
goes back to the motivations but if your motivation is I want to I want to change
the world in a positive way I want to impact the world with this
very important thing that's coming out of my soul then transmedia is the
perfect thing for you because now you're getting to everybody that needs it and
not everybody does No everybody does it no one does everything
but everybody does something if that makes sense so there nobody like please
videogames watches movies listen to music like nobody does everything
because there's so much stuff right but everybody does something and in order to
reach everybody in this world now we have to diversify the way we deploy the
message or deploy the passion and that's where transmedia becomes beneficial
you