Why Cross-Media Efforts Often Fail #1: The Producer Lie

This is the first in what will probably be a series of "Why Cross-Media Efforts Often Fail" posts. I've been involved with enough projects that I've seen the good and the bad, so it's pretty easy to see the patterns of what can make or break it.

I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of TV producers developing new media components for their television shows, and at the beginning they all say the same thing: "We're really excited about your ideas for extending [name of show] online, and we're going to dedicate all the necessary resources to making it happen."

When you're putting together the proposals and getting the funding, they're there. They do their bit

And then you get the money, and one of three things happen:

1. They dedicate all the resources they can toward stealing the new media funding to help finance their TV show. Fortunately doesn't happen a lot, but when it does it's a really bad scene. Usually this happens because they're bad producers: they can't budget, or they can't stick to their budget, or they just lie a lot. Funny thing about bad producers, usually they're really good liars.

Actually, I suspect this might be a more common problem than I think, because after a few years the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund -- which gives grants to new media productions in association with TV shows -- started offering top-up money to the actual TV production as well. I suppose this was meant to compensate them for the extra effort involved on their part, although a more cynical person than I might suggest that maybe it was just a bribe to get them to justify the Fund's existence.

2. They actually do dedicate the necessary resources to making it all work. Unfortunately this doesn't happen all that often either, but when it does you get amazing results. The epitome of this kind of producer is, well, Epitome Pictures. Creating the original Degrassi: The Next Generation community site with them was a new media producer's dream.

3. They completely forget about you. This is what usually happens, and that's why "we're going to do what it takes to make this work" is the Big Lie.

I understand why it happens -- they're TV producers, and they've got their hands full and resources already strained to the breaking point just to get the show in the can -- but it's disappointing. It's like going out on a few really good dates and thinking this relationship might be going somewhere, and then suddenly never hearing from the person again.

In order for a cross-media property to work, the producers from angles have to work together. There has to be communication between them and a recognition that all aspects of the production are important. Maybe not equally important, but still.

Depending on the creative, new media producers often need things like access to the TV set, or its crew, or even its talent. Back in the day, this was all written off as "promotional" and done for free. Which might explain why it was rarely done at all.

Nowadays, new media has to pony up the dough to pay the writers and performers and crew a fair rate for their contributions ("fair" being whatever the respective unions have and will manage to eke out in their collective agreements). Ultimately, this will be a Very Good Thing for new media content, because there's a funny thing that happens when you pay professionals to do what they do best: you get professional quality work.

I know I've been saying this for a long time now, but the times they really are a-changing. Cross-media is no longer being seen as an experimental thing. More and more producers are turning into the kinds of people who see real value in putting time and effort and resources behind doing more with their project than just making a TV show.

The real winners in the end is the audience, because they're the ones who get to enjoy the fruits of all this effort. And the funny thing about making the audience happy is that they keep coming back for more.

And isn't that, from the producer's perspective, what it's all about?