Mike Dicks has experience producing multi-platform content for television channels like Channel 4 and the BBC. This included the first real multi-platform show for the BBC across TV, web, and games. He is now a Senior Policy Executive at Pact, advocating for a world class content sector in the digital age. Some of his current work involves looking into new ways to fund content production through crowd funding and new investments. He is also working on a book about his experiences in multi-platform content.

1. Mike Dicks
Insert some stuff about your political incorrectness (but
not as bad as Hugh), your geekyness (but not as bad as
Thomas) and your propensity to procrastinate - as bad
as it gets

2. Channel 4 1997
Produced and ran Channel 4's website (all of it)

3. Fightbox
2000/2001 BBC
First real multi-platform show for the BBC, Web/TV/Game

4. Get cooking (bbc)
Online cookbook with BBC chefs, searchable database

5. Breaking the news
Online, in school, on TV project to teach news skills to 14-19 year
olds

6. Wannabes
Interactive soap opera for the BBC

7. Movement : playstation
Comedy / Music series on the Playstation

8. Empires children
Support piece for Channel 4 allowing viewers to tell their own
stories

9. Owning Beauty
A design, retail, drama and book

10. Colaborative writing
Phone, Book and online drama

11. Submit
A film project, what if you could see all the data?

12. Crowd funding and new investment
Looking into new ways to fund content production

13. #book
Hopefully soon to be published book about all this stuff, but
procrastination and laziness is getting in the way

14. Pact
Senior Policy Executive

15. world class content sector for the
digital age

16. Mike Dicks
SENIOR POLICY EXECUTIVE
+44 770 3020847
mike@pact.co.uk

17. Member organisation
Over 340 members

18. Screen based producers
Film, TV, Digital

19. Free legal and commercial advice
Specialist team

20. Negotiating fairer rights
For creative producers

21. Lobbying
Government, trusts, companies

22. Support business growth
Markets, training, support

23. Digital?

24. Multi-platformin’
A rough guide to the world of multi-platform, the
editorial, creative, technical, commercial and legal
stuff you should think about and some practical
development

25. agenda
• What is multi-platform
• State of the market
• Examples and a case study
• Exercise - two groups work on ideas from the group to map out the opportunities.
• Evaluating elements of an MP project - what is the purpose of each part?
• How does it add up to the objectives of the project.
• Workshop 2 - individual project time - one-to-ones and development
• Tools of the trade, the platforms and apps
• Who to pitch to and how
• Workshop – pitch
• Getting social - promotion of you, your project, the TX and beyond
• Workshops and one-to ones

26. what is multi-
platform?

27. it’s not so new....

28. Meet UGG
Who was out hunting and was chased for about a mile by an angry
mammoth

29. UGG becomes a narative
Due to the lack of television, the tribe tells stories about UGG

30. UMM paints UGGs story
And it becomes a long lasting work of art

31. Kids want to be UGG
And a range of UGG branded toys appear

32. UGG branches out
Picked up by record company, launches concept album

33. Platforms and Narratives

34. “Convergence is a cultural, rather
than technological, process. We
now live in a world where every
story, image, sound, idea, brand
and relationship will play itself out
across all possible media
platforms”
Henry Jenkins, MIT – Convergence Culture

35. is it about gadgets?

36. Is everything becoming
interactive?

37. 50+ Million users /
$400k Revenue

38. Let’s not get too excited...
If the Twitter community was 100 people
20 dead only 5
(empty accounts) With more than 100 followers
50 lazy 5 loud mouths
Not tweeted in the last week Creating 75% of the tweets
Based on ‘Lets Not Get Too Excited...’ by David McCandelish

39. Go mainstream

40. Multiplatform is merchandising..

41. licensing +

42. Platforms and Narratives
story brand Interaction distribution
Promotion
extension

43. What is the audience doing?
230
222 225
184 188
170
138
2004
2009
92
46
27
0 12 12 13 13
6
Television
Radio
Internet (Fixed)
Phone (Fixed)
Phone (mobile)

44. Who to aim at?
OPEN
ACCESS
kool kids
gadgetiers
PASSIVE INVOLVED
massive
passives LIMITED
ACCESS
2006
2012

45. Kool Kids
Prefer interactive and mobile media
experiences and rely heavily on content
sharing and social interaction

46. Gadgeteers
Drawn to the latest devices and experiences and are
interested in participating and controlling the time and
place of their media experiences

47. Massive Passives
Historically content with traditional, “lean back” media
experiences; however, now more actively following the
first movers into digital media

48. Examples

49. Darfur is dying
Can a game achieve the same as a doc

50. The Big Issue
http://www.honkytonk.fr/index.php/thebigissue/

51. The Big Issue

52. Wallace & Gromit - WOI
BBC TV Series with live events, online and classroom resources

53. Love Letters to the Future
Online resource showing results of submission campaign leading to a
timecapsule

54. Hughs FishFight
Channel 4 series with direct action website attached

55. Landshare
A service that comes out of a TV spot

56. embarrasing bodies

57. History of the World in 100 objects
Radio, podcasts, exhibition, web resource, community resource,
game, kids gameshow

58. Global conflicts

59. Gaza / Serdot
Two towns, two videos, two perspectives

60. Britain from above
Additional content, provided as navigable space online

61. We choose the moon
Interactive documentary of the first moon landing

62. The Girl Effect
Online campaign, films and charity – starts with a simple animated
idea

63. Battlefront – C4
Campaigns, TV, Toolkits, Social

64. Prison Valley - arte
The French duo David Dufresne and Philippe Brault decided to produce a documentary on the issue of incarceration in Colorado. But,
they didn’t just throw up a passive, hour-long, badly compressed web video. Instead, the end product became an interactive
documentary with user-submission tools throughout and available on multiple platforms.
They created an iPhone app, and they have a presence on Twitter, Facebook and their blog. They will then reverse publish it to a TV
special this summer and a book next fall. Welcome to the next generation of multimedia storytelling!

65. Creating the Nebula - wired
Documentary app, magazine and sponsorship

66. Tools
What is available to a content maker to help them tell
their story online?

67. Facebook

68. Tumblr

69. Google+

70. Storify.com

71. Scoop.it
http://youtu.be/Bnr6QKKcsII?hd=1

72. webdoc
http://www.webdoc.com/documents/C4D4C1FA-06A0-0001-
C5F3-4F661EC01F56?kme=from_facebook

73. Pozible
http://www.pozible.com/

74. Klynt
Klynt is an interactive editing & publishing application dedicated to
creative storytellers.

75. workshop
Developing your project

76. Workshop 1

77. Getting the cash

78. Keys to the crowd
• Write a crowd funding • Syndicate for your mates
budget • Use contracts
• Don’t kid yourself and be • Get lawyers
over optimistic with costs
• Pitch to anyone you even
• Always allow 10% on top slightly know who is even
• Try to keep the budget small remotely rich (er than you)
• Don’t scrimp on quality • Spend the money on your
• Claim tax credits project
• Get an accountant • Share out the loot
• Raise the stakes as risk • Unexpected bonuses
lowers
• Get donations too

79. Write a crowd
funding budget

80. Don’t kid yourself
and be over
optimistic with
costs

81. Always allow 10%
on top

82. Try to keep the
budget small

83. Don’t scrimp on
quality

84. Claim tax credits

85. Get an
accountant

86. Raise the stakes
as risk lowers

87. Get donations too

88. Syndicate for
your mates

89. Use contracts

90. Investment
From Spanner Films

91. Get lawyers

92. Pitch to anyone you
even slightly know
who is even remotely
rich (er than you)

93. Spend the money
on your project

94. Share out the loot

95. Unexpected
bonuses

96. kickstarter
KickStarter has received quite a bit of publicity recently for its efforts. Most notably the open source facebook alternative Diaspora managed to raise $10,000 in just 39 days, proving that the
concept had legs, and that crowdfunding as a concept has the community well and truly behind it. It’s not just software projects that the site caters for, out of all the current activity on the
site, software is probably the most dull – as creatives around the world have embraced it as a way to realise spectacular dreams. With everything from life sized mousetrap games to one
man’s cultural journey across Mexico KickStarter has clearly captured the imagination of its audience.
As far as the rules for funding goes, KickStarter keeps things simple. In order to receive the funding needed, a project must reach or exceed its funding goal or no money changes hands. If you
do manage to reach your goal, 5% is taken from the project creator. Personally I think this is fair, with the current traffic / reach of the site, the tools available to manage your project, and
the empowerment that a site like this gives individuals 5% isn’t that big an ask.
www.kickstarter.com

97. rockethub
www.rockethub.com
Another very similar site to KickStarter is RocketHub. Describing themselves as a grass roots crowdfunding site, Rockethub’s focus is again within the creative
arts, with the two audiences for the site split into ‘Fuelers’ – those providing financial assistance to cool projects, and ‘Creatives’ – those coming up with the
concepts, artwork and music and in need of funding.
One fundamental differences between KickStarter and RocketHub is the use of rewards and badges to help encourage interaction on the site, and to help get
users engaged with the projects needing assistance. A perfect example of game theory in action.

98. Pozible

99. fansnextdoor
Fans next door is a European Crowdfunding website (still in beta) and as yet they don’t take a cut for promoting projects through their
site, with the only additional costs being the PayPal processing fees. They currently accept all types of art forms, from literature to
films, visual arts and craft, music, performances, fashion, design, and video games. As the user base grows and additional forms of
projects come along we can expect this to evolve.
The reward concept has been used in the promotion of many of the projects, with the system being architected to show what you get
from artists for increasing amounts of funding. For example €10 may get you a copy of the artwork, €20 may get you a copy of the
artwork signed etc. etc. The more of a fan you are, the more you can expect to receive.

100. indiegogo
http://www.indiegogo.com/
IndieGoGo offers a wide variety of creative art funding categories, with projects in everything from Inventions to Gaming to Mobile Apps to Performing Arts.No matter what you are trying to
raise funds for, there will be other projects in that category currently receiving funding. Another benefit that IndieToGoGo offers is that they have hooked up with suitable partners to help give
your project extra reach through commercial channels.
Probably the most impressive of these partnerships is MTV New Media, which could see your work being featured on MTV or VH1 – with of course, your permission. Desirable content includes
fictional and non-fictional web series, shorts and other digital content, with the partnership helping to discover develop and distribute the best projects and creative talent on the web. At the
very least it gives project creators a chance at much needed additional exposure