This paper was presented at ICA pre-conference on transmedia storytelling, June 17th, 2013. Abstract: This paper interprets recent Northern European examples of how the audiovisual (AV) industry’s micro-companies are confronting the ‘convergence culture’ and have, therefore, innovated their output by applying some of the principles of “crossmedia strategies” or “transmedia storytelling”. It points to transmedia phenomena as a potential concern for the political economy of media. That is, the contemporary emergence of crossmedia strategies is often perceived as conditioning certain homogenizations in culture and understood as a synonym for media concentration. If so, such ‘emergence’ may constrain the degrees of freedom for smaller enterprises in which case policy means may be justified to support the various ‘divergence’ processes in culture. The paper puts a focus on the question to what extent are the film industry micro-companies empowered by the emergent transmedia practices and to what extent may they instead be constrained in new ways?

1. The struggles of transmedia
independents in Northern Europe
Indrek Ibrus, PhD
Tallinn University

2. Policy changes, rationales
• Innovation discourse carried by neoliberal agenda,
focus on ICTs
• Creative Industries -> Digital Creative Industries
• Policy initiatives to facilitate convergence: ICT+…
• Attention to startups, SMEs
• Rationale: Network economy enables scalability and
growth, access to larger markets, undermines the
known challenges of media economy - including limits
to competition

3. Policies
• New cluster developments - both real and virtual,
local and regional.
• New multiplatform-related funding schemes for
AV-industry's SMEs (in most European nation
states almost everything is small)
• Special attention to the needs of ‘convergent’
enterprises.
• New educational programmes

4. My studies (with colleagues and students)
• Experimental funding schemes for transmedia
projects/micro-companies – their institutional
evolution
• Clustering of AV-industry in Tallinn, Estonia
• Multiplatform production in Estonian Public
Broadcasting (including commissioning and
relations with the local AV-cluster).
• All qualitative studies, based on semi-structured
interviews. Altogether 51 interviews, more on the
way (unfinished processes).

5. Findings: Identity, roles
• TV channels often commission 'transmedia package' +
pressure from other policies
• Existing professional identities, experiences, skills of AV
professionals do not support such endeavours, many
unmotivated and also vocal
• Investing into new skills or activities is costly - both
regarding time and money - new threshold for micro-
companies.
• Policy responses: in Estonia new study programmes,
small funding scheme for transmedia projects; new
cluster could help with marketing efforts.

6. Findings: Industry asymmetries
• Micro-companies: expectations for empowerment
(turning content 'platform-agnostic' has a potential to
increase bargaining powers)
• Reality: in the conditions of 'attention economy' and
saturated markets it is increasingly difficult to make a
project visible. That is, to fight the (cross-)marketing
muscles of large media companies.
• Tendency to return under the helms of big media
brands.
• No disruption to oligopolistic media markets.

7. Findings: Endurances of projects
• Expectation: Multiplatform projects will have multiple revenue
streams, also intimate contact with 'follower-base'.
• Expectation: This could facilitate the 'seriality' of transmedia
projects - new extensions, new narrative developments developed
for/in dialogue with dedicated followers. Such potential stability
could empower micro-companies.
• Reality: similar to previous
• Also: The issue of rights - projects mostly commissioned,
commissioning company controls the rights, but often unmotivated
to make the projects last longer. Hence these simply end, no
stability for independents.
• Policy implications? Need for rights sharing, at least in case of PSBs
commissioning transmedia?

8. Unifinished work, more needed…
• On training and the evolution of professional
roles
• On support schemes for transmedia
independents in small countries
• On the evolution of transmedia rights and
effects to small independents

9. Preliminary conclusions
• Some structural pressures to do transmedia
• For micro-companies and independents
there’s, however, many associated
insecurities.
• Independents in majority not empowered by
transmedia, situation continues to be
ambiguous.

10. Thank you!
ibrus@tlu.ee
The writing of this paper was supported by research grant ERMOS79 financed by
the Estonian Science Foundation and co-funded by Marie Curie Actions.