Many thanks for taking the time to post here!

I’m resisting the urge to quote a television show regarding your comment about resistance. It was a science fiction show. About a trek. In the stars. And one of the characters said that resistance is, you know futile. Damn it (sigh).

Yes, resistance within large media companies against this kind of thing is monumental. But it won’t last forever. You already know that, or you wouldn’t be doing the kinds of projects like, “Crushing It.”

By the way, much love for publishing “Crushing It” under a Creative Commons license. Much love, indeed (by the way, what do you mean when you say you’ll ‘open source’ the creative development?).

I really enjoyed reading your post about how “Crushing It” came about – can you share some thoughts about the project now that you’re on the other side of “it’s over?”

Thanks for the support from up north, and keep it collaborative!

A great post. I couldn’t agree more that finding ways for the audience to co-create is viable. But the resistance is huge.

In honour of social media week, I ran Crushing It (http://crushingitstory.com) — a live comedy soap opera on Twitter. We were able to establish a truly intimate relationship with the audience, by giving them lots of opportunities to influence both the behaviour of individual characters and of the plotline. In fact, we used the tagline “the end is up to you” because we did not write an ending in advance but waited to see which way the audience wanted us to take it.

The project was enormously satisfying for the creators and for the audience as well.

For the entertainment industry, these are truly exciting times. Audiences are in for richer, deeper, more intimate entertainment experiences. And these will no doubt provide new marketing solutions and new outlets for creative thinkers — if everyone can just get over their fear.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this from a filmmaking perspective!

I think your “the way I go largely depends on the project at hand” comment is both astute and indicative of why things like content/experience creation in a digital world and trans/cross-media often generate conflicting views and observations.

There are so many moving parts, so many things to consider these days beyond just the creation of the content/experience (e.g., online/social media, trans/cross-media extensions, crowdsourcing/funding, digital distribution, etc.) that finding a general rule to follow for every project is impossible.

What you create and how you go about it should always be driven by the nature of your project and your goals.

Crowd-influenced filmmaking is another animal in that it requires a different kind of filmmaker; a producer far less concerned about Artistic expression and far more concerned about business and commerce. I say this because filmmakers face adversity and the near certainty of failure on so many levels every day and wouldn’t do it any differently if given the choice (albeit on a larger scale).

At the end of the day there will be those in the business for its business potential and true Auteurs and I find myself smack dab in between. I can go either way–and the way I go largely depends on the project at hand (or at the hands of others).

Thanks for sharing!

[Miles Maker is a story Author, content Producer and Auteur whose dynamic media ventures encompass three current web/tech sector megatrends: mobile, social, and real-time.]

Oh, and I checked out the outtotheblack site and couldn’t stop laughing. I literally just watched the “Done the Impossible” documentary last night, and I immediately thought of the scene where a fan reenacts Wash’s toy dinosaur scene in the cockpit. Never met a Browncoat I didn’t like…

I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to talk with you in more depth about Brain Candy and about these new models of entertainment production!

Regards,
Sue Regonini
Ph.D. Candidate, Applied Anthropology
University of South Florida