The exploding complexity of transmedia has made alternate financing models and revenue streams the hottest money topics for producers and distributors of all stripes.

How to structure multiplatform deals and where to find specks of gold via ancillary rights, brand extensions, product integration and multiplatform advertising were also the most FAQs that were candidly answered at this year’s stellar Prime Time in Ottawa conference.

‘And if you’re still thinking outside the box, you’re toast. There is no box,’ warned Peter Dekom, counsel with the Beverly Hills law firm Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman Grodin & Evall, during a controversial keynote address at the CFTPA event, which effectively advised the 584 delegates (up from 555 last year) to forget everything they think they know.

‘The fellow sitting behind me said ‘He’s [Dekom] so negative,’ but it probably should be a little bit harsher, or a little bit tougher, because everything has really been shifted around,’ noted Philip Alberstat, a partner in Los Angeles-based Fuel Industries, which specializes in multiplatform branded content (clients include Microsoft and Nokia) and has an office in Ottawa.

Albertstat and scores of other panel guests and speech-makers advised producers to stop thinking of themselves as TV producers and start thinking of themselves as brand managers. And they argued that it’s not just a seismic revolution in media language.

‘So you really do have to throw everything out,’ said Alberstat. ‘You need to reconsider everything, and that’s the approach we’ve been taking.’

Alberstat also talked about the popular ‘single black box’ theory whereby ‘there is one box in a home that broadcasts to your device, to the web and to your television. And as writers and producers we have to ask ourselves how to make something engaging that actually will play to the one-content box,’ complete with a game or interactive element.

The lawyer-turned-brand manager explained that a good place to start is to check potential content for ‘spreadability’ and ‘drillability’ – media measurement terms coined by MIT’s Henry Jenkins, founder and director of the university’s Comparative Media Studies.

”Spreadability’ is about how wide the appeal and content are, and ‘drillability’ is giving further engagement to a show, when you drill down deeper and become a super fan,’ he explained, using the hit TV show Lost as an ideal example where fans want more than just the TV show to engage with, and where the various platforms feed each other. Others pointed to Avatar as an example.

But Chris Knight, co-CEO of Ottawa’s Knight Magee Industries, noted that ‘Canadians might be able to make shows with those sensibilities but they’re going to have to fly down to L.A. to do it.’

Knight reserved his advice for those ‘who are trying to make a buck’ in Canada, where ‘broadcasters are assuming more and more rights, and the licence fees are getting smaller and smaller, so it’s getting harder and harder to make a buck.’

The Ottawa-based entrepreneur and his partner Al Magee have a reality show brand called Licence to Grill, which has made money in Canada selling everything from T-shirts, bobblehead dolls, comic books, webisodes, and other tie-ins via companies other than its broadcaster. He said last year alone, his company sold 86,000 cookbooks in a country where a bestseller is 5,000 in sales.

Knight and others say that keeping as many non-conventional TV rights as possible is fundamental to making money.

Sam Coppola, a Montreal lawyer (Broden Ladner Gervais) who specializes in media, tax and commercial law, also encouraged everyone to re-harvest ancillary rights if broadcasters aren’t using them, something which surprised most producers.

Knight added that even the broadcasters can understand that ‘Nobody but yourself is more passionate about your products,’ which is why it makes a good business argument to own or reclaim the ancillary rights.

Virtually all agreed, however, that TV is still the cornerstone of any multiplatform financial structure – just hours before the Canada Media Fund principals provided a sneak peek of the upcoming regs for the new $350 million mother lode (see story p. 18) which require both conventional TV and interactive distribution platforms.

Coppola reminded producers that many provincial interactive multimedia tax credits are available as another funding source. ‘So if you structure your content right, you [also] qualify for those tax credits,’ he explained. ‘You use the content from your show to create a video game which you use on the web.’

Coppola, also a copro specialist, noted that ‘there are 13 countries in the world that have such [interactive] tax credits.’

‘Canada has reacted by enhancing its services tax credits,’ Coppola continued, ‘and those foreigners will need Canadians to help them produce. I’ve seen recently, content producers that have divisions that basically service productions from outside, and that basically gives them the ability to finance their shows also.

‘Look at the incentives that are out there and how you can use them for the goal you want to do,’ Coppola advised.

Darcy Jouan, president of Los Angeles-based Slam Internet (Ghost Whisperer) invented a financial model he calls the Total Engagement Experience.

‘It’s a system for engaging a person on the Internet and on television with all the things we’ve talked about… it’s about engaging the viewer on multiple platforms,’ he said, noting that Ghost Whisperer is treated as a brand, not a TV show, and that Slam partners extensively with companies that are experts in their fields.

‘We partner with the network; we partner with the producers, we partner with GM… you’re keeping in the theme of it,’ explained Jouan, adding that comic books and novels also count.

Paula Gignac, president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada, said TV is still where you’ll find the most people, especially for event TV like the Superbowl, but ’18- to 34-year-olds don’t watch TV like we do, and you can’t think about yourself. You have to think about that group.’

‘Within a year or two, [the Internet] will be number one for the 18-49 [demographic] and within eight years it will be number one for the entire spectrum of 18-54,’ said Gignac, who explained that since audiences have been divided amongst platforms, the challenge is to ‘bring it back together.’

She warned, however, that on the Internet, time spent doesn’t always equal money.

‘The Internet is the number one media in terms of time,’ Gignac explained, ‘but the real estate, the geography we inhabit over there is so piecemeal that it’s very hard to aggregate.’

Others said the web is a marketing tool and not a significant revenue source.

National Bank of Canada senior account manager Charlene Paling warned producers not to just add a website to a TV show and expect to count it as interactive. She also said that, contrary to perceptions, the National Bank is interested in financing multiplatform projects; however, it wants to see a solid business plan and prefers if TV producers partner with experts in specialized gaming and interactive companies.

‘You can’t just show up and say ‘I’ve got this great idea,” said Paling. Amongst other things, the bank wants ‘to know what’s required to produce this content or a new kind of technology to go along with the show. You’ll need a separate budget for that. There has to be a plan to it,’ she warned.

The thinking in Hollywood studios/networks has also evolved and the days of just simply pitching a show concept are long gone.

‘They’ll say ‘We’re happy to talk to you, but can you bring us a brand?” said Alberstat.