Digital Synergies 3: Managing Cross-Platform Production Teams

Many traditional TV producers are now making the move over to working with convergent platforms. The transition is not always an easy one since very often the producer is working with new technologies and people who have very different skills to those that they are used to. This session addressed the issues facing traditional media production managers working within cross platform productions. All of the speakers have had experience of working in both broadcast media and interactive new media.

Richard White began by highlighting the differences with scripting treatments in the converged arena. In the traditional broadcast media one person normally drafts a treatment. This is different in interactive production where many people can contribute to the process. This is partly to do to with the many technical issues that have to be considered. Richard believed that three types of people were needed for the production team. He saw them as the 'hand waver', 'mouse pusher' and 'head banger'. The hand waver was the person who had something to communicate. The mouse pusher was the person who would actually carry things out and the head banger would bring the whole process together. Together these people turn the process into a collaborative form of authorship.

The next speaker, Stephen Jeffery-Poulter, also had experience of working with cross-platform projects. He believed that success in a cross-platform team depended on various skills. Technical expertise, for instance, is essential when working with new cross-platform technologies. Another much-needed skill is the kind of good writing ability that can be transferable to the web. The producer and the team should understand that writing on the web is very different to that for print.

Elaine Hernen began by talking about where the power lay in multi-platform productions. Unlike other productions, the responsibility with multi-platform projects did not lie with one person. Instead the multi-faceted nature of cross platform productions meant that a producer becomes answerable to many people as well as to the audience and the business objectives. The producer can deal with this by identifying and writing down all of the goals that they will have to be working towards. Once this is done it is necessary for everyone to agree on the goals and then project plan accordingly. Once everyone is in the loop it is then possible to identify and agree on all of the constraints. Constant dialogue is required by all of the people concerned to enable the producer to overcome any issues that may occur. Elaine finished by talking about how the technical development members of the team should be looked after. She believed that ultimate success depended on them being treated very well.

Mark Janes finished the session by drawing on his own experiences at interactive TV agency Workhouse. Zenith Entertainment Plc, a company that has a lot of experience of making popular TV programmes, owns Workhouse. Zenith and Mark had both made the transition over to cross platform productions. Mark was firm in his belief that complementary partners were essential to the success of a cross-platform project and believed that the team should develop a core hybrid management team. The technically broad components meant that it was often impossible to do everything in-house and the producer should always be prepared to outsource work.