A feature interview with Rob Pratten on the pervasive storytelling platform, Conducttr, and recent transmedia projects

1. For Transmedia, Multiplatform & Convergent PropertiesFor Transmedia, Multiplatform & Convergent Properties
conducttr
TMC RESOURCE KITSPOTLIGHT

2. Conducttr: ‘a pervasive entertainment platform’
In July 2012, Rob Pratten gave a talk on Conducttr for a packed Transmedia 101 meetup
in Toronto & we were all wowed with what the platform can do.
One year on, TMC Resource Kit sat down with Rob to get an update on Conducttr & how
it might work for Canadian transmedia & multiplatform creators.
TMCRK Interview
with Rob Pratten

3. What is Conducttr?
RP: Conducttr is a pervasive entertainment platform: think FinalCut for
interactive, cross-platform stories & games told on social media, mobile and
elsewhere – live events, TV, print etc. And of course it’s industry-agnostic.
It can be a difficult concept for some people to grasp because Conducttr is
quite unique in terms of both aims and functionality. Sometimes it’s easier to
imagine it as a mashup of interactive storytelling platform and marketing
automation system. What’s important to know is that Conducttr is invisible to
audiences – it’s a story engine that runs in the cloud orchestrating,
personalizing and connecting user experience across platforms.

4. RP {cont}: Conducttr is a professional tool for content creators and writers
that creates a conduit between the storyteller and the audience, it’s not a
destination for the audience.
We call our clients Conducttr Composers – they load our composing tool
into any web browser and then create cross-platform experiences by
dragging and dropping social media and other events onto a digital
whiteboard. Conducttr makes life easier for creative people to deliver
participatory stories without coding which means they get their projects to
market faster and cheaper.
What is Conducttr?

5. Have you worked with
Canadian projects?
RP: Well we’re a technology company, not a studio. So our aim is to support
a range of creative clients from indies to solution partners who deliver
projects to their clients. If we are asked to deliver a turnkey solution then
we’ll do it – we’ll develop the creative, manage the project, implement and
test it and then hand it over. But that’s not our business purpose which
remains licensing the technology.

6. Have you worked with
Canadian projects?
RP: So to answer the question about working on Canadian projects, of
course we’re very proud to be delivering the interactive experiences behind
the amazing Ruby Skye PI! And we support many other clients in the
Canadian marketplace. For example, in Toronto, Crisis Match is a solution
partner that delivers crisis management simulations using Conducttr – you
can check out this video we created recently. We’re also working with
Sagaworld in Montreal on projects we can’t yet reveal but we’re the
technology partner and all creative is from Sagaworld.

7. RP: Everything we’re doing is really exciting to be honest because it’s all pushing the
envelope in one way or another. One such example is a film project in the UK where the
producers plan to give away the movie for free in order to generate interest in a range of
mobile apps. Conducttr is delivering the backend to all the apps and unlocking personalized
content inside the app based on how people interact with characters on Twitter, Facebook,
email & SMS. So the film is really a feature length teaser – it’s just an entry point into a huge
immersive storyworld financed by app sales.
We’re also working with a TV production company to provide all the social drama
components – fictional characters on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook – plus, using our “story
locker” feature provide a catch-up service accessible online and via mobile to registered
audience members.
What are you working
on that’s exciting?

8. RP {cont}: We’re re-­‐staging the London riots on Twi3er and text messaging for the
launch of a book called Feral Youth. At the book launch, guests are invited to become part
of gang that’s about to go on a rampage. What’s interesCng is that through the interacCve
choices offered to guests they start to see the social issues and conflicCng loyalCes
underneath the surface and away from the press headlines. The event has a large TV screen
which will display guest’s text messages – so that when they’re asked an open-­‐ended
quesCon (by a ficConal character) their responses will be shared anonymously with
everyone.
This open-­‐ended audience parCcipaCon is a good example of something that doesn’t
change the course of the narraCve but is incredibly engaging because it’s social – people
want to know how other people answered that quesCon or reacted to that situaCon. All of
this parCcipatory storytelling is available with no coding – even the TV component that uses
a standard Conduc3r web output report.
What are you working
on that’s exciting?

9. What are you working on
that’s exciting?
RP: Finally we recently delivered our first Spanish-language project in
Mexico which is teaching 15 yr olds empathy through the interactive
retelling of the Prometheus story (the Greek myth, not the movie!). This is a
week-long classroom project and allows the teacher not only to set
interactive homework but to review the metrics in class – decisions made,
enquiries asked – all of which generate classroom discussion and
engagement.

10. What key trends are
you aware of?
RP: UniversiCes, film and arts schools are beginning to realize that the world has changed
and they’re starCng to introduce training in transmedia, in social media, in entrepreneurial
skills in order to prepare students for a new post-­‐graduaCon reality. The old industry
structures and career paths aren’t there anymore.
Many students can be resistant or disinterested at first actually and in this regard the
lecturers are ahead of the students. So it’s not an age-­‐related myopia but one based on the
desire to be a just a feature filmmaker. Fortunately the old world is crumbling and a new
egalitarian world is emerging where anyone can become a content creator and anyone can
become a content financier.
Some people find the need to build social engagement and parCcipatory storytelling into
their creaCve process to be frustraCng and “distracCng” but if you embrace the changes
then it’s incredibly rewarding and fulfilling to have a direct relaConship with your audience.
This is an important and growing trend.

11. What stories work best?
RP: The best stories are those with depth and different points of view – stories that
warrant discussion and debate. One-­‐dimensional characters are boring in any media and
trying to layer and expand a one dimensional idea across mulCple plaUorms just mulCplies
the boredom!

12. How do you assess success?
What does it look like?
RP: There’s no gold standard of what success looks like because every project has its own
goals. For some it will be just straight forward number of audience records while for others
it’s the volume of advocacy or the depth of engagement (e.g. conversaCons on social media).
Maybe it’s a change in senCment or preference.
Conduc3r has a number of reports available off-­‐the-­‐shelf but for some clients we’ve wri3en
specific data mining scripts to pull out the informaCon perCnent to their project.
Check out the TStoryteller website here: www.tstoryteller.com
Don’t miss Rob’s detail & strategy rich presentaCons on Slideshare here:
www.slideshare.net/ZenFilms

13. STORY
EXPERIENCE
STORY
GAMING
REAL WORLD
CO-CREATION
Importance of
narrative
Audience ability to change or
contribute to story
Extent to which experience
pervades real locations &
times, real people &
events
Audience has goal, use of puzzles,
use of game mechanics (trophies,
levels, leader boards etc.);
AUDIENCE PLATFORMS
PREMISE
www.ActiveStorySystem.com @robpratten
The Transmedia Project
Pitch Sheet is a:
‘Simple two-sheet to help
transmedia storytellers
present their projects.
The aim is to get some
consistency of presentation
so that those listening can
"get it" more quickly’.
Transmedia Project Pitch Sheet
Fantastic Resources from Rob Pratten

14. Active Story System for Transmedia Storytelling
Design methodology for creating
participatory transmedia stories.
For $1.25 you can buy an
interactive PDF of the
worksheets shown in this
presentation. This allows you to
complete the fields for your own
projects and print.
Here's the link:
http://an.cr/sa/jH0In
Fantastic Resources from Rob Pratten

15. Robert Pratten is a Transmedia Treasure! An exceptionally prolific &
generous creator of resources for transmedia & multiplatform
producers, if you aren’t familiar with Rob already, you’re in for a treat.
‘Robert's experience uniquely places him at the intersection of
entertainment, social media marketing and telecommunications. He is
an experienced marketing consultant with more than 20 years
experience and has been an internationally recognized expert in the
field of Intelligent Networks having advised clients such as Ericsson and
Lucent on international pricing, positioning and market entry strategies.
Robert left the board of a leading European consultancy in 1999 to
attend the London Film School. He has since written, produced and
directed two award-winning, critically acclaimed feature films - London
Voodoo (2004) and Mindflesh (2008).
Robert has established himself as a thought-leader in the field of
transmedia storytelling through major contributions to the evolving
field in the areas of new business models, development processes and
documentation. He is author of the book Getting Started in Transmedia
Storytelling: A Practical Guide for Beginners.’
TMCRK Interview
RobertPratten BIO

16. Big thanks to Rob for sharing these terrific resources
with TMC Resource Kit!
All image & document credits are Robert Pratten’s &
TStoryteller.com
You can learn more about Conducctr & find many
more resources created by Rob on the following sites:
http://www.tstoryteller.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/ZenFilms/presentations
TMCRK Interview
RobertPratten BIO

17. TMC Resource Kit
info@tmcresourcekit.com
tmcresourcekit.com
Rob Pratten Interview prepared by:
Dr. Siobhan O’Flynn
& Anthea Foyer
siobhanoflynn.com @Sioflynn
redsquidlab.com @redsquidlab
thank you! get in touch