In a recent episode, Jack tortures the hell out of a bad guy.  The scene culminates in Jack disemboweling the guy in order to retrieve a swallowed micro chip.  Now, that is dedication and pride in your work! Ewwwww, yes.  A bit much, perhaps.  But why would any of us expect anything less?

Really? This is shocking? Why would a torture storyline shock anyone when (a) it has been a front page story for years; (b) a majority of Americans polled said torture is a valid means of fighting the “war on terror”; and (c) the leader of the free world defended such use? Art imitates life….even when it is ugly.

Moreover, while I know things are all a matter of degree, is there really a difference between this and showing bodies and blood stained floors each week on the Dateline “dead body of the week” starring the appropriately ghoulish Chris Hanson (I think that is his name, though I often confuse him with the late John Carradine)? ABC’s “Happy Town” just featured a guy getting a hole hammered completely through his head. Worse yet, the access shows like “Extra” have been wall-to-wall with images of Larry King and his junior-by-83 years wife kissing.  Sheesh.

Yep. Times have changed. I can recall many arguments with S&P on my shows over things arguably less severe. Then again, the nets aren’t stupid. Their future 18-34 crowd is, as I type, eviscerating and beheading tons of increasingly photo real humans on their XBox . They know what Gen XYZ, or whatever they are called these days, has grown accustomed to.

If we vote for folks who condone horrific acts in the purported defense of liberty and condone 10 year olds at play with content that makes “Natural Born Killers”  and “Scarface” look like  quaint little period pieces, what do we expect? Oh, and by the way, it is, let’s not forget, FOX.

We get asked to sign NDAs from time to time and we spend way too much time analyzing whether it is something we can do. If it isn’t the potential legal minefield that stares back at us from the page, then it’s the notion of keeping track of all the ridiculously broad limitations each and every one of these little documents creates. There are obviously many more reasons we could list here, but in the interest of brevity, we’ve listed our top 5 reasons why we don’t want to sign your NDA.

1. Ideas Are Like Assholes, Opinions, and Scripts in Hollywood…

We hear ideas all day long and chances are, we’ve either heard or thought of something in the neighborhood of what you’re pitching. Unless you have a VERY unique and VERY detailed expression of a genuinely novel notion, there really is little to protect. We live smack dab at the intersection of entertainment, new media, and technology and there’s always a lot of traffic. Our 360-approach to content and distribution literally applies to nearly every conceivable business vertical.— and we want ALL of that business.

Every NDA we sign in one sector could prevent us from doing business in another. Splitting hairs over language and trying to narrow down the sacrosanct from the unprotectable notion, is a time and money suck. That said, if you really do have and want to work with us to exploit your formula for cold fusion and you have the empirical data to prove it, where do we sign?

2. Stealing an idea takes a lot of work.

There’s a saying in our biz: “What works on the page, don’t work on the stage.” You could have the greatest idea in the world, but unless you have assembled the best team to implement and execute this great idea, it will never reach fruition. A great idea doesn’t become interesting until it is put into action and tested to some decent extent. And even then, you best have a credible / stellar team to prove that full execution is around the corner. Look, even Microsoft admits that all of those dorky guys in the commercials invented Windows 7, and yet the company took it to market with little fear of legal reprisal.

3. Most investors today will never sign an NDA.

Talk to any Silicon Valley VC, private equity folks or others holding the purse strings, and you will realize that investors these days will only laugh you out of their office if you bring up the notion of signing an NDA. These guys hear hundreds of ideas everyday. They would have to limit consideration to one pitch per vertical in order to avoid lawyers flying out of the woodwork (and even then, they would get sued). Can you imagine the liability? We’re just the stop before them so we need to follow suit in all but the most extreme situations, like the cold fusion thing.

4. Great ideas cost too much money.

Even if you have a great idea, at the very least you’ll still need to invest some serious coin and sweat equity to get that idea to a presentable level of development. In success, you’ll have to feed the machine until everyone else finds out about your great idea and the masses agree with how brilliant you think you are. Rest assured, we’re too busy realizing our own brilliant ideas to spend the time and money to steal yours.

5. Potential liability? Just say NO.

Every signed NDA out there in the universe provides an opportunity for some anxious lawyer to work his way through the fine print and come knocking on our door because he saw our sexy signature. While there are certainly specific exceptions we make, the general rule is that each NDA we sign has the potential to keep us up at night. We barely sleep as it is.

We live in the age of exponentially fast information exchange. The world is also a bit low on genuinely novel ideas. Let’s rethink how to protect ourselves while making, as opposed to breaking, deals. We know we’ll get some feedback on this one – hopefully from both sides. Let us know what you think. And if you do, in fact, have that cold fusion thing ready to pitch…

The big scary paradigm shift in technology, entertainment and advertising (don’t worry everything else is converging too) is akin to the implosion of the music industry. We spent years building up obstacles between the music and the fans and trying to ignore the fact that they were always in control. When the dust finally settles this time around, we’ll all be able to see clearly that, in the crowded world of content, we need to provide as clear a path as possible between your music and your fans. Great content is like music; it might be brilliant but without anyone around to hear it, nobody will ever get to experience the greatness. Episode 5 explains the Joe Digital special formula we like to follow:

High Quality Content + Strategic Distribution = Loyal Participants

Next week, in Episode 6, we’ll take a look at why it’s so important to craft an honest story when starting  the conversation with your audience.

Episode 5 features: Zach Jordan

As we saw in Episode 3, there are several ways to track audience data.  You can find out, on a very granular level, who they are, where they like to play, and other important metrics that are required to make great content and distribute it strategically across the web.  In Episode 4 we find out why it’s so important to utilize this data and help you create a loyal bond with your audience.  We’ll also look at why it’s imperative to come from an authentic place when creating interesting and relevant storylines for your content.  Remember: the consumer bullshit meter is very sensitive!

Episode 4 features: Jason Feinberg, Suzanne Diamond, Timothy Golden and Zach Jordan

The Digital Decision Series

The rules of engagement have changed and so have the ways we communicate with each other in business and entertainment. The Digital Decision Series is a weekly video blog featuring leading experts and an in depth look at the massive paradigm shift happening across every media channel today. Our goal is to harness the collective power and wisdom of a myriad of disciplines through interviews with working professionals, in a variety of media related industries, in an effort to find some answers and gain a better understanding about exactly what these new communication tools mean for business, entertainment, branding, and marketing.

We’ll cover content, metrics, social media, gaming, technology and multi-platform distribution and how the new 360 or Transmedia storytelling maxims are applicable to every business sector looking to reach out and engage people with a compelling, relevant and entertaining message. Our thought leaders come from a variety of backgrounds: from marketing to music, television to gaming. Collectively, they will unfold the story of the great media paradigm shift and suggest ways in which we can all approach communication in business, education, and entertainment more effectively in the digital space and beyond. In the end, we hope this series sheds some light on the amazing opportunities presented and offers some solutions that have a positive impact on your engagement in the digital landscape.  Episode 2 takes a closer look at why it’s so crucial to customize every approach to messaging and story and using the best digital tools for the job.

Episode 1 Features:

Suzanne Diamond, Tim Mosher, Jason Feinberg, and Zach Jordan

Distribution takes on many new and exciting forms in the world of 360 storytelling and needs to be strategically mapped, based on the specific needs of your story.  The bad news is, audiences will continue to fragment across an increasing number of platforms.  The good news is, the audience may be one of the best forms of distribution for your story through social networking and video sharing.  This factor becomes even more interesting, considering that 1/3 of all online videos get shared.

Traditional platforms like TV won’t disappear or lose out to online and mobile, but we’ll get to a point very soon when all these platforms hold an equal footing.  The distribution efforts of loyal fans and participants will become even more apparent in this transition.  Distribution channels in the 360 story environment may include:

1. TV
2. Online video portals
3. Social networks
4. Widgets
5. Interactive games
6. Out of home networks
7. Mobile applications

The many forms of distribution in the 360 story environment help you reach, entertain and retain the short attention span audience members who are pulled in every direction by the morass of content.  However, it’s important to note that one web widget does not a distribution strategy make.  You can have all the democratized access to free video portals and inexpensive technology in the world, but without 1) a well structured story customized for the 360 environment and 2) a complete understanding of how your story is executed within the context of these distribution platforms, these tools can prove useless and may even alienate some of your audience or clients if not utilized sparingly.  Let’s review:

1.  Your story is well crafted

2.  You’ve identified your audience

3.  You know how to communicate with them

4.  You know where your audience is watching

Now it’s time to engage and reap the rewards.  Remember: it always comes down to the emotional connection you are trying to build with your audience and doing so in an authentic way.   Because the tools in the 360 storytelling environment amplify messaging and allow your audience to co-create and control their experiences with the tools you give them, people become empowered and more willing to become distributors themselves.  There is no doubt we are all experiencing a new frontier in which the 360 storytelling experience will make for a truly platform agnostic experience where viewers will engage with entertaining content in ways beyond our wildest imaginations.

Photo by: EllynKocher