WHY is your project?

This most fundamental of questions, and having the answer, can mean the difference between drowning in a sea of competitors, and standing out from them. In the architecture of crafting narratives and identity, the WHY is the foundation we build everything else upon, and it can decide everything from form, to content, to audience engagement.

With 20 years of experience in media in my native Canada and in Sweden, with private clients and in workshops around the world, I’ve helped creators to reach the core of their projects through analytical question and answer sessions, and trial & error pitches. With a toolbox of exercises I ask filmmakers themselves to analyze projects, deconstruct them, and rebuild them in the most creative way possible. Some discover their films weren’t films at all, but another, more appropriate platform.

Embracing new digital formats, I’ve been exploring multi-platform worlds where new technologies become other colors on the palate. With Upgrade, my team and I are crafting a credible science fiction story world that will manifest in print, interactive web-sites and ultimately a LARP involving wearable tech, where the only limits to the story will be how far participants are willing to take it. With Hack No. 2, we’ve been steadily converting what was a traditional documentary into an online game whose ultimate ambition is to solve sanitation and change the world. Not bad for a website.

And then there’s the audience, now in possession of a voice. Using a research-based method in early stage projects, we identify core audiences by cluster, and reach them early in a cost effective way, even defining ways of turning competitors into partners. In later stage projects, the key is to engage the gatekeepers in your audience, who can open your projects to whole new markets.

I’m looking for new opportunities and challenges around the world. If you have a storytelling problem that needs solving, I’d love to help.