To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.
—Abraham H. Maslow
In this primer, we have discussed the stages at which the development of your digital extension would benefit from outside expertise: generally, our philosophy is pretty much pro-partner. While adding thinkers and architects to your company can make good sense and provide you with a corporate memory that spans projects, you don’t necessarily want to internalize an entire production arm unless you are willing sink in the money needed to create and sustain this sort of infrastructure.
What’s more, you don’t want to invest in an internal team well-versed in developing any one technical approach… otherwise, all of your digital extensions will somehow always wind up using that solution. Blogging tools might have worked well for Season One, but you’re up to Season Four and technology has certainly changed.
Given the speed at which digital media can move, we feel that you are better served working with third-parties who are truly expert in the techniques most appropriate for your production’s goals and strategies. This approach externalizes the costs associated with research and development and lets you work with best-of-breed developers for each digital extension.
As with everything else in this brave, new digital world, there are a few things to keep in mind when working with outside partners… especially when you are considering how to fulfill the terms of your shiny new contract with Telefilm Canada.
Individuals versus companies
It may be that your project is such that it can be easily developed and the terms of your contract fulfilled by relying mainly on internal resources or those people already engaged as part of your digital team. In that case, adding further expertise by contracting specialized individuals may be an easy choice.
Bear in mind, though, that unless such contractors are either working in your facility or checking in regularly, you will be incurring additional management costs. These can negligible or a nightmare, depending on the individuals involved. Again, good upfront screening will help you trend towards the former.
In some cases, however, the scope or complexity of the task will require you to forge a relationship with a company that specializes in digital solutions. This is a much more careful negotiation, one that can take weeks before reaching a satisfactory conclusion.
There are no hard and fast rules for approaching such partnerships, but what will work best is to have your digital team develop a questionnaire with you and other senior stakeholders. This questionnaire should be based on the precise requirements of your pre-production document, your technical specification and your project proposal. Such questions should be specific:
- - “Has this company worked with this exact technology before?”
- - “Have they been part of a Telefilm project?” (if you’re working with Telefilm)
- - “Can they provide references from other film and television producers?”
Don’t get us wrong: it is fine if a potential partner has won awards or has a long list of clients or has implemented complex technical solutions… but have they done so in those areas that matter most to your project? The field of digital media solutions is vast, but there are people who have the exact expertise you are looking for — seek them out! Don’t pay to have an outside partner learn on your nickel.
Structuring the deal
Obviously, if you are entrusting even a small part of the digital extension for your entertainment property to an outside entity, it’s time to get lawyered up. This is money well spent and if you’re working with a firm that has the requisite expertise, it will take little time.
Make sure your lawyer structures deals with satisfactory clauses for:
- - Warranty periods
- - Payment upon acceptance rather delivery
- - Penalties for missed milestones
- - Ownership of source code and derivative content
All of this pre-supposes, of course, that the prospective partner has considered the scope of work and is able to deliver the required assets on time and on budget.
While you will naturally want to take every step to protect your interests, be prepared to be flexible on details that aren’t essential to your goals. Even in the early stages, laying the groundwork for a long-time partnership will continue to pay dividends.
Start small
While it is not always possible to do so, it is a good practice to start small with outside partners: a well-bounded scope of work for a modest application will give you a much better sense of their capabilities than any amount of diligence. What’s more, this small experiment will allow you to explore the fit between your two companies without much at stake for either side.
If the project goes well, it is a simple matter to ramp up to bigger things. If not, your digital strategist and/or technical lead can begin vetting other possible fulfillment partners. Be careful about putting all your eggs into an untested basket.
Local or outsourced?
Today it is not uncommon to hear executives talk about cheap technical development work that they have had done in China, India, Hungary or any other flavor of the week. While this might sound like a tempting option in terms of the cost savings, tread cautiously.
Unless you are willing to spend the time and energy necessary to establish a relationship with a company whose business practices, laws and understanding of intellectual property rights may not be 100% Canadian, this is not an advisable practice. What’s more, many funding bodies in Canada require that no more than 25% of the digital budget be spent on overseas services.
But if you are making a much bigger digital play — one that will span many months and involve private capital — it may make sense to develop such a partnership. Your first step in doing so is to contact the local office of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. They have teams of experts well versed in many markets and international partnering arrangements. And there is no cost for their services.
Whose schedule?
Your team will have already crafted a long-term schedule that governs the various aspects of the project. When it comes to deliverables from partners, make sure to add some padding: even with the best of intentions, we are still dealing with technical development. Things can go wrong at the last minute: make sure that, from your partner’s point-of-view, the last minute is a week before you need to deliver against your next official milestone.
What to expect from your partners
If your company has gotten to this stage, you will have made a series of smart moves, applied your ingenuity, and exerted a fair degree of diligence. You have assembled a team of experts and had them work through a process to funnel broad goals into workable plans. And you’ve had them produce documentation at every stage to ensure that there is clarity, cohesion and no risk of roll-back.
Any partner should be able to do the same thing.
Make this expectation clear from day one, get a firm commitment from them and hold them to it. After all, not only is it your reputation on the line at the end of the day, you also need to ensure that your digital strategy is a success. Don’t let a lackadaisical partner be your weakest link.