CTIN 558 – The Business of Interactive Media
USC School of Cinema-Television, Spring 2009
Professor: John Hight
Contact Info:
email /phone / 310-404-9880
Course Description: Every industry has its methodology and lingo. For a creative person, the world of business can be mysterious and, at times, confounding. It costs money to create something. How much will it cost to realize your idea? How long will it take? Does it have the potential be profitable or at least break-even? How can you convince investors to take a risk on you? The goal of Business of Interactive Media is to give you the business-savvy to accomplish your creative vision.
The course begins with your own concept. You’ll estimate the resources you need and the cost of those resources. You’ll use Microsoft Project to organize a schedule and prepare a Gantt chart. Next you’ll create a budget and analyze the cash-flow required to keep the project running without delays.
Every endeavor has an audience and your marketing plan will determine who is likely to be interested and how to make them aware of your work. You’ll follow that up with financial analysis to estimate the profit potential for your project. Finally you’ll combine all of your work into a business plan and present it.
Exercises are designed to give you tools and techniques for analyzing and managing an interactive media project. Assignments give you the opportunity to use these skills and create presentations. All of the assignments contribute to your business plan. A professional interview assignment encourages you to practice your interview skills and develop or expand your professional contacts network.
The course will draw examples from the videogame industry but the fundamental content is applicable to all forms of interactive media. There will be occasional guest speakers to provide real-world perspectives.
If you’re new to business, this course will provide you with a solid understanding of the business aspects of interactive media. If you already have business experience, then you’ll be able to hone your skills and stretch your potential. You will gain the ability to backup your creative ideas with planning and analysis. You’ll also learn useful tactics for negotiation. By the end of the course, you should be able to prepare a business plan for a project and be able to confidently describe your plan to potential investors, publishers, grantors, or employers.
Meeting Information:
Lecture 2:50 hours, 6:00-8:50pm, Mondays, RZC201
Required Software:
Microsoft Project – for creating schedules, Gantt charts
Microsoft Excel – for creating budgets, financial analysis
Microsoft Word – for written reports and assignments
Microsoft PowerPoint – for presentations
You can obtain Trial versions from www.microsoft.com. Academic versions of Microsoft Project cost $170-$200. You can get a special academic version of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plus a lot of other software for $60. Check the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx
Students must write papers and give presentations as described below.
Evaluation of student performance:
a. Assignments and Quizzes:
1. Five (5) Assignments
2. Weekly Quizzes
3. In-class Exercises
4. Final Exam
b. Criteria for grading:
Participation / 10 %Quizzes and in-class exercises / 10
Assignment 1 (High Concept, Staffing/Resource Plan, Schedule) / 10
Assignment 2 (Budget, Cash Flow Analysis) / 10
Assignment 3 (Marketing Plan, Financial Analysis) / 10
Assignment 4 (Business Plan) / 20
Assignment 5 (Professional Interview) / 10
Final Exam / 20
Total: / 100 %
Optional Reading: TBD
Missing an Assignment Deadline, Incompletes:
The only acceptable excuses for missing an assignment deadline or taking an incomplete in the course are personal illness or a family emergency. Students must inform the professor before the assignment due date and present verifiable evidence in order for a make-up to be scheduled. Students who wish to take incompletes must also present documentation of the problem to the instructor or teaching assistant before final grades are due.
Note for students with disabilities:
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to us as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301, and is open 8:30am5:00pm Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
Academic Integrity:
The School of Cinema-Television expects the highest standards of academic excellence and ethical performance from USC students. It is particularly important that you are aware of and avoid plagiarism, cheating on exams, submitting a paper to more than one instructor, or submitting a paper authored by anyone other than yourself. Violations of this policy will result in a failing grade band be reported to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. If you have any doubts or questions about these policies, consult “SCAMPUS” and/or confer with the instructor.
Class Schedule:
Jan. 12 / Introduction,
Course summary,
The Concept Pitch. / Course overview,
Elements of a concept pitch. / Concepts.
Jan. 19 / Martin Luther King's Birthday / No class
Jan. 26 / Concept pitch presentations,
Project Management,
Microsoft Project,
Staffing/Resource Plans / Present concept pitches and in-class critique,
Typical team structures,
Identifying resource needs,
High level scheduling,
Using Microsoft Project. / Concept pitches due.
Staffing/resource estimates.
Feb. 2 / Scheduling / Task breakdown,
Prioritization and dependencies,
Gantt charts,
Common schedule issues. / Staffing/resource estimates due.
Scheduling exercise.
Feb. 9 / Microsoft Excel,
Budgets,
Accounting,
Cash flow analysis. / Using Microsoft Excel,
Preparing a budget,
Accounting fundamentals. / Schedules due.
Accounting exercise.
Feb. 16 / President's Day / No class
Feb. 23 / Finance,
Financial analysis / Finance fundamentals,
Return on investment (ROI) and Break-even analysis. / Budgets due.
Finance exercise.
Mar. 2 / PR, Marketing, and Sales
Marketing plan / Marketing and public relations,
Testing,
Pricing,
SWOT,
Elements of the marketing plan,
Sales and distribution. / Marketing plan.
Financial Analysis.
Mar. 9 / Contracts and Negotiation / Legal issues
Contract terminology.
Methods for successful negotiation. / Professional Interview.
Negotiation exercises.
Mar. 16 / Spring Recess / No class
Mar. 23 / Business Plan / Putting it all together. / Marketing Plan and Financial Analysis due.
Business Plan.
Mar. 30 / Leadership / Recruiting,
Performance evaluation,
Management. / Team exercise.
Apr. 6 / Strategic planning / Introduction to strategic planning.
Emerging trends in interactive media.
Apr. 13 / Business Plan presentations / In-class presentations and critique. / Business Plans due
Apr. 20 / Business Plan presentations (cont’d) / Complete in-class presentations and critique.
Course Summary. / Professional Interviews due.
Apr. 27 / Last Class / Final Exam
Instructor Bio:
John Hight – Director of Product Development, Sony Computer Entertainment of America.
In 1991, John built his first game, Battleship, for the Philips CDi player. Since that time he has worked on 32 games and 9 educational products on various platforms. He’s been fortunate to serve many different development roles: programmer, artist, designer, writer, producer, and studio executive. He has worked on both the development side and publishing side of the business. He’s listened to hundreds of concept pitches, negotiated many development deals, and managed dozens of projects.
As a studio director, John currently oversees two production teams and a full-time staff of 105 employees at Sony’s Santa Monica Studios. These teams are working on new products to follow-up their respective successes on God of War and Warhawk.
John spearheaded the PlayStation Network first party publishing effort, with pioneering games like BlastFactor – Sony’s first downloadable game and flOw – the first indie game published on PlayStation 3. flOw was the first game developed by thatgamecompany, a startup founded by former USC interactive media students.
Prior to joining Sony, John held management and creative positions with Atari, Electronic Arts, Westwood Studios, and 3DO. While Executive Producer at Atari, John brought Wizards of the Coast, BioWare, and Obsidian together to develop Neverwinter Nights 2. In his role as Executive Producer and Director of Design for Electronic Arts, John led the design and creative production of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, Yuri’s Revenge, and Nox.
John holds a B.S.E. in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico and an M.B.A. from U.S.C.’s Marshall School of Business. He is a past board member of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. John is the lead author of Game Development Essentials: Game Project Management; Hight, John & Novak, Jeannie; Thomson Delmar Learning, 2007.
The Business of Interactive Media
USC School of Cinema-Television, CTIN 558 1