Greetings from Amsterdam, the land of tulips, coffee houses and a very cool film fest called Cinekid that KS editor Jocelyn Christie is checking out for the first time.

In addition to a pretty comprehensive screening list of European children’s fare, Cinekid is building value for its professional attendees this year with a seminar lineup that’s got me really excited.

This morning kicked off with a master class on cross-media IP development, at which Ijsfontein Interactive Media’s Jan-Willem Huisman succinctly laid out the four different kinds of cross-media properties, from simple to complex. At the bottom of the food chain is Cross Media 1.0, which features almost the same content dispersed onto multiple platforms. One step up is a 2.0 model that features different kinds of content playing out on different platforms, but not in a connected way. 3.0 sees one storyline delivered on multiple platforms, but differs in that users need to access all the platforms to have the whole experience. And finally, 4.0, the Holy Grail of cross-platform creation, depends on non-linear stories that are partially or wholly directed by the audience using all the delivery platforms involved in the experience.

The master class wrapped up with seven rapid-fire cross-media pitches, and I was quite impressed by the quality of creative and depth of planning these projects showed. I’ll share some more details on my favorites later on today, so make sure to check back at www.kidscreen.com for more.

I’m off now to learn all I can about creating modern heroes in children’s scriptwriting, featuring the creators/writers/directors of Avatar. More on that later on, too.

-joce