Reelin' in the Years Wins FOCAL's "Library of the Year" Award

Reelin in the Years Productions was named "Library of the Year" at the 2020 FOCAL International Awards, which were held online on Thursday, October 22. We spoke with David Peck, president of RITY, about his win this year. Click here for a full list of this year's FOCAL Awards winners.

David Peck and Phil Galloway in the RITY Archives.

Footage.net: Congratulations on winning the Library of the Year Award. What does the award mean to you?

David Peck: I have been doing this work for decades, and it feels great to be recognized by my peers and a prestigious organization like FOCAL International. It’s an honor to be acknowledged for the work that I am so passionate about, especially our efforts in finding and preserving unique and historically significant footage collections. I am also proud to be in the company of the archives that have won in past years.

 FN: How did you get into the footage business?

DP: It’s a long story but to give you the really short version, it started out as a hobby when I was 18 years old (1984) and, over time, I became a researcher and eventually started to represent archives, and in recent years have started purchasing footage libraries. I will say that there’s always a part of me that still sees this a hobby, in the sense that whenever some new discovery comes in the door, I get excited in the same way I did when I first started, but now I also see the business side of it as well. I’m 54 years old and I don’t think I’ll ever lose that feeling. I imagine it’s how an archeologist feels when he or she discovers a relic of a lost civilization or a dinosaur bone. I appreciate that I’ve been able to make a living doing this for so long but I also know that I, as well as all of my peers in this business, are doing important work in preserving our shared history.

FN: What makes RITY different from other footage companies?

DP: There are lots of ways to build and develop an archive and a footage licensing business. Because my passion has always been music, my focus in the early years was on finding, preserving, cataloging and marketing music and performance related footage. As result, Reelin’ in the Years became known as one of the leading sources for this kind of content.  It wasn’t until we had the opportunity to represent the Merv Griffin Show archive in 2011 that we expanded our focus to include interviews with actors, politicians, sports figures and cultural icons. That said, I think it was our passion for music history that put us on the map and it’s what keeps us there now.

FN: How do you identify the collections you want to represent?

DP: As proud music and history geeks, we have the knowledge and experience to guide us toward rare and potentially undiscovered collections. We live and breathe this stuff, so for us, that part is easy. What’s challenging, is finding collections that are both unique and relevant, and make sense in the context of our current brand. Taking a new collection can be a huge commitment, given the time and money we typically invest in restoration and cataloging, so we really need to get it right. Fortunately, our sense of what works for the company has rarely been wrong.

FN: The bulk of your collection is still analog. How does this affect your business?

DP: The simple answer is it doesn’t. It’s not about the format it’s on, it’s about the content. We have all the equipment to digitize as needed, and have no interest in putting our collection on line. We want to deal directly with customers and make suggestions for footage that they might not have thought to ask for. I’ve directed and produced documentaries, so I have a good sense of how the shows are developed, and I love it when customers come to me to pick my brain, or to talk to the team, and we want the chance to show them what we have and understand what their footage needs really are. Sometimes our input is unsolicited, but to us, great customer service means helping our clients find both the footage they’ve asked for and suggesting footage they didn’t request but, in the end, really works for them.

FN: You have recently joined forces with White Horse Productions to produce programming from your archive. How is that going?

DP: It’s going amazing. We are involved in a lot of really unique projects that are in the early stages, which I can’t talk about just yet. But I’m really excited about my work with the White Horse Productions team on the recently completed feature doc on the Bee Gees, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, which will premiere on HBO on December 12.  It is the first time that I have received an Executive Producer credit on a film of this stature, and it’s a huge honor to have worked on a film directed by Frank Marshall, who is an absolute giant. Working closely with the White Horse team, I was heavily involved in guiding them in the direction of footage, not just in my archive, but from other archives as well, that I thought fit the scene, and gave advice on historical accuracy as each cut developed. In the documentary, there is an incredible amount of 8mm home movie footage from the Bee Gees own archive, and I know a lot about how these films should look when they are properly transferred. These particular films were transferred many years ago and when I saw them in an early cut of the film, I practically begged them to re-transfer them, which they did, and the results are night and day. While I’m incredibly honored that I got an Executive Producer credit, it was not something I asked for, but rather after seeing my contributions to this film, the team at White Horse felt that I’d earned it.

 FN: The footage industry has gotten a lot more competitive over the last decade. There’s been a great deal of consolidation, with major collections like ITN, BBC and now NBC News partnering with big providers like Getty Images. How do you, as an independent company, remain competitive in this changing landscape?

DP: Well, of course without the work we’ve done to build our collection, everything else would be moot. But ultimately, in my opinion, customer service is the key. When you deal with an independent archive like ours, as well as others like Historic Films, Global Image Works and others, you have direct access to decision makers and to the people with the deepest knowledge of their collections, so we are in the best place to guide our clients through the process and meet their needs in real time.

FN: Generally speaking, what does the future look like for independent archives?

DP: To be honest, I really don’t know. I have been surprised again and again by the endurance of the footage licensing industry, even in the face of a global crisis like the COVID pandemic. I would have thought that when COVID hit that business was going to tank. But I have been pleasantly surprised by the volume of new, creative projects that have launched over the last six months, and in talking with my colleagues in the industry they have all said the same thing. So again, while anything is clearly possible, I am very optimistic about the future of our business.

 FN: What’s next for you?

DP: Along with continuing to expand our footage collections, as well as our production work, we launched our music photo archive last year and now have 200,000 images available for licensing.

Now Streaming: 537 Votes

In the wee hours of the morning of November 8, 2000, after a long, tumultuous election night, the results of the presidential race in the key battleground state of Florida remained “too close to call,” and in the tense weeks that followed, the outcome of the contest between Al Gore and George Bush would come down to the ballot tally in a handful of Florida counties. 537 Votes, directed by Billy Corben and streaming now on HBO Max, weaves together the key elements that led to George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential victory in Florida, which ultimately handed him the presidency.

Florida’s Cuban-American community was incensed by Attorney General Janet Reno’s decision to return Elian Gonzalez, the five-year-old Cuban refugee who had been rescued at sea in November, 1999, to his father in Cuba. The ensuing protests, stoked in large part by Cuban talk radio in Miami, as well as the machinations of local politicians, including Alex Paneras, the 34-year-old mayor of Miami-Dade county and a rising star in the Democratic party, weakened support for Gore among this key constituency, and opened the door for a close race. But in the end, it was the bare-knuckled political maneuverings of the Republican party that slammed it shut, stopping the recount with thousands of ballots uncounted, and George W. Bush ahead by a mere 537 votes.

Screenocean Digitizing Unseen Reuters Los Angeles Collection

Pre-COVID, Screenocean began working extensively with the Reuters Los Angeles bureau to catalogue and digitize thousands of master tapes as part of an extensive new project. This comprehensive library of ‘rarely seen’ footage is a great look into the glitzy Hollywood life from the early 1990s to 2010s. Featuring exclusive interviews with stars from Kurt Cobain to George Clooney, Oscars arrivals and parties, blockbuster premieres, and general celebrity snapshots, there are currently 1,000 digitized records and more to be completed soon here.

This extensive project was undertaken following the success of putting together the  Reuters South Africa Collection. From daily life during Apartheid to Mandela's inauguration, other highlights include peace negotiations, political parties and figures, full interviews and footage from the neighboring countries of Congo, Angola, and Mozambique.

Screenocean’s close relationship with Reuters has now extended to representing Reuters Pictures.  Their incredible photographs can be licensed by Screenocean alongside their video content, which dates back to 1896.

In addition to Reuters, Screenocean’s news collections comprise footage shot by Bloomberg, PA, South China Post, ANI India and ORF Austria. They all provide comprehensive coverage of both current and historical events, available on Screenocean’s OneSearch platform. 

New content from the Iker San Martin collection features stunning high quality stock footage from across the globe. It can replace shooting on location which could be problematic for a while longer.

Red Skelton Show Clips Now Available at Historic Films

From 1951 to 1971, The Red Skelton Show was a television entertainment staple and an institution to a generation of viewers. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Comedian Richard “Red” Skelton had a successful career as radio and movie star and from the 1940s-80s was one of American’s most beloved comedic entertainers.

During its run, the program received three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award as the Best TV show (1959).

The show’s largely topical comedy sketches offered a comedic twist to such contemporary topics as the 1960s’ space program and race to the moon, , women’s rights, presidential politics and youth culture .

The show also presented a fabulous array of musical guests including The Rolling Stones ( in their FIRST US TV Show appearance), Diana Ross & The Supremes, John Wayne, Phyliss Diller, Lou Rawls, Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Simon & Garfunkel and many many more.

On behalf of Shout! Factory, Historic Films is proud to offer the exclusive clip rights to segments from this iconic American television program.

Newly Found Viet Nam Protest Footage at Producers Library

Yet another treasure from the film vaults of Producers Library can now be seen online. The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was the first nationwide movement in opposition to the Vietnam War and this newly found footage chronicles the sizable rally in San Francisco on November 15, 1969. The protest drew a quarter of a million people from diverse backgrounds wielding vibrant and often humorous signs in protest. In addition to this demonstration, footage of a later protest capturing 1971 San Francisco counterculture was found as well.

The vivid color of these historic events was captured on 16mm Kodachrome stock which has now been scanned at 2K resolution. With a total running time of over 45 minutes, the newly available footage joins Producers Library’s substantial collection of footage from the era.

For information on licensing, pricing and to view the clips, visit www.producerslibrary.com or contact them at research@producerslibrary.com, 818 752 9097

Travel the Planet with Cinerama at Global Imageworks

The wonderful world of Cinerama traveled all over the planet in the 1950s and captured the beauty and intrigue of the natural world.

The Cinerama films, originally shot with three 35mm cameras, are stitched together to create a mesmerizing wide-screen image. These films brought eye-popping color to the screen, showing parts of the world many had not even known existed.

Cinerama takes audiences on high-flying adventures to destinations like Paris, Venice, and Las Vegas like you've never seen them before. The films also feature large, elaborate musical acts including selections of ballet, classical music, opera, and New Orleans jazz clubs. After viewing just some of what Cinerama has to offer, it is impossible to not feel like a seasoned world traveler.

This immersive footage is available in HD (1080p) and will add incredible context to any production. This one of a kind collection is fully licensable through Global ImageWorks.

Bridgeman Now Representing Villon Film Archive

Founded by Peter Davis, Villon has been independently producing and distributing award-winning films since 1970. With a strong focus on socio-political documentary, the collection spans issues such as government, history, ecology, culture, health and science, biography, and the apartheid period of South African history, among others.

The South African material spans the period of the most intensive struggle for human rights in that country, and also includes historical footage dating from the beginning of the century. Among the documentaries held are Remember Mandela!, In Darkest Hollywood, White Laager and Generations of Resistance. While the UK footage features the seminal documentary Anatomy of Violence – Dialectics of Liberation and the Demystification of Violence (1967), a congress with RD Laing, Stokely Carmichael, Allen Ginsberg, Paul Goodman, Herbert Marcuse, John Gerassi and many others.

Bridgeman will be adding content from this globally and historically diverse collection over the coming months, and as it continues to grow they will be acquiring Peter Davis' photographic stills archive, which Bridgeman will also be representing.

FootageFest '20 Announces Lineup for Next Week's Online Conference

By popular demand, FootageFest returns this Monday for a week of free webinars, covering such compelling subjects as Fair Use, as well as the challenges of acquiring news, archival and user-generated content.  

This year's weeklong conference is being produced with the help of FootageFest's sister associations, FOCAL International, AMCUP, VRSC and ARA, the latter making its FootageFest debut.  Debuting in Los Angeles in 2018, FootageFest is an annual conference dedicated to the acquiring, licensing and archiving of third-party content, as well as celebrating its repurposing.  This year's partners --  AMCUP, FOCAL International, VRSC and the newly-formed ARA -- will all moderate and produce at least one event.  

FootageFest ’20 takes place the week of October 19th, and each day’s webinars will begin at 9 am PST and 5 pm London time – in order to attract attendees from both continents.

The Association of Media Content Users and Providers (AMCUP) will present a webinar on acquiring political news content, as well as an international fair use panel, the latter to be moderated by former Hulu Attorney Heather Bennett, Esq.  The panel will include copyright attorneys from around the world.

“FootageFest offers an amazing opportunity to meet colleagues from all over the world,” says Bennett, who serves on AMCUP’s board of directors, and has produced nearly a half-dozen standing-room-only legal panels for FootageFest and AMCUP.  Bennett adds that with so many members working remotely, their online conference is expecting a record turnout.    

AMCUP’s second webinar will be about acquiring political content, specifically famous campaign moments caught-on-tape, whether they be historically dramatic or just comedic. Titled “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail,” it will be moderated by Rich Remsberg, respected archive producer for Netflix’s four-part Bobby Kennedy for President, among his many credits. Remsberg will be joined by Getty Images’s Eric Simon and Fox Archive’s Brian Sargent. 

The Visual Researchers Society of Canada (VRSC) will present a viral video webinar, discussing the challenges of using UGC content, as well as the pros and cons in licensing from viral video agencies. The panel will be moderated by the VRSC’s Laura Blanet, and will feature Catch & Release Research Specialist Kate Lingley, as well as clip licensing vets Mike Wallis (Weather Channel) and Lale Arpaci, who is currently directing and producing YouTube Mega-Personality "MrBeast".

FOCAL International’s Mary Egan will be discussing the ins and outs of clearing U.K. content, specifically negotiating re-use fees with unions and guilds, as well as dealing with estates. The webinar will feature Helen Hogan from P.A.C.T., as well as UK-based Archive Producers Mark Tinkler and Paul Gardener. 

While AMCUP, FOCAL and VRSC have all co-sponsored previous conferences, the newly-formed Archival Researchers Association will be making their FootageFest debut.  ARA launched less than a year ago, and includes military and university researchers, as well as genealogists. 

“We are very excited to partner with ARA,” says Steve Kozak, who co-founded FootageFest with Lola Clips Proprietor Dominic Dare.  Kozak, who along with Dare founded AMCUP, calls ARA an association of  “real researchers who do real research,” also adding that AMCUP and ARA will be making a formal announcement at Monday’s launch event regarding the future of their organizations.  

ARA’s Steve Green will be moderating a panel on working with the National Archives, featuring Remsberg, as well as Historical Researchers Bonnie Rowan and Myra Miller.   

There is no formal cost to participate in this year’s FootageFest, however you must sign up for each panel you want to attend.  Please go to the schedule link at the FootageFest website and signup at the REGISTER HERE link located at the description text of each panel. 

See you at FootageFest ’20!

FOCAL Awards Set to Stream Thursday, October 22 at 7pm BST

The 17th annual FOCAL International Awards is set to stream on Thursday, October 22 at 7 pm BST. Hosted by comedian Patrick Kielty, the FOCAL International Awards celebrate the work, dedication, skill and foresight of archive professionals, restorationists, preservationists and researchers. While we'll miss the in-person festivities this year, we’re looking forward to an exciting virtual event, and wish the best of luck to all of this year’s nominees. Please click here for more information on the 2020 FOCAL Awards, and make sure to mark your calendars for October 22.

The FOCAL International Awards ceremony is open to the public this year, and will be streamed from FOCAL’s Vimeo channel.

Getty Images Now Repping NBC News Archives

Getty Images announced earlier this month a multi-year partnership with NBCU News Group to exclusively license its news archive collection, one of the world’s largest broadcast libraries. The agreement will see hundreds of thousands of hours of footage spanning more than 75 years of news coverage made available through Getty Images’ global platform and international sales team. Getty has created a specific NBC News collection to house the iconic archive, which consists of digitized and ready-to-license video clips, as well as a sizeable number of offline clips that will be text searchable from gettyimages.com and supplied on demand via an offline workflow. The collection will be updated weekly, with agenda-setting news footage made available to Getty Images’ international customer base.

Chicago 7 Protest Footage at WPA Film Library

In conjunction with Netflix's release of The Trial of the Chicago 7, WPA Film Library is highlighting protest footage relating to the trial's subsequent legal battles surrounding the right of citizens to protest against their government. 

In addition, WPA Film Library is also debuting the release of several newly cataloged clips from their WETA collection, digitized and viewable in their growing online library.

Newly Digitized Clips from the WPA Film Library’s WETA Collection:
491552 Wattenberg At Large: “Waterways” 
491551 Wattenberg At Large: “Waterways” 
491550 Wattenberg At Large: “Waterways” 
546092 Voting Rights Act Extension 
546080 Henry Kissinger Photo Op 
546089 Department of the Interior 
546081 East Los Angeles Interviews 
546082 Hall of Columns 
546091 Electoral College, 1981 
546085 U.S. Hispanic Caucus 

Please contact sales@wpafilmlibrary.com for more information. 

Subscribe to the WPA Film Library’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/wpafilmlibrary.

GIW Covers the Political Scene

Global Imageworks' political collection spans five decades, covering a wide range of major historical events, pivotal interviews and iconic speeches. Their archive contains footage and photos of the Civil Rights Movement and school segregation from the 1950s, the anti-war protests of the 1960s, the groundbreaking Dick Cavett political interviews from the 1970s and coverage of the 1980s Reagan Presidency.

Their modern election and political footage includes Joe Biden speaking at the Iowa State Fair in 2008 before he became Barack Obama's Vice Presidential running mate. GIW has incomparable coverage of presidential candidate Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail. This unique footage comes from the award winning film, By The People - The Election of Barack Obama.  

Engage with GIW’s 1992 election collection of Bill Clinton campaign footage featuring speeches, events, interviews, and some special footage of a young Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

UNT's Morgan Gieringer to Speak at IASA/FIAT Joint Annual Meeting

NBC 5/KXAS-TV in-studio monitor shot, 1973

Morgan Gieringer, Head of Special Collections at the University of North Texas, will be presenting a paper at the upcoming joint annual meeting of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) and the International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA) on UNT’s partnership with the oldest television news station in Texas, and their work to preserve over 60 years of film, video, broadcast scripts and other related materials.

The IASA has joined forces this year with IFTA/FIAT to present a joint annual meeting on October 26-29, 2020. The conference program includes a combination of keynote lectures, papers, and workshops. Speakers include representatives of national archives, national broadcasters, and universities around the world. More information about the program and registration may be found online:http://www.fiat-iasa-2020.org/ 

Through UNT’s unique custodial partnership with NBC 5/KXAS-TV, all digitized materials are freely available to view or stream on-line. Additionally, UNT also serves as the licensing agent for the news archive. Working with producers for a variety of outlets including PBS, ESPN, HBO and Netflix. Revenues collected from licensing are applied directly to collection digitization costs. This briefing will provide an overview of the partnership between the university library and the news station, and will describe the growing marketplace for archival media content fueled by demand for original programming from streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. It will also provide an overview of the challenges faced by an academic institution acting as licensing agent. 

Gieringer will also discuss the ways the UNT television news archive has adapted and continued operations during COVID-19. Gieringer will be available for Q&A after the paper presentation. 

FootageFest ‘20 Goes Virtual

Although the organizers of FootageFest '20 cancelled their Fall conference in Los Angeles earlier this year, the success of their recent webinars has proven that a virtual conference will be heavily attended.  AMCUP -- the trade organization that created FootageFest three years ago -- has produced a half-dozen webinars over the COVID lockdown, covering such popular topics as licensing viral videos and acquiring news content, highlighted by none other than one of Heather Bennett's amazing legal panels -- all of which have had an average of 100-120 viewers!  

FootageFest '20 will be streaming during the week of October 12th -- and will be absolutely free to view and participate in nearly 20 webinars and virtual events.  Produced by Founders Steven Kozak and Dominic Dare, this is just a sample of the eclectic panels:

• Acquiring Famous Political Moments in History

• International Fair Use Panel, featuring attorneys from Canada, Mexico, US and the UK

• Acquiring and Using Celebrity Content

• Tools and Short Cuts for Researching Documentaries

• Licensing Content to Film & TV Studios

Stay tuned at www.footagefest.com for more panel announcements, rare speakers -- and international partners and sponsors that will make this week the must-view event of the year. 

Bridgeman Now Representing the A/V Geeks Archive

Bridgeman is proud to collaborate with A/V Geeks LLC on a new representation. The film archive has one of the foremost private collections in the US, comprising over 25,000 16mm films from individual collectors, home movie collections, historical and regional archives. A/V Geeks has been collecting, screening and digitizing films for over 30 years. They have provided footage for film and video productions, music videos, documentaries, feature films, comedy shorts and new educational works, and now Bridgeman has access to content from across their 130,000 strong clip database to share with their clients.

Clips and footage spanning the 20th Century across the globe covers themes as broad as the World At War, the development of television, architecture, and aviation to glimpses of homelife, worklife, social life, and the industrial practices of plumbing, printing, and nuclear power.

The Best of Rock Photography at GIW

Henry Diltz

In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Southern California hosted a renaissance-style music scene that was as exciting then as it is influential today. Henry Diltz was a full-fledged and willing participant in this scene. As a founding member of The Modern Folk Quartet, Henry’s roots as a musician coupled with his agreeable demeanor allowed him to capture images of his musician friends that convey a rare feeling of trust and intimacy. 

Click here to view photos from Henry Diltz.

Amalie R. Rothschild

From 1968 to 1974 Amalie R. Rothschild was a freelance photographer in New York City specializing in music photography. She was also active with the Joshua Light Show and was the unofficial house photographer at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East Theater.

Amalie was on staff at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and photographed the 1969 Newport Festival, Cannes Film Festival 1967, Tanglewood 1969 and 1970, The Who’s 1969 US premier of Tommy, the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden, the Isle of Wight Festival 1969, Bob Dylan’s 1974 tour and many other music events.  

Click here to see photos from Amalie R. Rothschild.

Jason Laure

Photographer Jason Laure extensively documented the atmosphere and performances at Woodstock. Photos include just about every popular music artist of the time including The Who, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin. Woodstock achieved iconic status immediately; there had never been anything similar attempted on that scale. It’s highly unusual to find any unseen images from those three magical days. But GIW did.

Click here to see photos from Jason Laure.

Jim Prue

Starting in the late 1970s, Jim Prue photographed nearly every musical artist and group that came through the Toronto area up until the late 1980s.

His photos cover rock & roll, disco, punk as well as blues and jazz artists ranging from legendary acts like "Santana" and “Bo Diddley” to up-and-coming independent artists in the Toronto music scene. All photos were shot on film and include tickets, press passes, and other exciting memorabilia.  GIW is still in process of scanning and ingesting this outstanding collection. 

Click here to see photos from Jim Prue.

Imperial War Museums Reopens to Public

Ai Weiwei’s History of Bombs

Imperial War Museums has opened it’s doors again after three months of closure due to the pandemic. Visitors returning to IWM London are welcomed back by a brand new addition to the museum’s iconic Atrium – a commission from the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, titled History of Bombs.

The IWM licensing team are continuing to work remotely and available to deal with film, image and sound requests. 

Many items in the IWM collections are accessible for commercial projects via IWM Collections and IWM Film. Register/login to access the full functionality of their dedicated film website including free time-coded screeners and clipping.

Contact IWM for licensing enquiries and expert advice, including our vast archive offline. Every licence supports IWM, a not-for-profit charity.

Reelin’ In The Years Photo Archive Signs Deal to Represent the Music Photography of Gered Mankowitz

Reelin’ In The Years Photo Archive has signed a deal to represent the music photography of Gered Mankowitz, who since 1963 has taken some of rock music's most iconic images. Gered’s work has appeared in documentaries, museums, art galleries, books, magazines and on nearly 500 album covers from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Rolling Stones- Out Of Our Head (UK)/December's Children (US) Album Cover 1965

The team at RITY has admired Gered’s images for many years and is truly an honored to rep his music stills, which have been viewed and loved by millions across the globe. When asked why he chose Reelin’ In The Years Photo Archive to handle his incredible body of work, he replied, “In these days of monolithic corporations it is a joy to be working with such a passionate and knowledgeable person as David Peck and his team at Reelin’ In The Years Photo Archive.”

Gered established his first studio in Mason’s Yard in 1963, in what was to become the very heart of 60s swinging London. In 1963, Gered met and photographed the singing duo Chad and Jeremy, and one of these photos was used as the cover of the duo’s first album, Yesterday’s Gone. He began to work with a new generation of producers like John Barry, Shel Talmy and Chris Blackwell, photographing artists who were of his own age group and who felt at ease with him in a way that had not been possible with other photographers. 

Within a few months Gered had already begun to make a name for himself, and he was approached to photograph Marianne Faithfull, who had just had a big hit with “As Tears Go By”. Working closely with Marianne he got to know her manager and producer Andrew Loog Oldham.  In early 1965, Oldham asked him to photograph the Rolling Stones, who he also managed and produced. This was a major turning point in Gered’s career, because from this first session came the cover for Out of Our Heads (U.S. title December’s Children), and as a result he was asked by the Stones to go to America with them on their record breaking 1965 autumn tour.  During this nine week (36 city) tour of the U.S., Gered photographed the Rolling Stones on stage and off. He continued working with the Stones as their ‘official’ photographer, producing photos for albums (Between the Buttons;  Got Live If You Want It;  Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass); and several others), press and publicity, taken at home, in the recording studio, on stage and behind the scenes until 1967, when the band broke off with their manager, Oldham, by which time Gered was established as one of London’s leading music photographers. 

Early in 1967 (a few months before Jimi Hendrix took the world by storm at The Monterey Pop Festival), Gered worked with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, producing, during two sessions at his Mason’s Yard studio, images of Jimi that would go on to become some of the most iconic and widely known portraits of the great musician.

Through the 60’s, Gered photographed many other major music artists, including  Free, Traffic, The Yardbirds, The Small Faces and Soft Machine.  Because of the quality of his work, Gered’s skills were in such demand that during the 1970s thru 1980s he took portrait shots and album covers of artists such as George Harrison, Elton John, The Jam, Slade, Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Kate Bush, Generation X, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Genesis  and many others.
 
In 1982, Gered had a major exhibition of his work at London’s famous Photographers’ Gallery.  This was seen by over 16,000 people, a record for the gallery at the time, and it then toured the U.K. for over 2 years. This exhibition was the first in the U.K. to focus on the world of music and was a pathfinder in this genre. In 1984, a book based on this exhibition, called “Hit Parade,” was published in the U.K. and U.S.A.  Also in 1984, a book of Gered’s Rolling Stones photographs, Satisfaction, was published. Both books were very well received, and as a result the growing interest in the Gered Mankowitz archive began.

Over the past 50 plus years, Gered has continued to work in the music business as well as contributing to many leading magazines and also taking prize-winning images for the advertising industry. 

The Reelin’ In The Years Photo Archive, which focuses exclusively on licensing images of music artists, includes over 200,000 photos from the 1930s to today. The archive features unique images of artists ranging from Elvis Presley to The Sex Pistols, The Beatles to Beyonce, Muddy Waters to Bob Marley, and everything in between.   
 
The RITY Photo Archive includes the work of many legendary photographers, such as Michael Zagaris, Janet Macoska, Tom Gundelfinger O’Neal, Patrick Harbron, Richard E. Aaron, Eric Hayes, Robert Alford and Eddie Wolfl, as well some truly remarkable private archives, all of which contain both and iconic and unseen images of musical artists spanning the last ninety years. In addition to the well-known photographers, RITY has sought out lesser-known artists who also took powerful images that capture unique moments from music history. RITY is also proud to represent the photo archives of legendary rock artists such as The Doors & Janis Joplin. 

The RITY Photo website features a fully searchable database and currently contains 25,000 images, which are all fully metatagged, mining all available detail, including date, location and venue. 
 
With RITY’s extensive knowledge of music history and their massive archive of over 30,000 hours of music footage spanning  90 years, The Reelin’ In The Years Footage & Photo archive is a one-stop shop for moving & still images of music’s greatest artists. 

If you are a photographer who has taken images of musical artists and you would like a place where your work is honored and appreciated, please contact RITY to discuss possible representation. 

The Reelin’ In The Years Photo Archive site can be accessed directly at www.photos.reelinintheyears.com, or through RITY’s main site, www.reelinintheyears.com

Case Study: Bernie Blackout, a Fast Turnaround Documentary for Vice

Peter Hamilton takes a deep dive into the fast-track production of Bernie Blackout: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, in a detailed case study on his site Documentarytelevision.com, and in a podcast interview with the film’s director Pat McGee, who set out at the end of 2019 to investigate whether the Sanders campaign was being “sabotaged by corporate media bias and the mainstream press.” It’s a fascinating look at the process of bringing a timely program to air in just a few short months, with the added obstacle of the COVID-19 lockdown on post-production work.

Bernie Blackout is “really about two stories,” McGee says in the podcast. “One story was about the supporters and the people that were supporting him. And the other was the investigative look into the corporate media’s and mainstream press’s take on Bernie Sanders.”

McGee juxtaposes footage he and his team shot on the campaign trail between January 31 and March 11 with coverage of the Sanders campaign from CNN, MSNBC and other mainstream media outlets, most of which was fair-used, to show the contrast between the “electric” energy and emotion of the Sanders campaign and the negative tone of much of the mainstream media coverage.

“We’re on the campaign trail and we’re capturing this visceral, this emotive experience of all these people supporting Bernie Sanders,” McGee says in the interview. “But at the end of the day, there’s this other narrative, and that narrative is what’s going on in the media. One thing we really wanted to tap into was that experience and the emotion that was in these campaign rallies. And that was something that you never really saw on the news.”

Click here to read Peter’s full case study, and here to listen to his interview with director Pat McGee.

Screenocean Announces New Rep Deals

Screenocean is now representing three new collections: PA Media, SW Pictures and the South China Morning Post. 

PA Media, the UK's leading provider of multimedia content and services, delivers newsroom-ready stories from across the country. Producing up to 100 videos a day from a team of skilled journalists, PA cover diversified topics within the news agenda to provide high quality content at speed to their wide and varying international customer base. The digitised archive dates back to 2008 and the comprehensive library includes coverage of the biggest political, royal, and sporting events throughout the years.

SWPictures have produced provocative and original films for more than 30-years. At the heart of the company is a central journalistic ethic. After years of reporting from war zones and producing independent docs, company founder Scott White teamed up with leading film-makers to produce bespoke observational and investigative docs for broadcasters on the burning issues of the day.

Screenocean will represent South China Morning Post; a comprehensive collection of SCMP’s content that includes thousand hours of video footage, infographics, more than 1.2 million photos and archive media.
Covering Covid-19, Hong Kong Protests, as well as archived events such as Tiananmen Square, the Hong Kong Handover, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, President Nixon’s first visit to China and the end of Qing Dynasty to name a few. Read more here.