Now Streaming: We Work - Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn

Throughout the new documentary WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, streaming now on Hulu, we witness scene after scene of WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann in his element: standing before a rapt crowd, microphone in hand, proclaiming his vision of community, collaboration and the world-changing power of “We.” Part brash entrepreneur, part hard partying frat boy, part New Age shaman, he is unquestionably a compelling presence. Brimming with drive, ambition and a seemingly infinite supply of confidence, he never wavers from his message. WeWork was, in his telling, neither a real estate company nor a co-working space. It was a community of creators working together to build the future of work and change the world. And, as the story unfolds, we see how he leveraged his powers of persuasion to build the WeWork myth, inspire employees to work around the clock, pull in billions of dollars of venture capital and achieve, by 2019, a mind-boggling $47 billion valuation. That it all came crashing down to earth seems, in hindsight, inevitable.

Directed by Jed Rothstein, WeWork provides an unvarnished portrait of Neumann and the world he created around himself. Founded by Neumann and Miguel McKelvy in 2010 just as the global economy was emerging from the Great Recession, WeWork was an instant hit with Millennials looking for slick co-working space and a sense of belonging. Neumann and McKelvy created an aura of cool around the company and its rapidly expanding network of office spaces, becoming a kind of club for urban nomads, gig workers and aspiring entrepreneurs. As one former WeWork tenant says in the film, “If you wanted your tech start-up to be successful you started it at WeWork.”

“WeWork embodied an optimism and this Millennial excitement about how to work and how to do things together, to do things flexibly and rebel against the office culture set by the 80s and 90s,” says Alex Konrad, senior editor of Forbes, in the film. “It was almost like somehow being a member of a club, beyond just where your office building was.”

It was also a clever way to exploit the surplus office space left fallow by the Great Recession. WeWork was “taking these distressed buildings and flipping them in a new way. That was an insight that no one else had. And they were validated by the smartest people in real estate,” says Alex Konrad in the film.

From the very beginning, WeWork appealed to investors on the hunt for the next generation of business innovators. They wanted to get in early on the next round of Unicorns, defined as companies valued at over $1 billion.

As Derek Thompson, a reporter at the Atlantic, says in the film, “after 2008, 2009, you had this really interesting period in US economics, where the economy itself was in recession and we’re looking for some way to get out of it, we’re looking for hope. And hope was found in technology. And people were like, ‘that’s the future, tech is the future, it’s going to be the lifeline that pulls us out of these doldrums.’ And at the time you had a lot of tech boosterism and techno optimism. The idea was not just that these companies were going to become valuable, but that they represented something really fundamental and beautiful about the future of human civilization. It was a period where you were rewarded if you could articulate a vision of your company that wasn’t just going to make money. It was going to change the world.”

And few business leaders were as articulate as Adam Neumann. He was, by all accounts, a gifted salesman and much of WeWork’s rise was driven by his energy and charisma. He not only convinced people that WeWork was a tech company (which it wasn’t) and should be valued as such, but that it was at the vanguard of a cultural shift in how people would work, connect, create and live. The “We Generation” was emerging and he was at the forefront.

“The world has shifted,” Neumann says in the film. “It used to be an I world, right? iPhone, iMac. All about me, me, me. If you take the word me and you flip it and you get the ‘we.’ You understand that we’re about to change the way people work and the way people live. But more importantly, change the world.”

It was heady, lofty stuff, and a lot of people bought into his vision, including an army of zealous Millennial employees and many of the top people in New York real estate and investment banking. By 2013, WeWork had achieved a valuation of $1 billion and was expanding at breakneck speed across the globe.

And while VC money continued to pour in and WeWork’s valuations continued to soar over the intervening years, the real turning point came in 2017, when Masayoshi Son, the head of Softbank, invested $4.4 billion into WeWork and told Neumann that he needed to think bigger and be crazier. By 2019, WeWork was valued at $47 billion.

The problem was that the fundamentals never really worked. WeWork was being treated by investors as a tech company, but it really wasn’t. And while Neumann continued to insist that WeWork was “the world’s first physical social network,” at the end of the day, it was primarily a desk rental company, and its prospects for sustained growth and profitability were limited.

By the end of 2018, Softbank had cooled on WeWork’s growth potential. Masayoshi Son pulled out of a key financing round, withdrawing a much needed $20 billion cash infusion, and soon after all the problems with WeWork’s business model, chaotic management practices and dubious finances became clear to the world. With nowhere else to turn to meet its need for additional capital, WeWork scrambled throughout 2019 to pull together an IPO, a process beset with problems from the start, including Neumann’s erratic behavior. Their S1 filing became an object of mockery. As Scott Galloway says in the film, it read like a “novel written by someone who was shrooming.” Soon after, the IPO was scrapped and Neumann stepped down as CEO, taking a huge severance package on his way out the door. The “We Generation” was not to be.

Ultimately, the film raises crucial questions about both the business world and the larger culture, many of which will probably remain unanswered. Was there ever anything truly innovative about WeWork’s business model or was it all just smoke and mirrors? Why did so many smart investors give Neumann so much money? How are valuations calculated and how could anyone have ever thought that WeWork was worth $47 billion? Did Adam Neumann believe what he was saying about the power of community, or was it a cynical marketing strategy? And, finally, what does it say about us that we thought a true community could be found at a co-working space?

Getting Into Footage: Finding a Representative for Your Footage Collection

For footage owners looking to generate revenue from their collections, engaging an existing footage company to represent their content can be a smart option. Established footage companies have the infrastructure, industry knowledge and customer relationships in place to optimize the commercial potential of a wide variety of footage collections. But with hundreds of footage companies spread out across the globe, finding the right one to represent your particular collection can be a daunting task. With that in mind, we’ve assembled a set of eleven basic factors to consider as you work through the process of finding a footage rep that meets your needs.  

This article is the second in our series, Getting into Footage. We published the first article in the series, “Getting into the Footage Business: Ten Questions to Get You Started,” in December 2020. It was in essence a checklist of preliminary steps and considerations for footage owners who are thinking about licensing their footage, focused mainly on determining the commercial potential of a footage collection.

This article includes input from eight of our Footage.net partners, including: Jessica Berman Bogdan, President and CEO at Global ImageWorks; Chris Bridson, Senior Account Executive at Conus Archive; Lucy Churchill, Sales & Marketing Executive at Screen Ocean; Scott Dittrich, Owner, Action Sports; Ben Jones, Head of Motion at Science Photo Library; Joe Marrone, Sales Manager at Nimia; Ian Marshall, Owner, Retro Video, Inc.; and Sandrine Sacarrere, Head of International Sales at INA.  

1. Overall Reputation

As you work through the search process, look for agencies with a good overall reputation in the industry and a strong track record. The footage industry is still a fairly small, collegial community, so don’t hesitate to ask for references and talking to footage researchers and other production professionals to find out more about a potential rep. Though reputation and age are not the same thing, years in business can be a good indicator of staying power.

2. Content Specialization

If your collection fits into a specialist category, such as archival pop-culture or wildlife cinematography, then it makes sense to give strong consideration to companies that specialize in your content category and are known for carrying the kind of footage you have in your collection.  

“A demonstrable history of licensing similar relevant footage is important, as is an interest in the subject matter,” says Ben Jones of Science Photo Library. “Different companies have different specialties. Asking good questions about the collection and giving honest answers to your questions is also a good sign.”  

Working with a content specialist can be advantageous for several key reasons. Different footage categories can have different licensing and pricing practices, and the client base for one type of footage can be very different from another. If a rep is already getting calls for footage that is similar to yours, chances are they will be able to get your footage in front of customers more frequently.  

“I would recommend that they do go with a company that specializes in their category to some degree,” said Ian Marshall of Retro Video. “When we get too far outside of our realm of specialty it becomes a new world - the people you deal with, the pricing structures, the digital specs, etc. When we have taken on a few of these libraries too far outside of the entertainment fray they tend to just sit and gather dust and that’s a shame for everybody. It helps that we are excited and interested in the footage we handle. We love this vintage music and pop culture stuff.” 

“The collection will certainly be sold more easily because the reps already have targeted customers and are therefore known for the content they license,” says Sandrine Sacarrere, Head of International Sales at INA.

On the other hand, a potential downside to placing your collection with a specialist is that they may already have an over-supply of similar footage, and “you can end up competing with other suppliers in the library,” said Scott Dittrich of Action Sports.  

As Jessica Berman Bogdan, President and CEO of Global ImageWorkds points out, “it really depends on the owners content. There is an advantage to specialist libraries because if someone is looking for particular content they might first go to the specialist.  However, it is also quite possible the footage can get lost in a specialist library with an overabundance of the same type of footage.”

“With the easiness of posting material online, not sure you would need a specialized archive to rep your footage,” said Chris Bridson of Conus Archive. “If your footage is unique and stands out within a particular archive, it would seem to your advantage.”

3. Incoming Business and Customer Service

Though footage companies do a considerable amount of outreach and marketing to build their name recognition and develop client relationships, many if not most sales begin with an incoming client inquiry for a specific project, so the potential rep’s incoming traffic is a critical factor, as is their ability to work proactively with incoming clients. Often, this is where the most effective development work gets done, as thoughtful, knowledgeable agents guide active clients through their collections and suggest content options that the customer may not have known to request.  

“It is definitely important to learn about the sales process and get some information about the current client base in order to consider if this is the best representation for your collection,” says Lucy Churchill, Sales & Marketing Executive at Screenocean. “A rep should demonstrate that they have a smooth, established sales process and that they have sufficient, relevant clients for your material to be of interest.” 

“It’s a question we get asked a lot by the owners of collections – what are your main client groups, what revenue can I expect, what marketing will you do to promote it?” said Ben Jones. “While we don’t give exhaustive answers in terms of individual licenses, we can give examples of recent licenses to specific client types, eg TV documentaries, and discuss average fees, how we approach them, how they approach us, etc. We can show them examples of recent marketing and discuss future plans, and detail the events at which their material could be showcased.” 

“Ask questions. It is important for an owner to engage in conversation and ask questions to make sure there is a good fit,” said Jessica Berman Bogdan. “Certainly, an owner needs to understand how the rep plans on marketing their footage and who is their general client base”

4. Online Capabilities

The internet has become an increasingly important channel for footage research, sales and marketing, so understanding a company’s online capabilities is essential. Can they host your clips? Do they have ecommerce functionality? Do you want your clips online? And if a company does not maintain a publicly-facing, searchable website, how do they employ digital storage, search and retrieval technology and the internet to manage their collections and deliver preview clips and final orders? 

“In this day and age, the quality and functionality of the online experience is key – researchers want an easy user journey from start to finish, and can be put off by outdated or confusing interfaces,” said Lucy Churchill. “Additional features such as search filters, downloading screeners and purchasing clips online are a huge bonus.”  

“We at Global ImageWorks have spent an enormous amount of time, money and thought in the marketing and development of our website and we are always improving it,” said Jessica Berman Bogdan. “An owner should be concerned that if someone is looking for their footage it can be found and viewed.  As the digital world has created the need for immediate gratification, it is important to be able to see the footage quickly either from a clip online or to be able to access a digital screener quickly from offline content.” 

“I think that the quality of the rep's website is a crucial point because the website is a showcase for the collection to all the clients/prospects,” says Sandrine Sacarrere. “Furthermore, clients are now more and more in a hurry to license footage, they want to view the footage online, download the low-res clips for their editing, have the clean footage very quickly, sometimes within the day. The 'old-fashioned' way for licensing clips is out of date.” 

“We create screeners to add to our online database hosted by Footage.net,” said Chris Bridson, Senior Account Executive at Conus Archive.  “Having the ability for clients to search, view and download screeners 24/7 is a competitive advantage.” 

That said, the lack of a full-service website is not necessarily a red-flag, as some footage companies, for a variety of reasons, have opted not to upload their content to a public-facing site. However, for those that do not have all their data and clips online, it’s important to understand their online workflow and capabilities.  

“Publicly hosted footage on-line is not the priority for us and is legally complex for footage comprising third party IP. But the quick turnaround of digitized, clearly labelled low-res screener files from a NAS or secure cloud storage account is the vital lifeblood of the clip business today,” said Ian Marshall. “With our huge inventory we have to hustle to keep everything online, but at Retro we have the ability to turn an ‘a la carte’ archival analog to digital request around in minutes, unlike most companies. We’re set up for that. We can digitally ingest up to 24-hours of analog video in a single real-time work hour with our current system and one employee in the file format of the moment. It’s a huge advantage.”

5. Location

The internet has made it possible to operate a footage company remotely from almost anywhere in the world. That said, not everything can be done online and there is still arguably an advantage to being based in a major production center like New York, Los Angeles, Paris or London. While some of this may be about perception, it can still matter.  

“A lot of work still happens face to face, or did anyway, and hopefully will again,” said Ben Jones. “While websites can be global, there’s no denying it’s easier to meet clients and business partners when located in a regional hub like London or LA. If the collection has a regional slant to it, I’d say it would be even more important, but even for generic clips, being close to the clients can help. It’s certainly a factor to look for.”

“I think if you’re not in a big production city like those you mention it’s a red flag,” said Ian Marshall. “Location is very important to get things done quickly and efficiently and for networking.”

And if you are looking to expand into new a territory, especially in a foreign country, finding a rep based in that area is crucial. They will operate in the local time zone, speak the language and have a much better sense of the local production environment and pricing practices.

“It is possible to have a salesforce from one single area,” said Sandrine Sacarrere. “However, having an on-ground presence in particular areas can help clients’ trust in a rep, particularly when this last one is based in a foreign country. This 'on-ground' presence is critical for targeting clients who would certainly not have the idea of contacting the foreign rep, mainly because they do not know them. The language barrier may be something that they could be afraid of, as well as the preconceived idea of a complicated sales process.”

“We feel that regionality is crucial for building close client connections, as well as handling requests in a timely manner,” said Lucy Churchill. “Screenocean has dedicated regional business development managers.”

“Regional presence is very important as each market is different – owners should look for reps who have global distribution,” said Joe Marrone, Sales Manager at Nimia.

6. Promotion

Will the agent actively highlight and promote your collection and, if so, how? Again, as mentioned previously, while most actual sales originate with an incoming inquiry, active marketing is a factor in that it builds awareness and visibility for both the rep and for your content. So, it is worth asking about, and it can be good way to ascertain whether your footage will be a key part of their inventory or a “nice to have” addition.

Looking for companies that will actively promote your collection is “totally reasonable, yes, but this depends on the size and scope of the collection to some extent, as well as the number of new collections being promoted in a given period,” said Ben Jones. “I think it’s absolutely right to expect promo work for a standout, unique collection, but smaller, less specialist or more common footage would probably be further down the priority list, particularly if the agency takes on new collections a lot.”

“Global ImageWorks always offers dedicated promotion for our exclusive and premium collections,” says Jessica Berman Bodgdan. “However, it is absolutely reasonable for an owner to expect a rep to promote and market any collection that they find worthy of taking on. However, collections are sometimes more effectively promoted by theme or genre rather than as an individual collection, especially when it is non-exclusive.”

For companies that have taken a strategic decision not to engage in active marketing of newly acquired collections, it is good to get a sense of their rationale. For example, they may believe that their resources are better spent on other areas of customer development.

“Specific advertising of individual libraries has never impacted our sales significantly enough to look at as being a chief concern let alone even viable,” said Ian Marshall. “Customer relations, project brainstorming, providing useful information and free digital screeners, negotiating prices, tackling legal issues, quick turnaround across the board and good meta data… These are the areas worth spending time and energy on.” 

7. Understand What the Rep Looking For

This process is a two-way street. Just as you will want to know whether the agent is the right fit for you and your collection, they will want to know whether your collection is the right fit for their current inventory and business model, what the demand for your footage actually is and whether both parties are aligned in their expectations. A well-established historical archive will most likely want to add more historical/archival footage to their collection, given that this is their niche and area of expertise. A collection of 4K wildlife footage, however wonderful it may be, may not be of interest to them.

“For us at Global ImageWorks, we look for collections with unique content or one that helps to broaden and deepen the scope of our already existing collections,” said Jessica Berman Bogdan. “Any collection that comes with logs and metadata is very attractive. Depending on the content, it is often a plus if there is a possibility of 4K, film or HD masters.”

“Retro Video is primarily interested in pop culture related footage- music performance, interviews, comedy and b-roll that has some connection or other to entertainment,” said Ian Marshall. “This would include footage related to movies, TV, music, fashion, fads, dancing, art and design, clubs, underground scenes/subcultures, vintage footage of cities and the neighborhoods from which the stars and music scenes emerged and that sort of thing. This is our center of gravity at Retro.”

“For a collection to really catch my eye, it would ideally be on-topic for our library, offered exclusively, contain unique or hard-to-replicate footage, be digitized and well catalogued with locations, dates and background information and be free of restrictions and third-party rights issues,” said Ben Jones.

“When looking at a collection for a potential rep deal, we first want to know if we will be the exclusive rep and then determine how unique the imagery is and if there is accurate supporting data to go with what is being pitched,” said Chris Bridson. “It can take a lot of work to create scripts and screeners so having a collection that helps make this process easier is more attractive.”

“We’d like for it to fill a need but we take any amazing footage which we believe has great sales potential and can potentially bring in new clients,” said Joe Marrone.

“We have different criteria to determine whether a new collection is relevant,” said Sandrine Sacarrere. “Is this new collection different from ours (do we have similar footage or not)? Is this collection unique, or can it be found somewhere else? The owners’ name (their 'brand'), for instance: Sports Federations/organizations, well-known institutes/corporations. The high quality of the footage and the commercial sales potential (crucial issue)”

Assuming that the content categories are a match, reps will then, based on their years of experience and knowledge of the market, try to determine whether there is any real demand for the footage.

“Evaluating the potential return on investment for a collection is a notoriously tricky process,” said Ben Jones. “Some things we do include comparing it to the last few years’ performances of similar collections, if any exist. We also see if it matches common requests or types of request received from clients and through industry portals. The size of a collection is proportionate to the cost of ingest and storage, and its range and depth of subjects is proportionate to its potential sales. I’ve got graphs and histories and years of data, but there is still an element of chance.”

 “Having entered into rep deals many, many times over the decades we have developed an intuition for this process,” said Ian Marshall. “Sometimes we get ourselves into representation scenarios that are less profitable because the footage is so great and interesting and because we feel it will ripen.”

“First of all, we ask our sales teams what they think of this new collection (we usually ask for some trailers, video samples), if they consider it might be of some interest to their clients/prospects, if the commercial sales potential might be important or not,” said Sandrine Sacarrere. “Secondly, as a general process, we draw up a ‘Content Eligible for Commercial Distribution’ document we usually send to owners who might be interested in having their collection distributed by INA.”

“A collection of imagery that has basically no supporting data to go with it would be a deal killer,” said Chris Bridson. “Imagery alone is just part of the process, supporting data is almost just as important.  One other factor is if a collection is being represented by multiple companies…for the amount of work that may be needed to make a collection readily available for potential clients to see, having another agency represent the footage, competing for the same dollars, is not desirable. Seems great for the vendor but not great for the archive putting the time and effort into making it marketable.”

8. Onboarding the Collection

Is your collection tightly curated, fully digitized and thoroughly catalogued? Or will it require a significant investment to get it ready for market? Obviously, the less work the agent needs to do the better. And while many agents are only interested in “market-ready” collections, others are willing to invest considerable time, effort and expense into developing a collection, including digitization, cataloguing and restoration. So, if your collection is in need of development work, it may make sense to target companies that are willing and able to help.

Digitizing and cataloging analog footage collections “is what we’re known for at Retro,” said Ian Marshall. “We’re full service. We run nearly all video formats 1950s onward in-house (including 2-inch, 1-inch, U-matic, D2, etc.) as well as 35mm and 16mm film/kinescopes. Doing professional quality analog transfer work out in the real world can cost a fortune and we offer to do it as part of our general representation pitch for free. At Retro Video the same people who negotiate the deals and draft the licenses also run the old tapes on dinosaur formats, digitize the files and handle the meta data and work on building the search app.”

Science Photo Library is also willing to take on analog collections. “We have done in the past, and have seen positive results,” said Ben Jones. “With analog collections in particular the logging is critically important, and a good log sheet can be used as an offline search engine for digitization on demand with in-house kit. For media we cannot transfer in-house, that is not well logged, we would probably say that the cost of digitization would be too high to be profitable for us.”

INA will take on analogue collections, but “in such cases, INA will take care of the entire digitizing costs, and will collect a certain % of the commercial revenues until they are fully recovered,” said Sandrine Sacarrere. However, INA “insists on having a collection with all the documentary metadata because the owner is the person who knows best how to catalogue his collection. Otherwise, the work of cataloguing will be charged.”

Global ImageWorks “would absolutely consider an analog collection if it was the right footage.  We normally digitize analog collections in-house,” said Jessica Berman Bogdan.

The team at Screenocean has “worked extensively with Reuters to digitize previously-unseen footage, from, for example, the Reuters Africa Collection,” said Lucy Churchill. “Keystone Productions, based in Johannesburg, is overseeing the digitization of a staggering 12,000 Reuters master tapes as part of an extensive new digitization project commissioned by Screenocean. Keystone Productions estimates that the entire Reuters Africa Collection will add a further 5,000 hours of unseen footage to the already incredible Reuters Archive library.”

“When looking at taking on an analog collection, factors would include the uniqueness of the material and if we have the infrastructure in-house to digitize the material,” said Chris Bridson.  “For the archive houses that have limited staff, you have to weigh the potential profitability to consider taking on extra work to make the collection marketable.” 

Nimia is also open to taking on both analog and uncatalogued material that has “terrific potential,” said Joe Marrone.

9. Proof of Rights

The representative will need to be sure that you have all the necessary rights to enter into a representation deal. How this determination is made will differ from company to company, and for newer collections, especially those produced by a single entity, the process is often more straightforward. Generally speaking, the onus will be on you to prove that you have the necessary rights, and to indemnify the representative in the event that challenges to ownership and copyright arise.

“In most cases the collections that come to us are either shot by the person who approached us or who we approached,” said Ben Jones, SPL. “In cases where they aren’t, we ask for bona fides and will check these. Our contract places the responsibility for this onto the person signing the contract, making them liable for their assertion.”

Ideally, ownership and the right to enter a representation agreement would include “proof of creation of the material, such as original camera metadata if digital, or if analogue, proof of purchase of the rights, or a clear line of ownership if they are not the creator,” said Be Jones. “If it is public domain footage that they have scanned or remastered, then proof of the public domain status of the original media is ideal, as well as proof of their work. If it is material for which the copyright has expired, then details of the creator, year of their death and the circumstances of the films’ creation would be helpful.”

“Our predecessor company, Research Video, began in 1984 and was probably the first independent company representing music/variety and talk show libraries for the producers and hosts who owned the original programming,” said Ian Marshall. “That music/talk/variety/comedy archival content area is still our main focus and our company Retro Video, Inc. and its predecessor have been in the field for more than 35 years. We now know all of the ins and outs and pitfalls involved so it is probably easier for us than others to make this sort of determination. There is standard due diligence involved in researching ownership. When primarily dealing with agents, attorneys and producers coming from the entertainment world we all know the drill and understand the laws and it can be quite plain and simple to divine. If you’re buying films and tapes on eBay or from delinquent storage units left by bankrupt companies- which is not our forte- there would be a need to look closer and make several careful inquiries.”

At Global ImageWorks, “several factors are considered - is this originally shot footage or is there a clear chain of title? - especially if it is a production company, television show, etc.,” said Jessica Berman Bogdan. “It is important to engage in dialogue and conversations with the owner to help to develop more information about the history. Sometimes it is as cut and dried as proof of copyright through a copyright search. It is also important for the owner to share any underlying contracts, talent releases, etc.”

10. Exclusivity

Another key point for agencies is whether the collection is currently under representation elsewhere. Most agencies want, or at least strongly prefer, to have exclusive representation, at least in their territory. While it is possible that a collection would be regarded as so appealing that an agent would make a non-exclusive deal, this is probably rare. Regional representation deals can be more flexible. For example, a footage owner based in the United States might give exclusive representation rights to an agent based in Germany, but only for sales made within a designated territory.

“In our area the exclusivity and rarity of the footage is a key factor,” said Ian Marshall. “If you don’t have an exclusive product to offer the price goes way down and it’s pretty pointless. So, we would be unlikely to agree to a big investment in retransferring or cataloging for a non-exclusive deal. But if a library came along all done and digitized in marketable quality, I guess we’d be open to it.”

Science Photo Library might consider a non-exclusive deal, “if the collection is on-topic for us and meets our clients’ needs,” said Ben Jones. However, “we would reduce the percentage for this, usually to reflect the decreased sales opportunities.”

“Entering into a non-exclusive deal would take careful consideration,” said Jessica Berman Bogdan. “We look at the licensablity of the collection and its market saturation.  Sometimes non-exclusivity has to do with territory and then that is a different consideration. However, exclusivity is important for our premium collections.”

11. Revenue Sharing & Guarantees

The basic premise of a rep deal is that you and the rep are going to split the revenue generated by sales of your material. The question is how the split will be calculated and how much each of you will receive. A good rule of thumb is that the gross revenue will be split 50/50, though it can be higher in favor of the rep in some cases.

“It seems to be between 50-80% at the moment, and it has been going up in favor of the agencies over the last few years,” said Ben Jones. “In general, the more dominant the agency, the lower the percentage.”

As for revenue guarantees, they are “a remnant of days gone by,” says Jessica Berman Bogdan. “No longer are guarantees a typical part of any representation deal and will likely dissuade a rep from engaging further.”

Moving Forward

For those ready to begin the search for a representative, the best first step is to make sure you have some way to demonstrate ownership of the material. Once the legal issues are sorted out, put together some basic presentation materials, including a written overview of the collection and, if possible, a short demo reel.

“Even a single showreel would be better than nothing,” said Ben Jones. “An online portfolio of films or clips is the easiest way, say a YouTube or Vimeo channel, but failing that, sending a digitized selection, even at low resolution, would be useful. If the collection is entirely offline and analogue, digitizing a small selection specifically for the approach would be appreciated, or even arranging equipment or a screening.”

“The more the owner can share the better,” said Jessica Berman Bogdan. “If an owner has a YouTube channel or Vimeo or is active on a platform, then that is a great opportunity for both. Promo reels are nice but only supply a limited view on a collection.  It is helpful if an owner can also provide the number of hours and formats in the collection, and what, if any descriptive information and metadata are available.”

Once you have your ownership documentation and some presentation materials in hand, you are basically ready to start talking to potential reps, getting their feedback and gauging interest level. There are a few good company directories online that will give you a place to begin familiarizing yourself with active footage companies. We have one on our site, Footage.net, which you can find here. Another good directory can be found at Focal International. For the most part, people in the footage business are collegial and approachable, and will typically be happy to offer guidance and leads if they can’t help you directly. So, the sooner you can start speaking directly to potential reps, the better.

Good luck!

Historic Films Now Licensing Excerpts from Jazz on a Summer's Day

Historic Films, on behalf of the Bert Stern estate and Kino Lorber is now exclusively licensing excerpts from the iconic concert film Jazz on a Summer's Day.

The film, directed by world renown photographer Bert Stern, captures the sounds and performances of some of the major jazz artists who appeared at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Unlike earlier jazz movies that had been filmed in smoky black and white, Jazz On A Summer's Day was shot in vibrant color. While musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Anita O'Day and Mahalia Jackson perform, images of beaches, sailboats on water, dancing couples and the faces of joyful audience members are intercut into the proceedings.

The film boasts the earliest filmed live performance of Rock N’ Roll pioneer Chuck Berry and the only known footage of R&B queen Big Maybelle. Historic Films offers excerpts taken from a breathtaking 4K transfer of the original color negative.

In 1999, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library Of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Footage.net Publishes Footage Industry Pandemic Impact Survey 2 Results

The Footage Industry Pandemic Impact Survey 2, a market research report examining the effects of the global pandemic on the footage industry, is now complete and available at no cost to the global footage community. Please click here if you would like a copy of the report and we will send you a link to download the document.

The Footage Industry Pandemic Impact Survey 2, which follows up on the survey results we published in April 2020, was conducted online by Footage.net between January 20 and February 16, 2021. Over this 28-day period, we invited over 550 footage companies from around the world to participate. In the end, 60 companies completed the survey. 

Though at the time we conducted our previous survey in April 2020 we had only about six weeks of pandemic experience under our collective belts, our findings then indicated that most footage companies in our sample group had been able to maintain their essential business operations and were continuing to deliver footage to their customers. Overall, we came away from the project with a sense of cautious optimism about the prospects for the footage industry under lockdown. Now, with nearly a year in the rearview mirror, the results of our current survey strongly indicate that the footage industry has fully adapted to remote work, that demand for footage has either held up or increased and that, while a small minority of companies have suffered a significantly negative impact, for the majority of companies, the overall effect of the pandemic has either been neutral or at least somewhat positive.

The 36-page report is now ready for immediate distribution and, as promised, Footage.net is making it available for free to the footage industry. Please click here if you would like to receive a copy. We will email you a link straightaway. If you have any questions, please contact David Seevers, Footage.net Chief Marketing Officer, at davidwseevers@gmail.com.

Upcoming Online Workshops at FOCAL

FOCAL has planned a series of online monthly workshops, for members and non-members across a range of topics to support and give guidance with industry professionals to share their experience and knowledge. The following two workshops have been scheduled: 

April 21, 2021 - Technology: Future Applications and Platforms

Using everyday knowledge and experiences, the panel will discuss options to enhance and streamline business. This will include: how you can best work with AI from a user and rights holder point of view, introducing new services such as parallel transcoding for faster-than-real-time and, finally, looking at key trends and future interactive technology.

May 19, 2021 - Media Archiving and Research as a Career

This workshop will look at employment in moving image archives. What training opportunities are there for the archivist and researcher, both corporate and freelance? What kind of roles exist within the industry? And how does a new entrant, or even an old hand , progress and thrive in the field? The panel will offer insights though their experience and knowledge of the career opportunities, in what is….after all…an expanding sector.

A full list of future workshops is available on the FOCAL website https://focalint.org/education-and-resources/workshops

NFB Archives Joins Footage.net

Preview clips from NFB Archives are now available for viewing through Footage.net. NFB Archives is the licensing division of the National Film Board, Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB has long been recognized as a world leader in documentary, animation and web-based interactive storytelling.

In addition to licensing excerpts from over 13,000 complete works, NFB Archives has an online offering of more than 52,000 clips from around the world, dating from the beginning of cinema to today. Although best known for film-backed historical footage transferred in-house to any resolution, NFB Archives' collection of recently-shot HD and 4K material is growing all the time. Subject matter reaches far outside Canada and is rich in establishing shots of US and world cities, recent documentary footage of China and Afghanistan, and a multitude of UK subjects including Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in color. The collection’s centerpieces are its extensive content from both world wars (which includes color footage of D-Day), and its Arctic footage, which dates from the early 20th Century to today, and illustrates the impacts of climate change on one of the planet`s most fragile ecosystems.

 “We are delighted to make the NFB Archives searchable through Footage.net,” said Lea Nakonechny, Sales Manager of NFB Archives. “We feel our collection is truly of global stature and this is the perfect opportunity to make it more accessible worldwide. We’re regularly updating and adding to our archive so it is important to check with us if there are clips a customer can’t easily find. We are proud to offer service in French and Spanish as well as English.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome NFB Archives to the Footage.net platform,” said David Seevers, Footage.net Chief Marketing Officer. “NFB Archives offers a unique collection of world-class historical and contemporary documentary footage covering an enormous range of subject matter from around the world, all of which will be of great interest to our global user base.”

Footage.net works with a wide variety of stock footage companies to enhance their visibility across the global production community. NFB Archives clips will be available for screening through Footage.net alongside motion content from other leading footage companies.

About NFB Archives

NFB ARCHIVES is the licensing unit of the National Film Board of Canada—widely recognized as a world leader in documentary and animation. Drawing from more than 13,000 productions, outtakes, newsreels and acquired footage dating from the beginnings of cinema to today, they have an online offering of over 52,000 clips and are adding to that all the time.  NFB Archives is known for both quality and content. Their 14,000 film reels are kept in pristine condition and can be transferred to any resolution using their state-of-the-art facilities.  Born-digital material from recent productions is carefully selected and made available. A more extensive visual record of the Arctic cannot be found, and clients from all countries choose their impeccable footage from both World Wars. They cover a huge variety of other subjects, both historical and recent, from Canada and around the globe.

Footage.net Wraps Footage Industry Survey

Footage.net has concluded the research phase of the Footage Industry Pandemic Impact Survey 2 and we are now in the process of analyzing and compiling the results. We launched the survey on January 16, 2020, and in the month since we’ve received complete responses from 54 companies.  

Our goal in conducting the survey was to capture a real-time snapshot of how footage companies are faring under the pandemic-related disruptions and lockdowns that began in early March, 2020, and to compare the results from this research to the results of our previous Footage Industry Pandemic Survey, which we published in April of 2021. Overall, we came away from our first survey with a sense of cautious optimism about the prospects for the footage industry under lockdown, and early highlights from the current survey indicate that the footage industry remains in stable condition and that most companies appear to be weathering this crisis. A big thanks to all the footage companies who took time to participate.

Survey Highlights:

• Only 17% of respondents believe that the overall demand for footage has decreased over the last 11 months.

• 79% of companies are either working remotely (55%) or are mostly remote, with some key staff working onsite at their facilities (24%).

• Just 9% indicated that the pandemic has had a significantly negative effect on their businesses, with 39% reporting that they’ve enjoyed a somewhat positive effect (29%) or a significantly positive effect (10%).

• 27% indicated that initial inquiries were down, and 26% said that final sales were down. 

We will be working on analyzing the results and compiling our report over the next week or so, and will reach out to the footage community as soon as the report is ready for distribution. The results will be reported in aggregate form only, and we will make the final report available to the footage industry at no charge.

If you would like to read our 2020 report, please click here to download the document.

Historic Films Now Representing "The Eleventh Hour"

Historic Films is proud to announce it’s exclusive representation of the long running multi-Emmy winning WNET public affairs show, “The Eleventh Hour.” From the 1970s to 1990, this nightly program with its host Robert Lipsyte, took in depth looks at the important political, social and entertainment issues and trends of the day.

From Donald Trump to Son of Sam, “The Eleventh Hour” was there, preserving for history thousands of political and celebrity interviews and events. Historic Films has begun the process of logging and digitizing the programs and expects to have portions of the library ready for licensing later this year.

Reach for the Sky with HOsiHO, Now Available through INA

INA has recently been entrusted by HOsiHO with the distribution of a collection of +20,000 aerial views, timelapses, and hyperlapses ranging from HD to 5K. These video clips were filmed by drones and from helicopters by about a hundred authors all over the world. The collection presents a broad array of themes such as tourism, the ecosystem, wildlife, agriculture, architecture, and cities under lockdown.

INA invites you to discover through their trailers how this partner collection is an incredible resource for creating video content about the beauty and frailty of our planet, the stillness of the world during lockdown, and the breathtaking places one should visit before dying.

Click here to browse the entire HOsiHO collection.

Global ImageWorks Now Representing Inside the Actors Studio

Global ImageWorks is honored to represent clip licensing for the seminal television series, “Inside the Actors Studio”, hosted by James Lipton. The series ran from 1995 to 2017 on the Bravo network. Over 270 episodes feature James Lipton interviewing some of the most iconic actors and directors to work in film and television!

Some highlights include:

• Ground-breaking directors including Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg.

• Celebrated actors such as Jack Lemmon, Harrison Ford, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Clint Eastwood. Classic Hollywood’s greatest leading ladies -- Lauren Bacall, Shelley Winters, Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda, and Ellen Burstyn.

• And the funniest talents on stage & screen, such as Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Robin Williams, Dave Chappelle, George Carlin, and Mary Tyler Moore.

Visit www.globalimageworks.com/inside-the-actors-studio for more information.

New Music Video Streaming Channel Features Content from Reelin’ in the Years

Concert footage and music documentaries from the Reelin’ in the Years archive will be featured as part of The Coda Collection’s new streaming channel, which is set to debut in the US via Amazon Prime on February 18th, 2021. The Coda Collections channel, along with its desktop and mobile sites, offer subscribers access to rare concerts and music documentaries, as well as exclusive film premiers, original music programming, editorial content and more.

“In 2018, I was approached by John McDermott of Experience Hendrix, one of the principal owners of The Coda Collection,” said David Peck, president of Reelin’ in the Years. “Because of my close relationship with him and the fact that we have the largest archive of music footage in the world, they wanted Reelin’ In the Years Productions to be heavily involved.” 
 
At present, Coda has licensed many concerts and programs from the RITY archive, including their GRAMMY® Nominated American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966 series (co-produced by John McDermott and Experience Hendrix back in 2003). This and other titles will be available on The Coda Collection channel exclusively on Amazon Prime. 

Along with Reelin' In the Years Productions, other major music and media companies partnering with The Coda Collection are Sony Music Entertainment, Yoko Ono & the Estate of John Lennon, Warner Music's Rhino Entertainment, Concord Music and Mercury Studios (Universal Music Group). 

Heading up the new company are CEO Jim Spinello, director/producer John McDermott, Janie Hendrix of Experience Hendrix, Yoko Ono and the Estate of John Lennon, and veteran entertainment lawyer Jonas Herbsman.

"Our love for music and fascination for its history, pioneers, and continuing journey is what drives us,” said John McDermott. “Music fans want more than just song streams and promotional videos. They want concerts, documentaries, they want cultural context - and maybe most of all - they want to understand the stories behind the art and the artist. That's how fans connect to one another, and to the music itself."

“As a rights holder and a representative of many unique archives across the globe, it has always frustrated me to see how YouTube has allowed bootleg versions of concerts and TV appearances by music’s greatest artists to be readily available to millions of viewers with no compensation to the rights holders,” said David Peck. “What I truly appreciate most about the way The Coda Collection has approached this music video channel is their respect for the artists and the footage rights holders. They have been fair and equitable in negotiating reasonable licensing rates up front for this type of use.” 

For the last six months, Peck and his team at RITY have been working closely with The Coda Collection to curate items from the RITY archive to be featured on the February 18th launch. Many more titles are in the clearance phase and even more are in development.

“Since DVD is, for all intents and purposes, now a dead market, this platform allows us to share our  unique content with the music-loving public in a fair and equitable way—a way which not only benefits my company and clients, but which will revolutionize the way music video is consumed,” said Peck.

At launch, Amazon Prime members will be able to access over 150 titles streamed exclusively on The Coda Collection for $4.99 per month, with a free 7-day trial. New content will be updated regularly.

Reelin in the Years Productions has been on something of a roll this past year. In addition to their work on The Coda project, RITY was named "Library of the Year" at the 2020 FOCAL International Awards, and David Peck, president of Reelin in the Years Productions, received an executive producer credit on the Bee Gees, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, which premiered on HBO in November.

Footage.net Launches Footage Industry Pandemic Impact Survey 2

We hope 2021 has gotten off to a good start for you. We’re kicking off the year with a follow-up to the Footage Industry Pandemic Impact Survey we conducted and published in April 2020, and hope all footage companies will consider taking part. As before, the survey includes 15 questions and is designed to capture a real-time snapshot of how footage companies are faring under the pandemic-related disruptions and lockdowns that began in early March, 2020.  

Though at the time we conducted our previous survey we had only about six weeks under our collective belts, our findings indicated that most footage companies, at least in our sample group, had been able to maintain their essential business operations and were continuing to deliver footage to their customers. Overall, we came away from the project with a sense of cautious optimism about the prospects for the footage industry under lockdown. Now, with nearly a year in the rearview mirror, we’re hoping to capture a much more conclusive picture of how the pandemic has affected our industry.

The results will be reported in aggregate form only, and we will make a summary of the aggregated results available to the footage industry at no charge. Obviously, the more companies that take part, the better and more accurate the results will be. 

The survey includes 15 questions and should take around 10 minutes to complete. To ensure that your identity and proprietary information remain confidential, you will not be asked to identify yourself or your company on the survey.  

If you would like to participate, please click here to take the survey.  

We will reach out to all our industry contacts as soon as the summary report is available with instructions on how to access and download the document.  Thank you!

HOsiHO Releases Image Bank Survival Guide

Why an Image Bank Survival Guide for Visual Artists? Because, according to HOsiHO, the French agency specializing in aerial stock images and timelapse imagery, selling one's visual works - illustrations, photos and videos - is today a multidisciplinary expertise. It’s no longer enough to have talent and a stunning portfolio to be able to claim to live properly from one's artistic and creative work. It’s necessary to know how to navigate in troubled and changing waters. Spending your time anticipating, analyzing, understanding and deciding, if possible judiciously, because any mistake is a serious waste of time in a universe where everything goes very fast.

The Internet and digital tools have opened up fantastic perspectives for image creators, who, depending on their affinity with these tools and their talent for communication, have been able to conquer the world in just a few weeks, ensuring great visibility and a great community of followers on social networks. But for the few who make it, how many remain anonymous and lost in the depths of the Web?

The Image Bank Survival Guide is not intended to show readers the path to “Star Influencer” status that few will ever achieve, but more simply to reveal the steps and traps along the way. This guide alone does not pretend to cover everything, especially not the legal intricacies concerning the transfer of copyrights, but it should help readers make the right choices and begin their journey on a solid and well thought-out footing. The Image Bank Survival Guide completes HOsiHO's global approach, which is above all an illustration agency created by artists, for artists, practicing fair prices for both buyers and image creators.

Now Streaming - Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy

Crack: Cocaine, Corruption and Conspiracy, a new documentary from director Stanley Nelson, streaming now on Netflix, tracks the rise of crack cocaine in the 1980s and its devastating impact on communities of color in cities throughout the United States. Largely ignored in the early years by the police, the media and the general public, the “crack epidemic” would become, by the mid-80s, a top issue at all levels of government, resulting in a series of federal laws that, taken together, formed the foundation of the “war on drugs.”

Through interviews with former dealers, former users, historians and journalists, as well as a wide range of searing archival footage, the film places the crisis within the context of the Reagan era, when greed was good, cocaine was a symbol of wealth and status and communities of color were bearing the brunt of Reagan’s economic policies and cuts in social services.

As crack-related violence spiraled out of control in inner-city neighborhoods, an increasingly militarized police force, coupled with punitive “tough on crime” sentencing policies, heaped further misery on a vulnerable population and set in motion consequences that haunt the nation to this day. As former user Felecia Pullen says in the film, “We are still picking up the pieces of the 80s today. Why? Because the responses were not designed to help the people that were in trouble.”

Screenocean Teams Up with Living Memories to Create a Digital Memory Aid

As we move into another lockdown in a year which has seen some of the most vulnerable in society isolated more than usual, Screenocean have teamed up with Living Memories to create a digital memory aid for dementia patients to help trigger reminiscences and stimulate conversations.

The Living Memories Online portal offers access to a huge range of information and social history programs and newsreels from the late 1930s to the 1970s, which can be streamed, with online reminiscence resources being added soon to help trigger conversations. It aims to bring the past to life for older people, the people who care for them and anyone interested in UK social and industrial history, including schools.

Living Memories C.I.C. is a not-for-profit social enterprise, developed by Brian Norris and his wife, Leonore, after long practical research with older people, including those with dementia. It publishes DVDs and reminiscence resources and for some time has been running Tea and Memory groups where archive programs and newsreels are shown to community groups.

Screenocean is a film and video archive that provides unparalleled access to unique and quality content from around the world, captured from 1896 to the present day. The collections cover rare and inspiring footage including momentous historic newsreels, entertainment programs, and over 20 million iconic images. Spanning three centuries, Screenocean helps bring stories and projects to life. Screenocean’s footage library includes clips from Reuters News Archive, Channel 4, Channel 5, Warner Bros Television Productions UK, Clips & Footage and Cover Images.

The Abbeyfield Society, a charity which operates over 450 retirement houses across the UK, has already signed up to use Living Memories Online. It is also partnering with Living Memories CIC to create virtual and live Tea & Memories reminiscence groups around the UK in the communities in which Abbeyfield operates. Other similar relations will be developed.

Living Memories Online hosts videos from a number of sources, including Screenocean, which, along with its partner Reuters, have allowed pro-bono access to an amazing collection of historic newsreels from Visnews, British Paramount, Gaumont British and Universal. Clips & Footage has made its vast collection of classic Movie Trailers available for streaming alongside its social history and home movie collections.

Subscribers to the portal also get access to film summaries, questions, plus social and historical information to prompt reminiscence and discussions. The footage can be accessed on a PC, laptop, tablet or mobile phone and can then be cast to smart TVs for group viewing. The Living Memories portal can be searched by decade, topic and subject and users can make a collection of their own favourites, which can be shared with other users of the portal.

Brian Norris, founder of Living Memories CIC, says: “Archive films can prompt older people to share memories and life experiences. Long-term memory is usually one of their strengths, so reminiscence encourages them to communicate and feel more confident about themselves. Living Memories Online will make reminiscence activity much more widely and easily available. This is important in combatting isolation, especially now that Covid-19 means that many elderly people are unable to access community groups.”

Brian says: "At the group sessions we have found that many older people (including those living with dementia) who had previously been reluctant to talk, started to reminisce about their lives and shared experiences and to make new friends and get to know their neighbors.”

The home page offers newsreels and clips free for trial viewing, plus the ability to sign up for the collection at a monthly launch offer subscription of £4.00 per month for individuals, care homes and other organizations. Annual subscriptions, which include reminiscence resources, will also be available.

Contact details:

Brian Norris, Living Memories C.I.C. email: brian.norris@livingmemories.io tel: +44 (0)1297552358

Duncan Roxburgh, Screenocean email: duncan@screenocean.com tel: 020 7306 6928

GIW Adds New Collection, Featuring Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Peter Seeger & More

Global Imageworks has added a new treasure trove of footage to enrich your productions and storytelling, including unique interview and performance footage showcasing iconic music personalities such as Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Carl Perkins, June Carter Cash, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, and Don McLean.

The collection includes compelling Civil Rights footage from the deep south in the 1960s; engaging perspectives of African Apartheid; 60s Counterculture and Political Action footage; as well as fascinating exclusive interviews with Black Panthers Zayd Shakur, Angela Davis and Bobby Seale; novelist and political activist Jean Genet; journalist and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn; and Winnie and Nelson Mandela; among several other notable personalities.

Contact GIW for screeners and additional information.

Bridgeman Images in Partnership with neural.love.

Bridgeman is incredibly proud to announce an exciting new collaboration with cutting-edge AI video enhancement company neural.love. The Gdansk-based organization has been making great developments in machine learning and applying these technologies to transforming film and video by means of customized noise removal, resolution upscaling, colorization, motion smoothing, and facial restoration algorithms.

Bridgeman is thrilled to be bringing neural.love’s expertise to the Bridgeman archive and looks forward to collaborating in many ways over the coming months, by rolling-out an integration of neural.love’s services across their film, video, and stills collections, allowing their customers access to a full suite of AI tools and features, enabling licensed content to have another life through enhancement and restoration.

Click here for look at neural.love’s work.

INA Sound Collection

INA offers a wide range of high-quality musical programs and clips to labels, major studios, aggregators and audio platforms from all over the world. The Institute has been increasingly participating in projects involving CD and LP editions, contributing to the creation of prestige audio box sets with some rare audio treasures and historical recordings retrieved from its radio collection, and sometimes from its television collection.

INA is proud to offer clients a customized experience for the making of these prestige editions thanks to the combined expertise of the Institute's documentation (with researchers specializing in jazz or classical music), legal and technical/restoration departments.

INA’s international team is always looking for exciting projects that can be enriched thanks to its collections and expertise, and that can at the same time shed light on its treasures. You can contact them at internationalsales@ina.fr for any inquiries regarding a musical project.

Getting Into the Footage Business: Ten Questions to Get You Started

Helping footage providers get their collections in front of the global production community is what we’re here for, so we’re always happy to speak with people who are thinking about commercializing their footage collections. So how do you get from having a footage collection to being in the footage business? It’s a big undertaking, so we wanted to begin by offering ten essential questions to get you started. In future articles, we’ll dig into these questions and issues in greater detail, and tap our network of footage experts for their collective wisdom and suggestions. But for now, we think these questions provide a good framework for thinking through the commercial potential of any footage collection.

1. Is your footage collection relevant to third parties?

Determining whether your footage collection will have relevance to third parties is a critical first step in assessing its commercial potential. Can you envision a program type that might use the sort of footage you have in your collection? If not, chances are it may have limited application outside a narrow interest group. The age of the collection is also a factor, especially for lifestyle, scenics and wildlife footage. And lastly, does your collection have global appeal or is it mainly of interest to a regional market? These are all important considerations in assessing the scale of the potential opportunity.

2. Is it unique?

What is special or different about your collection?  How much similar footage is already available? You can get a pretty good sense of what is currently on the market by doing some searches on the major footage sites and comparing those results to your collection. And while there are no unequivocal rules on this, if the honest answer is that there is nothing unique or special about your collection, that will be an important consideration in determining its marketability.

3. Do You Have all the necessary rights and clearances?

Do you hold the copyright, free and clear? Do you have releases from anyone appearing in the footage? For many potential use cases, locations may require clearances as well. We’ll dig into this in-depth in future articles, but if the answer is that you don’t know the status of the copyright and/or underlying rights, that would be a good place to start your due diligence.

4. How large is the collection?

The size of a collection matters in terms of overall marketability. Provided the collection is relevant and reasonably unique, the more footage you have, the more opportunities you will have to fill orders.  On a related note, it’s also important to know whether the collection is static or expanding. Are you planning to add to it or does the collection have a specific end point?

5. What is the native format?

Outside of news and historical footage, the market for footage shot in standard definition is increasingly limited, and for many use cases, anything less than 4K might be inadequate.

6. Does it require restoration?

Many older analog collections will require some restoration to make them market-ready. Do you know the condition of your older material? When was the last time you inspected the physical condition of the media?

7. Has the footage been digitized?

While your collection does not need to be digital to be marketable, if your collection is fully analog, you will need a plan for digitizing it on demand.

8. Is the collection cataloged?

At this point, the only way to find a shot is through text search, so in order to make a collection work as a business it has to be cataloged at some level. Obviously, the more detailed the cataloging, the easier the collection will be to commercialize. And keep in mind that if you are looking to outsource the collection to a rep, either you or the rep is going to have to do this work, and your negotiating position will be stronger if your collection is cataloged.

9. What are your financial expectations?

Only you can answer this, and your first answer may be that you want to test the water and see what’s possible. But if your collection requires an investment of time and money to get into market condition, you should probably have at least a rough idea of the sort of return you are looking for before setting out.

10. How much work are you prepared to do?  

The footage business has become very competitive, and anyone looking to make a go of it is going to need to put in some real work. Generally speaking, footage licensing is not turnkey operation or passive income generator. Customers expect high level customer service and fast turnaround. To make it work as a free-standing business, you will have to get your name out there, develop customer relationships and generate positive word of mouth. If this sounds daunting, you should probably look for an existing company to represent your footage, a subject we’ll cover in the very near future.  

Conclusion

We hope these questions are a good starting point for anyone thinking about getting into the footage business. We have no doubt missed a few areas of consideration, so any feedback is welcome. Going forward, we will add to and revise this list and publish additional articles on the nuts and bolts of footage licensing. If you have a specific question, please let us know.

Now Streaming - The Bee Gees: How to Mend a Broken Heart

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, streaming now on HBO Max, tells the story of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, who rose to early fame as part of the British Invasion of the mid-1960s, and seemed headed for irrelevance after a few short years in the spotlight, before reemerging in the mid-70s as the global superstars of the disco era. Directed by Frank Marshall, the film makes the case for the Bee Gees as one of pop music's all-time great acts, and certainly one of the most resilient.

Gifted, prolific songwriters, they had a knack for picking up on the currents of the day. After relocating to Miami in 1975, they hit upon the emerging sound of disco and, by blending it it with their newly discovered talent for falsetto vocals, created a signature style that would dominate the latter half of the decade, culminating in the mega-success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

Though their image as the "Kings of Disco" would ultimately prove to be their undoing, they found a third act in the 1980s, writing hit songs for other artists, including Barbara Streisand, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

What was the secret to their endurance? As Noel Gallager of Oasis says in the film, “when you’ve got brother singing it’s like an instrument that nobody else can buy.”

The film includes a wealth of excellent archival footage, as well as interviews with Barry Gibb, the only surviving member of the Bee Gees, and archival interviews with Robin and Maurice. David Peck, president of Reelin in the Years Productions, was deeply involved in the project, and received an executive producer credit.

“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,” said Peck. “I was equally honored to work closely with the amazing production team at White Horse Pictures (Nigel Sinclair, Aly Parker, Nick Ferrall, Jeanne Elfant Festa, and Cassidy Hartmann) and I was heavily involved in guiding them in the direction of footage, not just in my archive, but others, that I thought fit the scene, and gave advice on historical accuracy as each cut developed.”

Jessica Berman-Bogdan, Cathy Carapella and Chris Robertson of Global ImageWorks provided archival research and clearance support, and Cathy Carapella handled music clearance.