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.