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.