Getting Into Footage: Finding a Representative for Your Footage Collection
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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!