Connections

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Just how early does data play a role in the production lifecycle of a feature film or television show? Try the script.

That’s the perspective of the management team of Burbank, Calif.-based Cast & Crew Entertainment Services, who used the Oct. 18 HITS Fall event to emphasize that generating, collecting, accessing — and acting on — data begins on day one of screenwriting.

“Whether that script is written at Starbucks or in a writers room, what’s started is a digitization process that’s impacting all of our business practices right now,” said Scott McMenamin, president of Final Draft, a Cast & Crew-owned screenwriting software app company. “Sure, that screenwriter did a great job writing it, the director did a great job bringing that script to life … but there’s a tremendous amount of data behind it.”

And that data is beyond relevant. The locations, character names, budget, schedule — all can come into play in major ways across the entertainment production finance lifecycle, which extends from screenwriting through production and post-production and concludes with residuals.

What Cast & Crew has observed is that while post-production is far ahead in adapting a digital mindset, pre-production and production are still stuck in old paper-intensive processes, ways that don’t benefit studios and production companies long term.

“Anyone who’s been involved with production knows that it wasn’t that long ago — and in some cases still happens — that we built and rebuilt scheduling boards literally by hand,” said Eric Belcher, president and CEO of Cast & Crew. “Now, that’s all changed. Digitization is providing us with the ability to interface, upload and download everything — from budgeting to scheduling. And we can be nimble at a moment’s notice, and drive down the production cost.

“It’s not just about what you see up on the screen: It really all does start with the script.”

Ivana Malcolm, director of product innovation for Cast & Crew, echoed the start-with-the-script for data theme, with Cast & Crew using a car-chase film segment during its HITS Fall presentation to drive the point across.

“That screenwriter had a very clear sense of what the car chase would look like, and what it would mean to the story. But those were just words,” she said. “Now, it’s metadata. If you’ve ever had the fun of breaking down a script, you know it was a tedious and daunting task.”

Stunts, props, characters, visual effects, “a 15-word sentence can impact your production in a myriad of ways,” she added. And from determining the residuals required to the location of props used in the scene, tackling data on day one has never been more important.

“Now that the script is in the cloud, not only are these details accessible, it makes the process faster, allowing you more time to focus on how much the production is going to cost,” she said, adding that productions no longer need to have the same paperwork filled out 20 times. “Digital on-boarding is disrupting productions in a good way,” she said. “It creates greater efficiency, streamlined approval … and gives creators and studios the visibility that they want and they need.”

The car in the car chase (assuming it wasn’t destroyed during filming) may not be as important as an actor, but it’s something to be tracked, Malcolm said. And accessing and managing production metadata helps make that possible. “With the digitization of the production lifecycle, your asset management challenges are minimized, and your opportunities maximized, because cloud technology provides access to an incredible, virtual warehouse,” Malcolm said.

“That Mustang … we know whether it’s in a warehouse, or on route to a production in South America, or in a new theme park attraction. The metadata provides insights into the costs, location and availability, giving the studios a better handle on their assets.”

Produced by MESA, in cooperation with the Hollywood IT Society, HITS: Fall is the largest gathering of the Hollywood IT community and its technology partners of the season. This year’s annual event hosted more than 350 attendees from across the Media & Entertainment industry including CEOs, CTOs and executives from major studios, distributors and top service providers.