Smelling the grass in Amsterdam. My IBC 2024 review

It was a contradictory IBC for me. The logistics were almost too easy although I think I may be in a minority. I somehow managed to avoid the airport queues on my way home and got through in 25 minutes. Quite annoying as I left the Beach early expecting the usual airport Schit-show.

?IBC attendee numbers were marginally up on last year but nowhere near pre-Covid levels, and that was when it was still 5 days. And congrats to the RAI which has finally worked out how to hand out badges efficiently on the first morning. It’s been in Amsterdam since 1992 apparently, so 32ndth time lucky? Let’s be generous and say 30th if we discount the 2 Covid years.

There are areas of the media sector that are flourishing. I ventured in to Hall 14 and the tech buzz around AWS was deafening. A good friend of mine from Qumulo? was full of infectious enthusiasm for his very clever technology which sits within the Amazon architecture rather than over it as many AWS partner software applications do. His claim of removing the need for any external file transfer products ever again seems a bold one. More broadly, if you’ve incorporated AI in to your technology and / or making workflows easier / quicker / cheaper / more automated, then I’d guess that IBC was a busy and productive use of your time. ?And the various LED screen manufacturers are selling lots, helped in part by Spotify as the musician’s business model now means that they make far less money selling records, and have to tour. Congrats to all that got tickets for next summer, and here's hoping they don't fall out again before it starts.

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Most of my 25 ish years in this industry has been based around camera and on-set production technology, and if you visited halls 9, 10 and 11 (and 13 if we include Sony) then the juxtaposition to the barren world of acquisition pain is marked. The well documented downturn in commissioning of drama and general content has left parts of the media sector in paralysis. More on that later.

?Sports production this year has kept the lights on for many manufacturers, and the coverage of the Euros and Olympics was excellent. Oddly, the sad and sudden demise of rental business Presteigne may have provided a little short term boost to some. It shut its doors in mid May, which sent the various sports facilities businesses that had booked their rental kit in to full-scale panic mode. Presteigne may not have been the dominant force in OB hire that it once was, but their substantial inventory was fully committed for the Euros starting mid-June and then straight on to the Olympics. Had Presteigne fallen over earlier or later, it would not have been so impactful, but happening when it did tied-up huge amounts of kit in legal red tape, forcing some unplanned new OB kit purchases to fill the gaps left by the embargoed kit.

?There are interesting developments in OB-world around remote production. It’s been apparent that one of the factors holding back the adoption of this technology has been the legacy investment in huge trucks that need to be paid back. But technology advances are making the arguments harder to ignore. Grass Valley exhibited a significant technology step-change, AMPP, where all of the on-site feeds were routed in to a small on-site production vehicle, and proxy files are then sent down a regular internet connection, where they were racked and the programme cut together in the comfort and control of a production hub. The final “EDL” is routed back to the on-site truck, and transmitted in glorious 4K HDR full-res technicolour. This significant reduction in bandwidth requirement could be a game-changer. Cost savings as well as environmental benefits make this a major advancement.

?There will still be a need for an on-site technical presence as well as camera operators, and the client will always want to be on-site to have that peace of mind. Most crucially, there will still be an element of on-site editorial influence for that human touch. As my friend at GV so eloquently put it, “to tell the story, you have to be able to smell the grass”.

?Sony were also highlighting how traditional workflows can be improved using their? 5G connectivity solutions, which can be used in all video content creation genres. ?

?Perhaps a harder obstacle for the OB hierarchy to overcome with the move to remote production is the visceral fear of “single point of failure” black screen. It’s a very human fear, and the financial penalties imposed by the broadcasters and rights holders on the facilities companies if something catastrophic goes wrong is an issue.

?The coverage of the 2012 Euros in Ukraine could have gone majorly wrong when a lightning strike knocked out the main vision mixer minutes before kick off. Luckily the engineers had belt-and-braced the infrastructure and the back-up systems kicked in to get the show to air. It’s this type of scenario that will keep everyone up at night.

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Digital cinematography has seen the ultimate feast or famine rollercoaster in recent years. For the 10 years plus pre Covid, it had been good times in this world, with productions happily shooting on expensive lens sets and multiple top of the range cameras on their latest films and dramas. The resellers became hugely profitable and are now significant businesses because of all of the investment in kit. The pandemic obviously halted everything, but the bounce-back year was frantic as the delayed content was shot as well as what had already been scheduled. The merry-go-round of commissioning of a big budget series – shooting – binge watching a series in a day, on hard repeat for years, seemed like nirvana for operators, production freelancers and the rental businesses who invested heavily to fulfil the demand.

?What the strikes seemed to have inadvertently offered the major studios is a chance to breath, and assess the situation. A hard reset, in which they canned a lot of programmes that would have been made, realigning budgetary expectations and took back control. ?It is their money after all. This has coincided with a significant downturn in advertising revenues and thus commissioning from the traditional sources. Add in a cost of living crisis that has inflated production costs and we get to where we are now; a fragile acquisition eco-system. Freelance talent forced to leave the sector to pay the bills, rental businesses buckling under the weight of their full shelves of rental kit, and resellers laying off staff amid a price war as they try to shift stock to someone somewhere who might be in the market for a new piece of kit. ?

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It will get better. Unless we think that no more TV and films will be made in the UK, and no one actually thinks that, then it has to. Those kind enough notice and comment over the weekend that I didn’t write a post MPTS review were told that I was probably more gloomy then than I am now. I really didn’t have a positive thought in May, so felt it best not to say anything. That show was very good by the way!

?But we have seen some green shoots these past few weeks. As a finance provider, we are probably a good bell-weather for the state of the sector. It’s going to be a tough winter as the coffers haven’t been filled up by the usual summer shooting season. But maybe the word “usual” no longer applies. Trends, momentum and mindset are key to any success story. There will be more content made, so we all need to be ready to fulfil that demand when it comes, from wherever it comes.

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Adaptability is also key, and in true Darwinian tradition we have broadened our approach and funding appetite. Our raison d’etre has been to provide the media sector with expertise, experience, discretion, quality and reliability, and I’m extremely proud of what we do. But if that’s not as important to you as it is to us, or you’re not in this sector, then consider us a place that gives you money for stuff. You might need a van, an office refit, a robotic arm (we’ve just done one of these for a new client), some new software (we’ve just financed ￡100K of this too), a 3D printer, a crane or an excavator.

?With marketing tag lines like “money for stuff” we can’t go wrong!

?I’m hoping that IBC will see some fresh impetus. Change is certain. We’re keen to engage with anyone who values the qualities that we bring, and if it’s just money for stuff that floats your boat, then we can pay for boats too. You’ll get the other qualities thrown in.

?All IBC / non-IBC comments welcome. I’ll be in Italy next week on holiday, which might give me some time to smell the grass there, and have my own hard reset.

?Best wishes and good luck

?P.S. I gather that some friends have come down with CoVid post show. The nasty new XEC variant sounds more like a new Sony codec than a virus, but I hope you’re doing OK.

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