“The Accidental Curator”
When classics meet the digital economy
“You’re hurt because everything is changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the same.” This powerful yet simple line, delivered by Alison Porter in Look Back in Anger describes the differences between her father and her husband. And the sentiment neatly describes the current dilemma facing everyone involved in the classic film industry. This world is radically changing but some of the practices and ways of working stubbornly stay the same. All around us the way the films are watched, preserved, searched for, paid for, where they make money, how they are promoted and how they are valued — culturally, creatively, commercially is shifting quickly and irrevocably.
Creating a legacy
It is into this exciting and turbulent world that I was launched a few years ago -my wife and her family gently casting me off into these unchartered waters. Woodfall, almost into its 60th year, owns the copyright and some distribution rights to many high profile English and international films that it produced — it’s first Look Back in Anger, it’s last Hotel New Hampshire. The company was originally set up in 1958 by Tony Richardson, John Osborne and Harry Saltzman (James Bond producer and Albert Broccoli partner in waiting) to produce the big screen version of Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger. The film’s release set Woodfall on a revolutionary road to shake up the comfortable world of English film production. The Woodfall founders’ fiery, creative focus and openness to “the new” was a commercial and creative success. Catapulting many who worked with Woodfall from modest beginnings to stardom and fame. Between 1959 and 1976, Woodfall’s films were nominated by 19 awards panels for 126 awards, winning 58 of them. Tom Jones, Woodfall’s 1963 global blockbuster garnered 10 Academy nominations, winning four. Closer to home, Woodfall received 49 BAFTA nominations winning 12. The company enjoyed success at Cannes too, with 14 nominations and 4 wins. Often Woodfall founders did not attend the award ceremonies. Instead of celebrating the past, preferring to look to future projects. Famously Richardson did not attend the 1964 Academy ceremony celebrating Tom Jones to pick up his two Oscars because he was working on his next project back in London.
Momentum
Inertia and the status quo are very powerful. Most classic films are part of huge libraries, sometimes owned by studios, sometimes by banks or investment funds, less often by anyone connected with their lineage. These films are transcoded into standard definition, maybe if lucky, high definition. They then sit quietly on a tape or server patiently waiting to be plugged into the next distributor / broadcaster output deal. Their original camera negatives lost in the mists of time, possibly the film rotting, their stories decaying from living memory, their relevance and impact weakening. Who’s job is it to curate and cultivate these films? Why should anyone care? These films tell us a story. Together they tell us the precious history of modern mankind. Our hopes, fears, obsessions. Culturally these films give our history colour and texture. They are precious and valuable assets that once gone can never be replaced.
Digital Disruption
The internet is obviously an enormous part of our world today. Over 2 billion people have access to high speed broadband and by some estimates US users are watching upwards of five movies per month online- often more. Google estimates that there is potential for 10 million to 100 million searches relating to classic films made each month. Searches for our own titles are in the tens of thousands. By any measure, this is a significant market. Yet we see the dominant online movie players focussing on the modern-day tent pole, blockbusters. This new market for classics is a huge opportunity, a bigger audience with larger appetites. Maybe it is time for an audience led rethink to licensing and marketing?
The traditional heartland of the industry, TV, is suffering declining audiences and despite the heroic performances of some boxed sets DVD sales are in long-term decline. Yet, today, the majority of classic film revenue is still generated on TV through output deals between the distributors and broadcasters. Huge swathes of the airwaves still need to be filled with content and despite reducing viewers broadcasters regularly draw from classic libraries. Often these films are treated as filler, a reasonably economical way to populate airtime. As a result the economics commoditise the films with little investment available to preserve and celebrate the titles. In most cases the cost of a high-resolution scan at 2k or 4k (presuming that you can find some well preserved source material) and quality re-mastering being well out of reach. Challenging some classics with extinction.
These three forces — library ownership, business model evolution and the internet are reshaping the comfortable classic film industry.
Preparing for the future
When I started advising Woodfall as it’s very accidental curator, we had over 1,200 different film elements in seven locations around the world. These elements ranged from the ten cans of 2000 foot of original negative for some of our films through to VHS duplicates or even some 16mm prints. Elements were tracked in a multitude of spreadsheets across different suppliers. Some of our films were available in HD, all in SD, few restored.
We decided that we needed simplify and upgrade our assets so we embarked on a significant consolidation, restoration and preservation project. Reducing the number of locations where we store elements, scanning our original materials and creating new high quality elements for HD TV, HD streaming download, Blu-Ray and DCP. But these new technologies throw up new questions — how much do you restore, what happens if something is missing, how much, if at all, do you fill in? If you turn mono into stereo, how do you balance it? Do you use the best of available technology today or try to emulate the original environment? Weirdly this kind-of-filling-in happens all the time with modern TV’s.
Our partners Criterion, Miramax, the BFI and Park Circus have been hugely helpful, supportive and enthusiastic as we walk down our revolutionary road. And previously we are very grateful to MGM for looking after the library.
Now, three years into the Woodfall project we are making good progress and just embarking on a significant restoration of Tom Jones. As each film is complete we will, again shine light onto these films now ready for the new digital age.
Originally publised in Focal International March 2017 — thank you to Sue Malden for encouraing me to take fingers to keys
