Case Study
Major AccomplishmentChallenge
Breaking into an Established Market with New Digital Technology
In 1992 Avid Technology was still considered a startup company. There were about 500 systems sold worldwide, none of them were being used in Hollywood to edit full length features. The film industry in Hollywood is slow to change, everything is based on a well-established Analog workflow.
We were introducing a new digital workflow with a new business model behind it. Avid equipment was considered very expensive. The image quality that the editors were seeing was poor, and there were no trained editors, and the majority of the feature editors were not fully computer literate.
If we were going to break into Hollywood and full-length features, we would need to find a trojan horse to get us into the market.
Strategy
Secured an Industry Editor/Expert who Showcased the Technology
Step 1
Develop a complete understanding of the film making process. This had to go all the way from preproduction to postproduction and finally movie picture advertising.
Step 2
From that analysis, we needed to find an entry point into the film market. Most importantly, the editors had to be willing to embrace new ideas and new technology rather than be threatened by it.
Step 3
The motion picture advertising, or trailer industry, was the segment of the market that I targeted to accomplish these goals.
- The trailer industry was made up of younger editors, who were more open to new ideas.
- The editors had to come out with multiple versions of a trailer quickly, so speed and creativity were very important to them. These were two of the biggest benefits of Avid.
- New technology did not scare them, they embraced it.
- Every director would have to sign off on the trailers, so we ended up using the editors as our salespeople to the major Hollywood directors.
Step 4
Once this target segment was identified, I had to find an editor who would embrace the Avid and make it his own.
Step 5
I was able to befriend the top trailer editor in Hollywood; his name was Scott Ogden. Because Scott was known as the top editor, he was able to choose his projects, which meant that he worked freelance. For every new project he worked on, Avid became a condition of his employment for the project.
Step 6
Once other editors started seeing how quickly Scott could turn around a version of a trailer, they started demanding them as well. Trailer houses at the time typically had 3-5 editors all working on different films. One sale to Scott, turned into 5 sales per company.
Step 7
When Scott would finish a project, he would move on to a new project, usually at a new trailer house. We would repeat the process in the new facility. Since there were about 20 trailer houses in Hollywood at the time, there was significant opportunity to penetrate the market.
Step 8
During the review of the trailers, the director of the film would review the trailer, quite often on the Avid itself. Once they saw the speed and creativity, they started exploring the options of working with the Avid on full length features.
Results
Roadmap to Success
As a result of these efforts, Avid was able to get a foothold in the Hollywood market, and eventually became the standard editing system in the trailer market, and in the feature films market. Clint Eastwood, and Steven Spielberg were two of the first big name directors to use the Avid. We went on to sign a partnership with George Lucas, soon after, which gave us additional credibility.
During my five years at Avid, the company grew from $1M in revenue, to over $500M when I left the company.
The trailer market that I developed was a key component in opening-up Hollywood and helping the industry transform from Analog to Digital.
Avid is still the number one choice for editing Hollywood Features today.
Get In Touch
Chatsworth, CA
(818) 519-1751
mrpaulweiser@gmail.com