Deskspace Film & TV Solutions

Deskspace supplied Post Production Pro to International Sound Post-Production at Shepperton Studios, part of Pinewood Shepperton Group plc in England.

As a result of deploying Deskspace ERP Post Production Pro work which used to take a senior manager a week a month now takes a few minutes - time that can now be spent on developing new business.

The Client Requirement:

With complex commercial agreements under which services were provided to external production companies, the Studio faced a significant challenge in administering the expansion in its post-production business.
Keeping track of jobs and managing progress, task allocation, client relations and billing can be a time consuming process for the management of such a Unit.
There was no existing Information System available on the market which would provide the range of benefits the Studio required and they did not find it appropriate to change the way they did business in order to suit an existing information system.

Then they discovered Deskspace Post Production Pro.

Unlike other possible suppliers checked out by the studio Deskspace were actually able to deliver a configuration of Post Production Pro that does everything that Shepperton requested.
Post Production Pro enables all staff to quickly and easily record their work, in real time, whilst management can quickly review progress and allocate resource. Billing is transparent, where required, so that the client can see exactly what work was undertaken.
Budgets for each Job are set by management and the time spent undertaking tasks recorded - enabling accurate billing on completion.
The time recording & billing system included within Post Production Pro draws on Deskspace's past experience in the Legal Sector and provides our clients with a substantial competitive advantage over their competition.

According to the Studio:

"Having joined Pinewood nine years ago to run a dedicated international versioning facility, Giles Farley was previously responsible for UK training, installations and technical sales at Avid and DigiDesign. Farley was promoted to Head of International Sound Post Production at Pinewood eighteen months ago, in charge of international versioning for all US major studios. Under his direction, the international division at Pinewood has emerged as one of the leading facilities of its kind in the world with its workflows setting the benchmark for international sound delivery."

These benchmark workflows are managed using Deskspace Post Production Pro.

Farley, now promoted to Managing Director of Post Production Content Services, commented in August 2008:

"The bottom line is that we are on track to have saved enough through business efficiencies delivered via Deskspace Post Production Pro to cover it's cost - in under two years."

He continued:

"Our staff are now working significantly more productively than before we deployed Deskspace Post Production Pro."
"As I commented last year, Deskspace have delivered what we asked for and it does the job very well."
"We are now both far more accountable for our current level of business and far more confident in the figures we report to Finance which I am confident are accurate."
"What used to take me weeks of work each year is now produced by one of my managers in seconds."
"This means that we no longer face questions from the Board each month justifying our revenue forecasts, they know we know what we are doing now that Post Production Pro has delivered the tools we needed."
"In consequence, I have had much more time available to further develop the studio's business rather than being wrapped up in tedious but essential administration."
"Deploying Deskspace Post Production Pro has been a WIN : WIN decision for the Studio which is now really seeing the benefit of this highly efficient business management software."
"I believe that entrepreneurial folk in post production will see a measurable benefit from deploying Post Production Pro - liberating them to get on with the business development that is now essential in this very competitive market."

Following deployment and use of their new system for about 10 weeks in mid 2007, Farley made the following observations:

“For us Deskspace’s USP is the benefit of having an information system set up exactly as we want it to be, like with custom software, but with the great benefit of NOT having the open ended costs and uncertainty over whether or not it will actually work that inevitably arise when commissioning custom development”
“Commissioning a Deskspace powered system gave us the benefit of Deskspace’s evident skills in developing an understanding of what we wanted combined with the security of knowing that the Filemaker Pro database platform underlies our new system.”
“Deskspace delivered what they said they would deliver within the time frame that we agreed, at the cost we had agreed and we are very pleased with the result”
“Commissioning Deskspace to supply our new Information System was quite straightforward. First they came to visit us at the Studio and got immersed in the way that we worked – we could see that they then developed an understanding of what we really wanted. We were impressed that they did not seek to bend us to suit their own existing systems. They also made sensible suggestions about how we could improve the ways in which we work so we also gained from their insight into our business.”
“Working with Deskspace I found that I knew where I stood. We received timely delivery and where there was any delay I was kept up-to-date so that there were no surprises nor disappointments.”
"We were impressed by Deskspace’s wholistic approach. They were not just concerned with the Management Accounting side, the desired outcomes that I had identified as my key requirement as the manager of this Post Production Sound Unit at the Studios. They were concerned to understand how the guys in the editing suites and mixing theatres worked and to work out what would work best for them so that they also got what they wanted. I was impressed by Deskspace’s ability to analysis our business needs and that they understood that we, as managers, do not necessarily have the ability to describe what we actually need. They had the ability to work it out and show us what, in fact, we actually needed – and they were right!”
“Deskspace have provided us with a truly professional service, they have shown a very good ability to work out what we needed, both for the staff and for the management; they have installed our new system on time and on budget and we have not had to make any significant compromises in order to use our new Post Production Pro Integrated Information System.”
“The Studio’s business is all about getting stuff just right for our own clients using a combination of images and sound. Our new Post Production Pro Information System from Deskspace does look really good and it really is easy to use.”
Here is what the press says:
- Regional Film & Video
- Broadcast Buyer