Talk about technology has filled the convention hall corridors in Cannes for a decade; now various tech companies are flocking to the Croisette to help folks upgrade, upload or otherwise add oomph to their aging content.
One such outfit on hand this go-round is L.A.-based postproduction facility illuminate Hollywood, which is on the Croisette for the first time to tout its iConform solution to the international marketplace. The iConform technology is designed to bring programs up to the current HD and 4K media standards and thus hopefully to generate new life — and extract new revenue — from dormant assets.
Stateside, illuminate Hollywood has already remastered series for CBS, Fox and Universal, among others. The solution has been used, for example, to create the latest HD versions of The X-Files, 24, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Pee-wee’s Playhouse. From there these series can go on to find new viewers in the digital space and other yet to be developed outlets. (Any U.S. series more than 5 or 6 years old needs such scanning and polishing work done on it.)
In launching its 4K conversion solution internationally, illuminate Hollywood, which is privately held, recently hired content rights exec Steve Galloway as senior vp business development. His job: to introduce the iConform technology abroad and to broker distribution deals for independent clients, serving as the conduit in finding new audiences for the enhanced programs.
“The libraries of major film and TV studios, independent producers and distributors are full of assets sitting idle when they could be generating significant revenues. This programming isn’t marketable because it doesn’t meet current HD broadcast standards,” Galloway said Sunday in Cannes.
He told The Hollywood Reporter he’d be meeting with some of the key European rights holders – the BBC, Beta, TF1, ITV – whose rich back catalogs are likely crying out for a dusting off.
“Any asset that is valuable needs to be digitized and stored for current and future delivery,” he said, emphasizing that this, his first such market on behalf of the service, would be about “getting us into the discussion and capitalizing on relationships I’ve built abroad over the years.”
Before joining illuminate Hollywood, Galloway ran his own consulting firm and held senior roles in content acquisitions, licensing and distribution for companies including A&E Home Entertainment, Nelvana and Universal Music.
