Hollywood Productions Reel in Wake of Japanese Tsunami -- Consideration of Digital Workflows Accelerates

The recent and ongoing Japanese disasters continue to cause mass suffering. And, apart from the human toll (against which everything else pales in significance), tremendous shock waves continue to ripple across the globe. Hollywood is not immune. And, those realities are accelerating adoption of digital workflows across television and movie productions.

The specific driver for this reality is a significant HD tape shortage in Hollywood because one of the major tape manufacturing factories in the world -- Sony's -- was heavily damaged by the disaster (click here to read more about this reality). Hollywood, perhaps surprisingly, still largely depends on such video tapes for motion picture and television productions. Recent meetings I attended in Los Angeles last week confirm that there is a mass scramble for such tapes right now. At the same time, consideration of digital workflows amongst those same Hollywood ranks -- in lieu of tapes (and vulnerable supply chains) -- has accelerated because the business ranks have demanded immediate solutions from their technical teams.

Hollywood is notorious for being reactive (I know this from my own personal experiences, having worked within the major studios for nearly a decade). This is one such example amidst the poignant fragility and suffering in Japan.