Production Minds Launches Cloud-based Collaboration Platform for the Film, TV & Video Industry
BUDAPEST, Hungary(29 Apr 2013)
After 1.5 years of development, Hungarian startup Production Minds (http://www.production-minds.com) launched its cloud-based creative collaboration suite PMP on the 22nd of April 2013, bringing a fresh new approach to the world of film, TV & video production. During its beta period the platform received strong positive feedback from the filmmaking community.
The cutting-edge solution addresses the bottlenecks in the pre-production process of virtually all script-based film, TV and video projects as well as commercials, music videos and corporate video materials. The Production Minds Platform (PMP) enables industry professionals to keep all their data in one secure central location, while managing the pre-production process through an intuitive online interface that lets crew members stay always up to date and boost efficiency across the board.
The Budapest-based company utilized the unique dual background of Founder and CTO Gábor Kertai, a software engineer also well versed in the inner workings of the film industry. He identified major bottlenecks in the pre-production process, such as inadequate communication, often chaotic information flow, poor utilization of assets and resources, not to mention the usage of off-the-shelf software that do not meet the special needs of the film industry. The company conducted an extensive survey amongst industry professionals (film and TV as well as the video industry including professionals working on commercials and music videos) to confirm these bottlenecks.
"After seeing the survey results, we understood that these issues are global for the film industry" - commented CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Jonsson. "Every year approximately 100 billion US dollars are invested in different productions worldwide. A significant chunk of that investment is literally wasted because of inadequate workflows and inefficient communication."
Surprising as it may be, but in 2013 approximately 80% of production crews still share time-sensitive and confidential information amongst themselves via unsecured email threads or file sharing systems. Not only small-scale or indie projects, but even multi-million dollar Hollywood productions. The Production Minds survey also showed that 72% of film industry professionals still use simple spreadsheets to manage production-workflows. Bottlenecks like this result in miscommunication and decisions being made based on outdated information. The Production Minds Platform (PMP) promises an end to this chaos as it keeps all data in a central, secure location where everything is updated in real time and enable crews to focus more on the creative aspects of productions.
"I first realized, there isn't a good system addressing all pain points in the pre-production process when I was working for a client who wanted more transparent control over a production" - recalled Kertai. "Either there are those expensive desktop products that lack the collaborative features pivotal in today's interconnected world; or the simple online services that do not address the entire pre-production process nor the special needs of film industry professionals."
Production Minds collected some of the brightest minds of the Hungarian IT-scene, with their developers hailing from industry players like the NASDAQ-listed LogMeIn and Hungarian IT-powerhouse Docler. Beta-testing of PMP started in October 2012, incorporating feedback from test-users to fine-tune the product for commercial launch. The system was thoroughly tested by hundreds of film industry professionals worldwide from the U.S., through Asia, Australia, Russia and Europe. PMP received overwhelming positive feedback from the testers as well as the visitors of NAB Trade Show in 2012 and the European Film Market during the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013. One of the testers called PMP a "home run", while an L.A.-based director/producer expressed interest by saying: "the level of organization this tool offers is amazing."
Please find a short teaser video of PMP here: https://vimeo.com/49240796
About Production Minds
Production Minds is a Budapest-based IT-startup developing a cloud-based production management and creative collaboration platform (Production Minds Platform or PMP) built specifically for professionals working on film, television and commercial video projects. The company was co-founded in 2011 by filmmaker/software engineer Gábor Kertai former co-founder/IT-director of LogMeIn and CEO Daniel Jonsson, former Managing Director of Red Dot Photo Agency and CRM Director of Scala Business Solutions. The Production Minds Platform was developed for script-based film and video productions of all sizes, from commercials, through short and indie films to feature film projects. PMP utilizes cloud technology to keep film crews organized by enabling access to a single set of documents updated in real time. The product focuses on access and version control, efficient workflow for film crews and the creation of secure online archives for use in later productions.
About the Survey
In October 2011, an online survey was sent to readers of DV (Digital Video) and Millimeter publications. The online tool SurveyGizmo was used for conducting the survey and compiling the data. More than three in four respondents are from North America (77.8%) followed by Europe (11.3%) and Asia (5.9%). Email open rates of 31.8% were typical for this professional audience according to NB Media with 275 survey completes.
For the detailed findings of the survey please click here: http://www.productionminds.com/future-in-the-cloud/