Independent TV production company September Films is preparing to launch an online trading platform for TV clips called Clipsalesnow.com.
Sally Miles, managing director of September Films, is currently in talks with a number of independent TV production companies regarding third-party representation.
It is believed that United Productions is to be the first company to sign up, although Miles wouldn't confirm any deal. However she expects to have more than 100 minutes of material on offer at launch in eight weeks.
"I'm talking to a lot of big production companies at the moment and we should have a major ITV broadcaster to announce imminently," said Miles.
Clipsalesnow.com is a fully automated service, allowing broadcasters to search for relevant clips that can then be bought and downloaded directly from the website. A licence will follow in the post. The service has been set up by investment from September Films, although the company is looking for other investors to become strategic partners.
Miles has recruited Alessio di Capua from Pearson TV's archive department and will have library research staff on hand for users as well as the website search.
September Films is not alone in realising there is a market for this type of trading platform. The BBC is currently working on ways in which it can make money from its vast archive and has set up Project Irene to migrate the licensing of stock footage and programme clips into an e-commerce-based environment.
BBC Worldwide is currently seeking a financial partner to help with the costs of migrating its library sales business online. Given that the library sends out around 80,000 clips each year to businesses by courier, Project Irene is expected to be a big cost-cutting measure for the corporation. However, it is not expected to launch until summer next year.
