Stephen West, Senior Global Partnerships Manager at IMAGO, discusses how IMAGO partners with production companies to provide a world of visuals—from stock photos to Royalty Free videos, archival content and more—helping creators bring their stories to life.
How IMAGO Supports Production Companies Worldwide
By Stephen West
Since the 1990’s when IMAGO was created we have been working with new technologies to provide photographers with enhanced sales opportunities for their images. We now offer a comprehensive offering of videos and stills from our News, Sports, Entertainment, and Creative collections. Our ever-expanding global partner network delivers up to 200,000 new pieces of content every day.
We have enjoyed providing visual assets to Production Companies and filmmakers from these early years in the DACH region and have partnered on hundreds of documentaries, blockbuster films and regional films produced throughout this region.
IMAGO has expanded its content partnerships internationally over the last few years, and we now offer over 800 million videos and stills. We also have access to audio files. This has partly been driven by the understanding that content is king in the rapidly evolving world of film and television, and has now expanded into the international space in this industry.
With the rise of digital platforms, streaming services, and an increasingly interconnected global market, filmmakers and production companies are on the lookout for fresh, engaging, and diverse content, which we can offer from our Rights Managed and Royalty Free collections.
Offering our work to global production companies has led to exciting opportunities and significant exposure. Alongside this, IMAGO has expanded its international sales team significantly, its marketing focus and content team, which has led to many of these international partnerships and collaborations.
The rapidly evolving world of film and television, means filmmakers and production companies are on the lookout for fresh, engaging, and diverse content. Whether it be a screenwriter, director, producer, or content creator of any kind, offering our work to the right person or company has led to exciting projects coming our way.
The global demand for content has skyrocketed in recent years. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ have transformed the way people consume films and television shows, creating an insatiable appetite for fresh material. In addition, traditional film studios, production companies, and independent filmmakers all need a constant flow of stories to bring to the screen.
The boom in global content consumption and the expansion of our content offerings has offered IMAGO the opportunity to reach broader audiences in this space as a single film, more often than not, is distributed worldwide. Beyond this, our content has been licensed in original screenplays, web series, television shows, animations, education series, DVD releases, theatrical releases and adaptations.
For production companies and filmmakers, IMAGO has become a reliable source; we offer a reliable workflow, which means we can deliver content on time.
To break into the global Production market, we have listened to the feedback and developed our archives to reflect the diversity of genres, international voices and alternative perspectives.
We have started attending industry events such as the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival, or AFM (American Film Market) and FootageFest. These really help us to connect with the film industry. Many of these events are excellent places to showcase our content and meet potential partners.
To conclude: As the demand for fresh, compelling content grows we find ourselves growing in this space. By understanding the needs of the market, building solid relationships and staying flexible, we are continuing to establish ourselves as a successful content provider in this dynamic, global industry.
The credit of the cover photo: IMAGO / Westend61