In-house Outsourcing with Zemap

Since it resided on a drawing board, The Sharp Project has made its purpose clear: to be a hub for small creative digital operations and the industries that assist them. Much is made of the potential for a tenant to pick different talents from within the building to fill a need for a particular assignment, and to a degree it happens; indeed it’s almost inevitable with such breadth and depth available. But when Zemap, a video production tenant, needed some holes filling pronto, they decided to keep it in the house – and got a result.

Collaboration with a host of independents is normal practice for film production crews; even the major broadcasters regularly hire in work for specialist tasks – it’s the bread and butter of most of our tenants. But when you are the production company and you’re a one- or two-man operation, everyone, from the lighting crew to the extras, needs to be drafted in. That’s not a problem for Zemap; it’s their business model. The company is owned and run commercial director Michael Wray and commercial producer Hannah Loughlin, who met while working for Manchester’s Channel M. It was during their time at the channel, which was based in Urbis (but has since downsized and moved to Salford), that Michael and Hannah filled their contacts books with the names that they could trust to produce more or less any kind of video work. Exposure to their fellow tenants at The Sharp Project was therefore relatively low-key: they were on nodding and chatting terms with some, and others had been approached for advice on specific queries they had encountered. This situation seems to be pretty normal throughout the Project.

In January 2011 an agency approached them with an offer of work, which Zemap agreed to do, but they were unable to make much progress on it as the client experienced a few hold-ups and the job was put on ice. But with just one week to go until the unmissable deadline, the client got the go-ahead and instructed Zemap to pick up where they had left off. In one week they had to assemble a complete crew, write the script, find actors, a main presenter and extras, do the filming and complete the post-production. Their first few calls to their regular contacts were as unsuccessful as they suspected they would be, mainly because of the short notice. They had to give a yea or nea pretty quickly, so Michael delivered a Captain Oates-style speech to Hannah and walked out of the container.

The open, glass-fronted nature of containers lining The Street means there’s a certain welcoming ethos inherent in them. It helps make faces familiar and so it wasn’t strange to have Michael knocking on the door and talking business straight away. His first port of call was ABF Productions, who not only found him a location scout who secured two suburban locations and a railway arch, they also put him onto a sound crew, a hair and make-up artist and a superb SFX company whose work was integral to the film. Barcode Media are also set designers and were straight away employed, and they recommended the lighting company. Michael knew that Flyka, located just across The Street, used Steadicam operators, and sorted him out there and then. Flyka’s Tony mentioned his own stills photography service and another wish-list entry was crossed out. He then trekked a gruelling 15 metres to Lemon Casting, who fixed him up with the adult extras. And finally a huge studio space was needed to act as an office in the film, and a word with The Sharp Project’s John Mariner sorted that part out and it was filmed in one of the studios.

Two hours after leaving the container he returned. “I’ve just got everyone I need,” he announced to Hannah as he picked up the phone. And he hadn’t even left the building.

Admittedly, had notice not been so short, Zemap would probably have done what they and most businesses usually do: rely on their trusted contacts. But under pressure, The Sharp Project delivered. The professionals plying their trade from the units here are by their nature small, nimble outfits who aren’t easily overwhelmed by high pressure jobs. But Michael is convinced that the whole ethos here, of crystallising a cross section of the city’s digital creative talent in one place, played its part. “Without being in The Sharp Project, there would have been no face-to-face contact that day. But it’s a really important aspect. In my business it’s crucial to rely on your own contacts and word of mouth recommendations count for a lot,” he says. But those face-to-face meetings, and being able to give and receive quick ad hoc demos, made this job possible. “Really, if I hadn’t been here, it probably would have meant cancellation of the work.”

And that wouldn’t have been very creative.

Here is a video of the finished product:

The client, Tasscar, was probably largely unaware of the manoeuvrings required to produce the film, and that’s exactly how it should be when you hire someone to do a job. Tasscar’s manager of the project said: “I was particularly impressed by Michael’s quiet professionalism; he inspired me with confidence.” That assessment would be hard to disagree with, but it’s also an endorsement of the advantage of working in The Sharp Project.

Stirring the Teapot

Zemap moved into their new double container unit from a single unit in August, and it suits them much better. There’s more room to demo their films to clients and with two people in a single container, it was maxed out for space. Now they are considering taking on an apprentice, and room won’t be an issue. And with business picking up, Michael can foresee a time when they will be taking on more employees and possibly be moving out of a container.

There has been a good deal of reshuffling into and around the Project over the past weeks as tenants outgrow their start-up spaces. IP lawyers Ward Hadaway are set to move into Gold after their long stay in a double container, which will be occupied by Stream Pictures, who have outgrown their single. Lemon Casting are upping from their single and downing in a double and are to be joined by Made in Manchester, while Tunafish Media are streamlining from a double to a single. Barcode Media need covet double 7 no more as they are set to relocate there from double 18. And finally a new single container occupant will be Ruthless Images. If you can read that without humming Alan Freeman’s Pick of the Pops tune, you’re simply too young.

Charlie Hankers

Photos: Tony Holker at Creative Photography & Video

Links

Zemap Professional Video Production :: ABF Pictures :: Flyka :: Lemon Casting :: Creative Photography & Video ::  Ward Hadaway :: Tunafish Media