Anne Miles GM of The DMC Initiative heads new production industry business ‘International Creative Services’ as executive producer + buyer

New industry business, International Creative Services (ICS), is launched this week to service the changing landscape of the film & video production industry. ICS is intended to be an independent intermediary between clients and suppliers, marrying the right parties and mediating the process headed by Anne Miles (left), former industry consultant and general manager of The DMC Initiative as its executive producer and buyer.

Any freelance producers, creatives or suppliers who are interested in seeking preapproval to work through ICS can register via the Contact page on the website available here.

Miles believes that ICS’s new service is there to solve many of the industry issues for clients, agencies, and for suppliers.

Miles believes inexperienced businesses are now producing content that wasc previously the domain of only the big agencies, more agencies are downsizing their production departments, there are inexperienced people handling film and video productions, and there is an increase in the number of clients who want to work directly with creative suppliers on a project basis – all contributing to the industry chaos.

Miles says there are many involved in managing productions these days who are not equipped to protect the clients from wrong supplier choices, inflated budgets, no consideration to the creative needs of the job, cost overruns, poor creative solutions by cutting budgets in the wrong places, and having uncontrolled process.

Suppliers who are not experienced in certain roles are now promoting themselves as full service, or in services they are weak, and inexperienced clients can’t discern this until it is too late. At times there is no one representing the stakeholders and the only producers involved are the ones employed by the suppliers with a vested interest in the outcome.

Common bug-bears of the industry is the cost involved in pitching and uncontrolled payment terms. ICS offers clients a free independent ballpark and top line overview for their projects in order to test viability without spending days and incurring freelance producer fees, preparing full creative submissions or wasting suppliers time when jobs are simply not viable and will offer an escrow service to protect both clients and suppliers.

ICS is independent and not aligned with any agency, supplier or client and will be offering full transparency and disclosure about where clients’ money is being spent. There will be no in-house productions, so that ICS remains fully independent, and objective. Miles aims to offer independent clients the benefit of group buying through ICS as the business gains momentum.

ICS’s project managers and producers will be hand picked and will be required to go through stringent ICS process training, a certification process and will be supervised during all projects. All productions will have consistent process regardless of who is involved in project managing. ICS will also source and manage creatives to avoid reliance on unskilled and unproven suppliers taking over the creative process in-house.

ICS will also manage & negotiate talent, copyright, library and asset management, duplication and distribution for clients either on a project basis or by retainer for those agencies and clients who are losing control of their contractual obligations and IP.

Says Miles: “I have heard a lot of talk about the industry problems lately and I’m the kind of person who is keen to do something proactive to solve it rather than simply talk. I’m excited about getting back to my core skills in a business that I’m addicted to. I do sincerely hope I can make an impact across the business to improve the way we all work and to improve the standard of work at the same time.”

Miles consolidates her extensive industry experience across agencies (formerly Head of TV at multi-nationals McCann-Erickson, J.Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicon and Grey Worldwide), post-production (MRPPP), film companies (Exit Films, Great Southern Films), visual effects (Fuel VFX) and hybrid production service (The DMC Initiative); with many projects under her care winning both creative and effectiveness awards. ICS will operate across both Melbourne and Sydney at launch, later moving into other regions.