If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that remote and distributed post-production workflows aren’t just possible, they’re here, and they’re ready for action. At Adobe, we’ve seen Adobe Premiere Pro used at the center of cloud-based editing for everything from Hollywood blockbusters and streaming television hits to global sports events and nightly news programming.
While some shows make headlines for their record-breaking budgets, most face extreme pressure to cut production costs to remain viable. These shrinking budgets affect locations, sets, special effects, and even production workflows, with showrunners looking for any possible ways to cut costs and speed up turnaround times.
Unlike traditional post-production, which often involves setting up a dedicated editing suite near the filming location, remote workflows allow editors to work together seamlessly from anywhere in the world. This eliminates the need to move people and equipment, saving money and time while reducing the environmental impact.
Unscripted television faces its own unique editing challenges. Multiple cameras run constantly to capture footage from every possible angle. For editors, it creates an almost overwhelming task, with hundreds of hours of footage and endless potential ways to construct an intriguing narrative. Modern cloud-based solutions have huge potential to transform editing workflows by giving teams the close collaboration and fast access to footage with search and AI-powered capabilities that they need to deliver an edit that audiences will love.
We’ve seen many examples of how a cloud-based editing workflow speeds up production, but recently we also saw how the cost-savings can give a production a green light.
Bringing “Come Dine With Me” back to screens
When a mandate to cut costs hit global media company ITV Studios, it even affected the hit reality TV series “Come Dine With Me.” Produced by the ITV Studios label Multistory Media for Channel 4, it’s one of the company’s most iconic shows in the U.K., following a group of five people as they host dinner parties for each other weekly and compete to win the title of best host.
After 21 seasons, it looked like the show’s time was up. Rising production costs put season 22 on hold, especially because the detailed production made the show such a hit. Each episode is filmed in the host’s house, using multiple cameras to capture the guests — and their reactions — for every second of the dinner party. The show’s editing is key to its popularity, as audiences have just five days to get to know the contestants and decide who they’re rooting for. The editing team traditionally worked in close collaboration from an editing suite on location to create the engaging storylines.
ITV needed to make cuts without losing what makes “Come Dine With Me” special. The company partnered with Edit Cloud to make the switch from its on-premises editing suite to a fully cloud-based editing workflow built around Premiere Pro. While the long-time editing team was naturally worried about making such a big change, tailored training through Edit Cloud Academy helped them realize the benefits of both Premiere Pro and the cloud.
New technologies, including native AI-powered tools in Premiere Pro such as Text-Based Editing, accelerate logging and prep, helping to keep extensive hours of footage organized and accessible in 60 percent less time. Editors can work anywhere without losing out on the critical collaboration experience. In fact, in some ways collaboration has gone up as anyone can review cuts or leave notes at any time — not just people working in the editing suite that day.
Editors can also transform the way that they edit with Speech to Text and Text-Based Editing capabilities in Premiere Pro. These allow editors to automatically create transcripts from footage and then edit as easily and cutting and pasting text — a huge boon for the world of unscripted television where no one knows what the story will be until they see the footage.
In total, working with Edit Cloud and Premiere Pro accelerates the post workflow by up to 30 percent. Between shorter post-production time, reduced travel, and fewer infrastructure requirements, ITV expect to see significant savings, and over the next few years there is an ambition for 50 percent of all unscripted in the UK to be done in cloud.