In its new COST ALLOCATION REPORT, TrendWatch Inc. details how U.S. studios allocate costs when adding new capabilities to their operations.
"Today's studios are facing difficult decisions on how they invest in talent, technology and physical facilities," said Jim Whittington, TrendWatch founding partner. "Given the importance that studios and their clients place on their capabilities and their people, understanding how costs are allocated for return on investment (ROI) is crucial for studios and the suppliers that sell to them."
In the COST ALLOCATION REPORT, TrendWatch writers and experts discuss industry cost allocation and present specific conclusions and recommendations for industry suppliers, educators, trainers, studio and facility owners and managers and industry analysts. Some of the key findings in this report include: * Adding new employees and freelancers is the biggest cost allocation category.* Adding new software applications and upgrades are the second biggest cost category for new capabilities --15% of studios' annual cost allocations are for adding new capabilities.* 19% of studios' annual cost allocation for adding new capabilities is for hiring new people.* The larger studios have higher cost allocation for adding new employees and freelancers.* For studios with 20-plus employees, 29% of annual cost allocations for new capabilities are for hiring new people.* Smaller studios (less than 10 employees) allocate a higher percentage for new software applications than big studios.* Freelancers allocate 19% of their budget to new software applications and upgrades, while studios with one to four employees allocate 13%, and studios with 20-plus employees allocate only 8% of their annual cost allocation budget for new software applications and upgrades.* Four cost categories (people, new software, video editing/compositing systems, hardware peripherals) accounted for more than half (58%) of studios' annual cost allocation for new capabilities:
Some of the cost allocation categories in this report include: design/creation workstations; editing/compositing systems; hardware peripherals/video cards; internal network upgrades/storage; new software applications; new employees and freelancers; training; tech support and maintenance; physical facilities (furniture, space, etc.); software scripts and customization; and new software add-ons and plug-ins.
The 20-page TrendWatch COST ALLOCATION REPORT is available now for $575. This report is only published in electronic Adobe Acrobat PDF format, and is available in the TrendWatch eStore: www.trendwatch.com/special.html.
Since 1996, TrendWatch of Mill Valley, California, has provided an independent resource for tracking on-going business metrics. TrendWatch reports are based on original market research with studio/facility business owners/ executives and used by leading suppliers and analysts. For more information, please visit www.trendwatch.com,
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
