How FileMaker is used in the Video Business
We have a number of clients who create, rent, or sell movies, videos and video equipment. This is a brief overview of how they use FileMaker to run their business.
How to use FileMaker to advance your video business:
1. Use FileMaker to create a massive database of video clips
One of our clients provides interesting video clips for their clients. They note the contents, tag it for various themes and are building a massive database which they can make available to their clients who need to use such clips.
It is all tracked in FileMaker, and in some cases, they are able to actually download and store it within FileMaker as well. So, using FileMaker container fields marked for external storage they accumulated a very large database of many, many gigabytes. This database was a combination of all the various labels, tags, descriptions, keywords, and sometimes the actual video itself as well.
They had an existing FileMaker file from years ago, but we upgraded the entire interface, improved the scripts and accelerated performance for all modules so that it was a much more usable SYSTEM, that “Saves You Stress, Time, Effort, and Money”.
2. Use FileMaker to track your equipment checked out by producers
Another one of our clients produces many documentaries, and they have a team of producers who check out their equipment to create those videos. And once completed, they check the equipment back in. And of course there were the inevitable problems with this, of keeping track of who checked out what, and when it was supposed to be returned. So we built a FileMaker system for it, which included all relevant fields, and would give the office staff an exact understanding of when various pieces of equipment would be returned.
3. Use FileMaker to pay royalties to your video producers
Another one of our media companies rents out subscriptions to its various videos. The royalties for these videos often have to be split up between artist, producer, etc. There are different commission rates depending upon how many parties shared in ownership of the video, as well as which country the video was produced in. So it gets to be a complex calculation of commissions and fees to be paid. But FileMaker tracks it all!
4. Use FileMaker to track equipment sales
Another one of our clients use FileMaker track all of their video equipment. They sell and rent it to companies which need specialized equipment. Although they started with one of the starter packages available in the FileMaker world, we had to make considerable adjustments to it, in order to make it work for their company.
They track sales and rentals. They needed a specialized reporting system which would break out for each piece of equipment the total dollars / percentage for each piece categorized in both the rental and sold category.
This company has a really unique product offering, and FileMaker enhances their efforts to be efficient with just a small admin crew.
So, as you can see, FileMaker Pro is an amazingly diverse piece of software which can be molded and shaped to fit the needs of almost any company. Even in the field of media and videos, there are many different ways in which this fantastic software can be adopted to help a company to succeed.
We like to say that we use FileMaker Pro to build an automated business SYSTEM, which Saves You Stress, Time, Effort and Money. We have done it for many clients over the years, and can do it for you. Give us a call.