Exclusives

The Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR) provided an update on the latest EIDR technology changes and updates, including the new website search experience and the addition of cloud-based data distribution with Amazon Data Exchange, on 23rd May, during the EIDR Annual Participant Meeting (APM) at the Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS) at The Culver Theater.

Richard Kroon, EIDR technology director, hosted the panel session “EIDR Technology: Now and Coming Soon,” which also touched on upcoming changes to the registry and provided an update on one’s ability to report on the EIDR Registry.

“Richard and I have been really focused on, [for] the last almost two years . . .  and I guess you [Richard] for the last 10 years, in trying to find new ways to upgrade the technology and bring better services to all of our members,” Hollie Choi, EIDR managing director, pointed out at the start of the session. “The folks on the stage are some of our partners in that,” she told attendees. Kroon then went on to introduce the panelists.

Jason Arnold, client partner and senior principal at Slalom, a business and technology consulting firm, noted his firm partnered with EIDR to “help revamp their website.”

Jim Whelehan, senior account executive, media and entertainment at MicroStrategy, pointed out he has been a senior account executive in the media and entertainment industry for “many, many years, and working with EIDR for almost about 10 years. It’s nice to be here really truly partnering with them.”

Kroon pointed out that Premiere Digital Services serves as a partner with EIDR on the back-end.

Cole Gonzalez, director of client product support at Premiere Digital Services, noted that his company works with EIDR “in a couple different ways, but primarily built a custom application” for EIDR providing de-duplication title review.

Moving on, Kroon said: “Let’s start off with the website,” noting it was “state of the art in 2010, and it’s “now famously rather old and sad.” EIDR “wanted to revamp it and make it more usable, more approachable, add more functionality into it.”

The revamped website is “new and happy, and I find this strangely disturbing,” Kroon said. If nothing else, EIDR received a clear indication of “why you engage professionals to do what they do well,” he noted, adding: “That’s why we partnered with Slalom.”

Slalom has about 14,000 consultants globally across six different countries, 200 in Los Angeles, that support media and entertainment like myself, as well as other industries across the LA market, Arnold said. “We were really happy and proud to be able to partner with EIDR to help revamp the website. Hopefully it will look a little bit better than this” when it is completed and “I think we have a few wire frames to show you.”

Conversations between EIDR and Slalom probably started two or three months ago, Arnold said, adding the site will “go live soon.”

The Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit event was produced by MESA in association with the Hollywood IT Society and presented by Amazon Studios Technology, with sponsorship by Fortinet, Genpact, Prime Focus Technologies, Signiant, Softtek, Convergent, Gracenote, Altman Solon, AppTek, Ascendion, Coresite, EPAM, MicroStrategy, Veritone, CDSA, EIDR and PDG Consulting.