Media Tech SPAC plc has announced the completion of its acquisition of Drylab R&D A/S, a leading film and TV production SaaS platform in Scandinavia.
The board of directors of the company believe the combination of the disruptive Drylab technology with the big studio experience and global network of the Company’s executives positions Drylab for significant growth.
With the proliferation of streaming platforms, global film and TV production has expanded rapidly. In the UK alone, the total spend on film and high-end TV productions for the 12 months to March 2022 reached a record high of £6.6bn – a 102% increase on the 12 months to March 2021 and 56% greater than the previous record of £4.2bn for the year to March 2020.1 This reflects a substantial global target market for Drylab, which has previously been focused on Scandinavia – where it is a market leader in Norway and Sweden.
Drylab is well-positioned for growth as, following the acquisition, it is backed by executives and senior management with significant global industry experience, including having worked together for over 25 years at Warner Bros and holding senior positions at other major studios such as Universal and Paramount Pictures. The Directors believe that the Drylab technology is the only solution that combines an on-set production tool and digital dailies (filmed takes) platform. It enhances the film production process by:
- Providing an intuitive on-set production tool for director, director of photography and script Supervisor – replacing primarily paper-based processes
- Offering a robust digital dailies platform that enables all key stakeholders to review and share dailies in real time during production and post-production
- Combining filmed takes with production metadata for superior search and retrieval
- Working offline to support collaboration irrespective of remoteness of location
- Ensuring instant and secure distribution of captured media on location to expedite decision making
In addition, by replacing multiple paper-based processes, Drylab offers a solution to help drive down the substantial waste and emissions from film and TV production – with the production of a single hour of television involving the emission of 9.2 tonnes of CO2, which is more than the average person in the UK for a whole year.2
Drylab R&D A/S was founded by technologist Audun Vaaler and film producer Stein B Kvae, who are remaining with the business and multi-award-winning cinematographer John Christian Rosenlund.
John Mahtani, CEO of Media Tech SPAC plc, commented: “We are thrilled to have completed the acquisition of Drylab and we are excited to bring this world-leading film and TV production platform to the global market. Drylab was developed by filmmakers to develop systems and technology to assist their own filmmaking – we believe no other solution provides the same package of features. This traditionally paper-based industry is ripe for disruption, and we are now perfectly positioned to do exactly that.”
Rick Senat, non-executive chairman of Media Tech SPAC plc, added: “It’s fantastic to bring this process to a close and start distributing Drylab beyond Scandinavia to the whole world. This deal will also enable the Drylab developers to spend more time improving the platform and developing new features to make films quicker, cheaper and greener to produce. We are very excited to embark on the next step on our mission to transform the film-making industry.”
