Chris Cookson: Taking movies from 35mm to 4K Ultra-HD
Chris Cookson, president of Sony Pictures Technologies, likes the view of the world from Seat 1A of his Cessna 414A. The 67-year-old California native has been passionate about flying since the 1970s, piloting his family to far-flung destinations, and enjoying the ride. It’s a fitting spot for the entertainment technology veteran, who has commanded a front-row seat for most of the major technological changes that have digitized movie making and revolutionized the entertainment industry over the last 20 years.
Cookson (W. P. Carey MBA ’70) has been a key player in many of the industry’s most important high-tech milestones. He has been on the scene for, among other things, the move from analog to digital processing, the development of DVDs, and the emerging ultra-high-definition market.
“This is the most exciting time to be in this part of the business since movies were first created 100 years ago,” says Cookson.
Indeed, until recently, not much about movie-making had changed since the beginning. Sound and color were added, but the basic process remained the same: expose a piece of film, process it, cut it, put it together, make a print and send it to a theater where it was played on a mechanical projector.
“Today, virtually everything is different,” Cookson says. “We’re using electronic cameras, and most post-production is done in digital processing. In the end, we ship a digital file that goes into a digital projection system, so, for most theaters, there is never anything physical at any point in the entire production.”
Bidding farewell to armloads of 35-mm film reels has also opened up a whole new world when it comes to the ways in which viewers can consume entertainment media. Once a film or TV show has been created, it becomes a digital asset — and that asset can be viewed on “any medium we can dream up,” Cookson explains. “The underlying technology we use to get that asset to someone’s TV or tablet or cell phone is basically the same.”
Clearly, Cookson is a devoted techie. In fact, his undergraduate degree, also earned at ASU, is in engineering. But he doesn’t believe in technology just for technology’s sake. He is a proponent of technologies that help to fulfill both the creative vision of moviemakers and the bottom-line demands of the studio.
“Really cool technologies that don’t have a business model behind them are only good for a museum,” Cookson says. “In fact, the real job of technology is to become invisible. The role of these tools — which today are so powerful that we can do anything someone can imagine when it comes to storytelling and production — is to enable filmmakers to carry out their vision for audiences to enjoy in the best possible way.”
That powerful combination of business, technology and entertainment savvy has propelled Cookson through a stellar career, including positions as chief technology officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment, president of the Warner Bros. Technical Operations Division, and vice president and general manager of operations and engineering for CBS. Cookson also spent ten years at ABC, where he won an Emmy award for his work as director of the ABC and International Olympics Broadcast Centers for the 1984 Olympics. The W. P. Carey School recognized his achievements by inducting him into the Alumni Hall of Fame.
Cookson, who moved to Arizona as a teenager, started out by working on lighting and scenery while still attending Scottsdale High School and went on to Phoenix TV station KPHO. He has amassed more patents than he can keep track of, most notably for his work on creating DVD technology and developing tools to digitally realign and sharpen film negatives of classic Technicolor movies.
“I only know a new patent of mine has been issued when I get emails from companies that want to sell me a frame for the patent certificate,” he jokes.
“My job is to understand what we are trying to do in a business context and then put together the right collection of technologies to support that.”
Today, Cookson’s role as the head of Sony Pictures Technologies centers around overseeing the development and implementation of the studio’s technology policy and processes. He is, as he describes it, “the bridge between the electronics company and the studio.”
“My job is to understand what we are trying to do in a business context and then put together the right collection of technologies to support that. The economic driver that makes any technology succeed is how people relate to it and what purpose it serves,” Cookson notes.
His current top priorities include working with Sony and other studios on the technologies needed to support the distribution of entertainment in 4K ultra-HD (a new technology that provides pictures with four times as much detail as regular high-definition); working on architectures for new camera designs and for the workflows that go with new digital systems for creating higher-quality content; and developing cloud-based tools and methods to improve production and distribution processes.
Cookson is also overseeing the development of a new production and distribution backbone for Sony. The project’s goal is two-fold: to cut down on redundant efforts during post-production, and make distribution processes more nimble in order to keep up with the rapidly evolving ways in which people consume entertainment today.
“Without the ability to integrate and automate the various technologies and processes, you miss the opportunity to grow with the marketplace, which now includes thousands of outlets in the broadcast, cinema, cable, satellite, Internet and mobile channels,” Cookson explains.
Though his job has him stuck on more 12-hour commercial flights to Japan than he would like (he uses the time to catch up on recent favorites like Skyfall and House of Cards), Cookson’s passion for the job and the industry is obvious. “It has been thrilling to watch the way the industry’s technological capabilities have evolved. We can do things today that seemed impossible only a decade ago.”
If the next decade brings as much change to the industry as the last, one can only imagine what Cookson and his peers will be working on in 10 years. For him, it will certainly be the continuation of a fascinating career — and a wild ride in the pilot’s seat.
This story was first published in the Autumn 2013 issue of the
W. P. Carey magazine.
