Sony Pictures Technologies president Chris Cookson discussed industry trends and his company’s development of a production backbone, Tuesday at the HPA Tech Retreat.

Among his observations:

–“As the market fractionalizes, the number of participants in any channel will shrink. We have to find ways to tailor what we do in how we create content and how we get it to market.” 

–“Everything is going digital. What is missing is how things mesh with one another. We are very dependent on the physical labor of moving things around.”

–“We need to face the fact that the market for each project will probably be smaller. The number of projects that will be hugely successful is likely to decline in the face of expanding choices.” 

Cookson said the production backbone for the creation and distribution of content is being developed with IBM and Sony. The first film in production that is using the system is Roland Emmerich’s upcoming “2012.”

Said Cookson: “Most of the principal photography on ‘2012’ is finished. We are starting production on a second film using the system. We are very encouraged by the progress so far.”

As to the impact on the production team, he related: “They are not being asked to change the way they work. If you want to work with Avid, you work with Avid. It is our job to manage the data in such a way that the creative process is improved upon, rather than telling people to adapt.

“The vision is that five years from now … it will be an imperative to be in a more datacentric environment than we are in today, which is very labor intensive.”

He concluded: “It is critical to recognize trends and prepare the system.”