Warner Bros Non-Theatrical Licensing

Date

2024

Client

Filmbankmedia

Location

London

Recursive delivered a complete digital transformation, from inception to delivery using our 'Player-Coach' model. The Result, a project previously deemed too complex by another vendor, delivered within 3 years. A first of its kind licensing platform that allows B2C and B2B customers the ability to license content anywhere in the world, for any market.

Challenge & Solution

The Challenge: Navigating the Logic of Studio Rights

Film and TV licensing is a domain defined by extreme complexity and institutional entropy. Filmbankmedia sought to transcend legacy constraints by building a global platform capable of delivering a traditional e-commerce experience over a non-traditional architectural foundation.

The technical hurdles were twofold:

The Logic Puzzle: Computing billions of parameters across studio rights, territory-specific variations, and customer tiers in real-time.
The Performance Gap: Delivering this complex computation via a low-latency, distributed system capable of performing at scale across the globe.

The Solution: A Bounded-Context Ecosystem

Rather than building a monolithic "black box," Recursive architected a series of loosely coupled systems. By applying the principle of Separation of Concerns, we ensured that the massive computational load of studio rights was compartmentalised, allowing for a fast, intuitive user journey that masked the underlying complexity.

This wasn't just a software build; it was a clean up of legacy data debt, transforming a fragmented landscape into a high-performance engine for global licensing.

Our Process

The Recursive Methodology in Action

We were embedded within the Filmbankmedia project from inception to cutover, focusing on three pillars: Clarity, Integrity, and Delivery.

Visualising the Unified Vision: We mapped the transition from fragmented legacy processes to a streamlined future state, consolidating multiple data sources into a single, high-integrity source of truth.

High-Stakes Procurement: By authoring and managing the £500k RFP for the core 'Booking Application,' we eliminated vendor ambiguity and secured a partner capable of delivering to our exacting architectural standards.

Global Orchestration: We aligned geographically dispersed development teams, ensuring that separate workstreams functioned as a single, coherent machine rather than a collection of silos.

Automated Quality & CI/CD: We moved beyond manual testing, providing front-end automation suites to support modern CI/CD pipelines. This ensured the platform was stable, scalable, and ready for rapid iteration from day one.

Precision Migration & Adoption: We executed a complex data migration and ETL strategy, backed by a human-centric UAT and training programme that prioritised genuine user adoption over mere 'system compliance.'

Result Driven

The Outcome: A Unified Architectural Ecosystem

The legacy environment—a fragmented mix of MACCS, Caesar, and Umbraco—was defined by "dirty data" and high operational friction. Recursive replaced this chaos with a loosely coupled, high-integrity ecosystem that prioritised Separation of Concerns.

Integrated Quad-System Architecture: We successfully delivered and integrated four mission-critical platforms: a core ERP (Acumatica), a bespoke Middleware Booking Application, a high-performance CMS (WordPress), and a custom Title Inventory Management system.

Data Sanctity: Through a rigorous ETL and migration strategy, we transformed years of dispersed, "dirty" data into a clean, unified source of truth, eliminating the "Translation Tax" that had previously plagued the business.

Resilient Performance: By ensuring the architecture was loosely coupled, we created a system where each function (Finance, Booking, Content, Inventory) operates within its own bounded context. This prevents system-wide cascading failures and allows for independent scaling.

The 'Quiet' Go-Live: Despite the complexity of replacing three legacy pillars, the transition was defined by technical stability and high user confidence. We didn't just deliver software; we delivered Operational Flow.

Recursives exceptional problem-solving skills and dedication to the task were instrumental in its progression.

Paul Hopwood Chief Operating Officer, Filmbankmedia