Gallelli gets to the point: "It's very impressive to say we have 30,000 hours of footage or 70 million images, but getting people the most appropriate images is most important at the end of the day. So we work with our sales force and a roster of filmmakers to target the kinds of material that are going to be most relevant for our customers."

This ongoing strategy of creating custom or targeted stock footage puts Getty in an interesting gray zone encompassing both library and production house. For example, Gallelli says the company is currently preparing reels of dynamic soccer footage in anticipation of advertisers' needs to coattail on the upcoming World Cup. "So when we look to release new material in 2002, it's less about the quantity and more about filling some of the holes we have in our collection, making sure that we have footage that represents current and building trends."

Some trends though will never be predictable. Gallelli explains, "Post 9/11 there was a huge demand for Americana and heroes, firefighters and police officers. That continues now with requests for relationships and community footage, and naturalistic shots that might use real life people instead of actors or models."

Gallelli points to another example of the ripples caused by September's trauma: Toys 'R' Us and the launch of their flagship store in Times Square. The spot had been completed just prior to Sept. 11 and featured a giraffe strolling through New York toward the new retail location. "For obvious reasons the client decided to pull back on featuring New York. They came to us at the last minute to try and salvage as much as possible. We licensed them scenic North American locations like Alaska and Monument Valley to superimpose the character on top of. It worked really well."

On a global scale, and a happier note, Gallelli sees a trend to region-specific footage. A Hong Kong agency may now want to see Chinese people and behavior in their stock shots where previously they tended to copy the American way of life. Gallelli explains, "This is a big challenge for a stock company because you want to create footage of the highest caliber but it needs to portray local flavor that can be received well in all parts of the world."

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