Milt Shefter

Milton R. Shefter is a Los Angeles-based film and media-asset archivist and preservationist. He is best known for the creation, design, and management of the extensive Paramount Pictures Asset Protection Program,[3] and for co-authoring the 2007 report from the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Digital Dilemma, as well as its 2012 followup, The Digital Dilemma 2.

Milt Shefter
Milt Shefter, Founder and President of Miljoy Ent. Inc. and 2004 President of Association of Moving Image Archivists
Born
Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
EducationSyracuse University
Occupation(s)Film archivist and preservationist
SpouseJoy[1]
Parent(s)Bernard and Ann[2]

Early life and career

Shefter was born in Reading, Pennsylvania.[2] He graduated from Syracuse University in New York.[4] He moved to California to work for Consolidated Film Industries, eventually becoming Vice President of CFI's Video Division.[5] He then worked at Bonded Services, an international media storage and distribution company,[4] where he created a computerized tracking system that enabled studios and other content owners to inventory and track their films, television programs, and other moving image assets.[5]

Paramount Pictures

In 1987, Paramount Pictures retained Shefter as Director of Library Resources to build an archive to preserve Paramount's extensive library of motion picture and television programs.[4][6] Paramount recognized that it needed “asset protection” when it realized that "all its holdings were in Los Angeles, and if a big earthquake came along, it could lose everything."[4]

Shefter created a plan and supervised the design and construction of a new four-story 40,000 square foot archive building on Paramount's Hollywood studio lot, featuring environmentally-controlled vaults.[4][5] Several hundred thousand cans of film and tape, some dating back to Paramount's inception, were located worldwide, identified, bar-coded, and consolidated in this one central location.[6] Shefter also implemented a “protection-by-separation” strategy for archiving Paramount's valuable and irreplaceable film and video assets.[5] Mirror-image archival vaults were built at an underground facility in Pennsylvania and in London, England.[4][5][7][8] This was the very first motion picture studio worldwide with a total Asset Protection Program.[4][7]

Shefter has performed similar services for other major studios and other organizations with large libraries of moving images and recorded sound content in the United States and Europe.[4][5]

Subsequent preservation work

In 1994, Shefter headed the Task Force on Public Awareness for the National Film Preservation Board,[4][9] which led to the formulation of the NFPB's National Film Preservation Plan.[9][10] Shefter was also on the original design team for the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center of the Library of Congress, located in Culpeper, Virginia.[9]

Shefter testified before the National Fire Protection Association for revisions in their storage standards on nitrate film.[11][12][13] According to his company website, he has also testified as an expert witness on nitrate film for the United States Department of Justice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C.[13]

The Digital Dilemma

In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asked its Science and Technology Council to study the state of digital preservation worldwide.[14] The Council created a Digital Motion Picture Archival Project, and appointed Shefter as its Lead.[15] Together with Andy Maltz, Director of the Council, Shefter co-authored and co-edited The Digital Dilemma, the very first "white paper" from the Academy.[9][14][15] Published in November 2007, The Digital Dilemma addressed the effects of digital technology on the motion picture industry.[14][15]

The Digital Dilemma won the 2008 Outstanding Preservation Publication Award from the Society of American Archivists, the oldest and largest archivist association in North America.[16][17] As a result of The Digital Dilemma, the Academy partnered with the Library of Congress on the Digital Motion Picture Archive Framework Project.[14][18]

In 2012, Shefter and Maltz co-authored a follow-up report, The Digital Dilemma 2, produced in partnership with the Academy and the Library of Congress, and focusing more on independent filmmakers and small archives.[9][14][19]

Other achievements and awards
Shefter at IFFI 2015

Shefter is a former Governor of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.[5] SMPTE has elevated him to Fellow membership status, "awarded to individuals who have, by proficiency and contributions, attained an outstanding rank among engineers or executives in the motion-picture, television or related industries."[20] In 1992, Shefter received SMPTE’s Citation for Outstanding Service to the Society.[21] In 2013, he received The Archival Technology Medal from SMPTE "in recognition of his long-standing and continued leadership contributions to the motion picture and television industry in defining practices for the storage and archive of the industry’s film legacy and digital media content."[22]

Shefter is a past President of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, and served as Chair of the International Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations.[9] He served on the Library of Congress's National Film Preservation Board.[5][23] He is an associate member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and directs and narrates their annual awards show.[5] He is also a member of the Writers Guild of America[5] and of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[3][5]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milt Shefter.

References
  1. "A Valentine to Cinematographers". American Cinematographer. American Society of Cinematographers. May 2016. p. 80. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  2. "Milton Shefter in the 1940 Census". Archives. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  3. DeMott, Rick (15 December 2011). "Academy's Tech Council Adds Four New Members". Animation World Network. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  4. Yager, Fred; Yager, Jan (2009). Career Opportunities in the Film Industry (PDF) (2nd ed.). Infobase Publishing. pp. 224–225. ISBN 978-0-8160-7352-8. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  5. "Shefter to AIA: Archivists Set Goals For Restoring And Preserving Irreplaceable Assets". Below the Line. January 1, 2004. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2022.
  6. "Elecompack Case Study" (PDF). Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  7. "Paramount Pictures Corporation Preservation Statement" (PDF). Library of Congress. 12 February 1993. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  8. "Study of the Current State of American Television and Video Preservation" (PDF). Library of Congress. 6 March 1996. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  9. "Show #25...The "REEL" Truth About The Digital Dilemma We All Face! (June 26)". Home Movie Legacy. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  10. "Film Preservation Plan: Overview". Library of Congress. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  11. "NFPA® 40 Standard for the Storage and Handling of Cellulose Nitrate Film, 2011 Edition" (PDF). Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research. 2011. p. 40-3. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  12. "Committee on Hazardous Chemicals: Minutes of NFPA 40 and 400 First Draft Meeting, November 5‐7, 2013" (PDF). National Fire Protection Association. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  13. "Miljoy Media Asset Protection: Milton R. Shefter, President". Miljoy Enterprises. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  14. "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Digital Preservation Pioneer". Library of Congress - Digital Preservation. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  15. "The Digital Dilemma: Strategic Issues in Archiving and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  16. "Preservation Publication Award". Society of American Archivists. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  17. "Awards Acknowledge Outstanding Achievements—2008 SAA Award Recipients". Society of American Archivists. Retrieved 16 Jun 2016.
  18. "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Science & Technology Council". Library of Congress - Digital Preservation. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  19. "The Digital Dilemma 2: Perspectives from Independent Filmmakers, Documentarians and Nonprofit Audiovisual Archives". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  20. "SMPTE Fellows". Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  21. "The Citation for Outstanding Service to the Society Award Recipients". Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers. Retrieved 16 June 2016. In recognition of his significant contributions to the Hollywood Section over a prolonged period of time and for his active participation in the arrangements for SMPTE national conferences.
  22. "SMPTE Announces 2013 Honorees and Award Winners". Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 16 Jun 2016.
  23. "National Film Preservation Board - Redefining Film Preservation: A National Plan". Library of Congress. 25 July 1994. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
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