With an appearance from new CEO Keiji Oishi right at the start, this interview with Jarred Land – the outgoing CEO of RED following the Nikon acquisition – is fascinating; it could go either way...
The interview – by YouTuber Scott Balkum – gives a brilliant new insight into the Nikon acquisition of cinema camera firm RED. Former CEO Jarred Land (now officially an 'advisor') shares, in his relaxed style, the whole story from his perspective. It starts from the point Nikon and RED had a patent discussion 'on pause' with the lawyers. This is presumably the case that was dismissed last year, but clearly RED were worried enough for the CEOs to start talking, and they didn't stop until Nikon owned RED. Now RED users have a lot of questions, and here are some interesting answers.
From here on, the interview seems to settle into a conversation which will seem very reassuring for fans of RED – and the company's culture. Jarred Land with his backward baseball cap might seem half a world away from the culture of a Japanese camera company, but he clearly seems to have found a kindred spirit in his successor, Keiji, who earned Land's respect for his involvement in the Nikon Z9.
As he puts it, the takeover is "The opposite of hostile," but he does acknowledge that there are two different cultures. He specifically notes that the press releases have definitely changed to a more corporate tone, for example, but also suggests that the change isn't bad.
The interview goes on to discuss what is likely to happen for current RED users and the possibilities. Will there be firmware updates for existing RED hardware (spoiler – the team haven't been let go for now at least). RED's upgrade program (the ability to replace parts of your device for a fee) does, however, seem to get discussed in the past tense. The implication is this was already a problem for RED.
In general, though, Land seems to be making it his mission to keep open communication with customers, and this is a fascinating start. Scott Balkum is a professional cinematographer with a YouTube channel to help filmmakers, and a RED user, and was clearly a good choice for this.
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