What is Sohonet Core? The Complete Guide to Production Asset Management for Film and TV

What is Sohonet Core?

Sohonet Core is a production-to-enterprise digital asset management system built specifically for film, television, and content-driven organisations. It provides a persistent, secure, and structured system of record for media assets as they move from production into downstream business use - keeping content findable, governed, and ready to generate value long after a project wraps.

Most asset management tools are built for during production, or for marketing teams working with finished content. Core is built for the full lifecycle: from the moment assets are created through to licensing, distribution, franchise reuse, and long-term archive. It connects the production environment to the business teams that depend on what production creates.

In simple terms: Core helps organisations make more money from the content they've already paid to create.

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The problem Core solves

Production creates enormous volumes of valuable assets. Footage, cuts, stems, graphics, stills, documents - the output of a single film or television series represents significant creative and commercial investment. But once a project wraps, those assets often become difficult to find, hard to access, and effectively invisible to the business teams that could use them.

Assets get buried in production storage. Rights and provenance information gets separated from the files themselves. Teams that could reuse, license, or build on existing content either don't know it exists or can't get to it quickly enough to act. Franchises and archives that should be generating revenue sit dormant because nobody can find what they're looking for.

Core solves this by turning a content library from a storage problem into a revenue engine - making it easy to find, package, and monetise IP across teams and partners.

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How Sohonet Core works

Core acts as the persistent system of record for production assets across their full lifecycle. Assets are ingested with structured metadata, provenance tracking, and access controls from the start, so the information that matters - what an asset is, where it came from, who can use it, and under what conditions - travels with it from production through to business use.

Cross-team access is central to how Core is designed. Production teams, marketing, licensing, distribution, and partner organisations can all access the same asset base, with permission models that ensure the right people get access to the right assets without losing control. Creative and non-creative users are both accounted for.

Core also supports long-term archival workflows, with the ability to set archival policies directly from AWS S3 buckets, ensuring assets are stored efficiently and remain accessible without manual intervention as production timelines extend.

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What makes Core different from a standard DAM

Most digital asset management systems are built for marketing teams working with finished, approved content - brand assets, campaign materials, images for distribution. They're not designed for the complexity of production-originated media, the volume of assets a single production generates, or the governance requirements of high-value, rights-sensitive content.

Core is built specifically for film, TV, and content ecosystems. It handles production complexity - the chaotic handoffs, the multiple versions, the cross-vendor environments - better than generic DAMs, and it's designed to maintain asset continuity beyond the project lifecycle rather than treating wrap as an end state.

For organisations that already use a generic DAM for marketing, Core typically sits alongside it as the system of record for production-originated assets, feeding structured, governed content downstream to wherever it's needed.

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Revenue creation from IP and franchises

The commercial case for Core is straightforward. Content libraries that are well-organised, searchable, and accessible generate more revenue than those that aren't. Licensing opportunities get identified faster. Franchise assets get reused rather than recreated. Syndication and distribution workflows move more quickly when the right assets can be found and cleared without a manual search across disparate storage systems.

Core is designed for exactly this - enabling reuse and monetisation of existing content libraries, unlocking value from franchises, archives, and long-tail assets, and reducing time-to-revenue by improving asset discoverability and access across teams and partners.

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Provenance and governance for high-value content

When content is high-value, knowing where it came from and who can use it matters. Core tracks lineage and ownership of assets from ingest, maintaining a clear record of provenance that supports licensing, compliance, and rights-sensitive workflows. Controlled access across internal and external stakeholders ensures that governance doesn't break down as content moves between teams and partners.

This is increasingly important as AI regulation and content compliance requirements tighten. A production asset management system that maintains clear provenance records isn't just operationally useful - it's becoming a compliance requirement for facilities handling AI-modified or AI-generated content.

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Integrations and open APIs

Core connects into production workflows and supports downstream systems where needed. Current integrations include Box, for productions that use Box as part of their workflow, and Shotgrid, with clients having built automated ingestion and tagging workflows directly. Open APIs and documentation are available for teams that need to integrate Core into existing infrastructure.

An AI roadmap is in development, including a native AI search module spanning natural language search, contextual search, and transcription search planned for 2026, followed by AI-assisted tagging and eventually agentic workflow support.

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Who uses Sohonet Core

Core is used by studios, post production facilities, production companies, and content-driven organisations that need to manage media assets across their full lifecycle:

• Studios managing franchise and archive libraries across multiple productions
• Post facilities maintaining asset continuity across multi-vendor pipelines
• Production companies ensuring assets don't get lost after project completion
• Licensing and distribution teams needing fast, governed access to content libraries
• Marketing and creative teams reusing production-originated assets for downstream use

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Where Core fits in the Sohonet suite

Core is part of Sohonet's PAM Suite, sitting alongside ClearView Flex for editorial review and Sohonet FileRunner for secure file transfer. Together with Sohonet Media Fabric, these tools form an integrated infrastructure layer that covers the full post production and content lifecycle - from review and transfer through to long-term asset management and downstream business use.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Sohonet Core?

Sohonet Core is a production-to-enterprise digital asset management system built for film, television, and content-driven organisations. It provides a persistent, secure, and structured system of record for media assets from production through to licensing, distribution, and long-term archive.

How is Core different from a regular DAM?

Most DAMs are built for marketing teams working with finished content. Core is built for production-originated media assets and is designed to support downstream business use from as early as when a project is in development. It handles the complexity of production environments, maintains asset continuity after project wrap, and supports rights-sensitive governance workflows that generic DAMs aren't designed for.

What is production asset management?

Production asset management is the practice of organising, governing, and maintaining access to media assets created during film and television production across their full lifecycle - from creation through to reuse, licensing, distribution, and archive. Unlike marketing DAM, production asset management accounts for the volume, complexity, and rights sensitivity of content created in professional production environments.

How does Core help with IP monetisation?

‍ Core makes content libraries findable, accessible, and ready for downstream use. By improving asset discoverability and maintaining clear provenance and rights information, Core reduces the time and effort required to identify, clear, and deliver assets for licensing, syndication, franchise reuse, and distribution - turning dormant archives into active revenue sources.

Does Core integrate with other production tools?

Yes. Core integrates with Box and Shotgrid, and open APIs are available for teams building custom integrations. It is also designed to connect into Sohonet's broader infrastructure, including ClearView Flex for review workflows and FileRunner for file transfer.

What is the difference between Core and Frame.io?

Frame.io is a review and collaboration tool designed for active production workflows. Core is an asset management system designed for the full lifecycle of production assets, including long-term storage, reuse, licensing, and distribution after a project ends. They serve different functions and are typically used at different stages of the content lifecycle.

Does Core use AI?

‍ Core has an AI roadmap in active development. A native AI search module, covering natural language search, contextual search, and transcription search, is planned for 2026. AI-assisted tagging and agentic workflow support are planned for subsequent releases.

How does Core handle content security and governance?

Core tracks lineage and ownership of assets from ingest, with controlled access across internal and external stakeholders and permission models that support mixed business units. It is designed for high-value, rights-sensitive content and trusted in studio-grade environments.

Is Core only for large studios?

Core is designed for any organisation that creates and needs to manage media assets across their full lifecycle, from major studios with large franchise libraries to production companies and post facilities that need persistent, governed asset management beyond the project lifecycle.

Explore Sohonet Core | Learn about FileRunner for secure file transfer | Explore Media Fabric |  Explore ClearView Flex for remote review 

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