** UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 5.00am on SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 **
KIWI PRODUCER LOOKS TO REVOLUTIONISE
FILM & TV PRODUCTION WITH NEW KAHA SOFTWARE
KAHA, a new Kiwi-made cloud-based solution designed to make production simple by streamlining budgeting, scheduling,
cash flow and staffing needs for film and television producers, is being unveiled at the Big Screen Symposium in
Auckland this weekend.
Founded by local television producer Bailey Mackey, the man behind Sidewalk Karaoke, The GC, Maraeand The Game Chef, KAHA’s innovative, effective, and easy-to-use interface gives producers real-time, day-to-day, as-it-happens
understanding of their financial and scheduling position at any given time on any individual project.
In addition to providing an integrated production management platform, one of KAHA’s key advantages is that it’s
designed for producers by a fellow producer. “A couple of years ago I was working on a production and it amazed me that,
for an industry that prides itself on innovation, there was actually no way of pausing activity on a production and
getting an accurate financial snapshot,” says Mackey. “Up until now, so much of what we do in terms of managing a
production isn’t integrated. You have a budget that doesn’t talk to a schedule, cash flow or cost report. So I set about
designing and building a system that brings everything together seamlessly.”
Mackey reached out to the high-performing tech duo of Peter Akuhata (Trade Me) and Joseph Heeney (NZ Funds Management)
who brought the technical know-how to the project. The user interface design is led by former All Black and Blues rugby
player Greg Rawlinson in what is very much a team-focused product development environment.
Mackey admits to being “not the best when it comes to technology” so he says the system had to be simple enough that
technophobes and non-digital natives alike would feel comfortable using the software. “The key thing is that production
pain is ubiquitous and no matter where I’ve gone in the world, the slow feeding of information impacts on efficiencies.
Production budgets worldwide are getting squeezed so anything that can help producers has got to be good, right? Plus,
with better efficiencies, you can have better wrap parties too!”
Ross Weintraub, a KAHA advisory board member and co-CEO of major Los Angeles-based factual and reality production house
3Ball Entertainment, says KAHA is "one of the most innovative software packages to come around in the media sector in
more than a decade. It’s nice to see such a cleverly thought out and well-designed software for an industry that is
constantly changing and evolving. The UI [user interface] of KAHA is simply a game changer in our media space."
Weintrab sits on KAHA’s advisory board along with: Sam Witters, New York-based CEO, SW & Partners; Kelly Martin, CEO of South Pacific Pictures, Patrick Macfie, Xero’s Global Head of Video; and Graeme Ransley,
founder of MCOM.
Witters says: "I'm very pleased to be part of KAHA's advisory board. Pango Technologies, led by Bailey Mackey and his
outstanding team of software developers, has a very good chance at becoming one of the world's leading suppliers of
production management software...watch this space."
Following KAHA’s New Zealand launch, the team is taking the platform global with a series of functions at key
international screen industry markets including: MIPCOM (October in Cannes), NAB (November in New York), SPAA and SPADA
(November in Sydney and Wellington), as well as a bespoke product launch in Los Angeles at the end of the year.
Check out the promo video for KAHA software.
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