A collaboration that seeded a change for UAS in filmmaking roughly five years ago will receive recognition at the 69^th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards ceremony on April 8.
 
John McGraw, founder and principal of John McGraw Aerospace Consulting LLC in North Carolina, couldn’t be more honored or more astonished with his pending award.
 
“It was a totally surprising out of the blue experience,” McGraw says. “Not something I anticipated happening.”
 
The award, 2017 Low Latency Remote Controlled Airborne Video Platforms (non-military) for Television, recognizes the role of unmanned aircraft in filmmaking.
 
After a 24-year career in the U.S. Army and 17 years spent in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), McGraw decided to take his experience in flight testing and crafting policy into the private sector in 2012. At about the same time, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and private companies were each separately exploring the potential of employing UAS in filmmaking — something not yet legal in the United States.
 
Finding the right approach to winning approval from the FAA was proving a challenge until the MPAA facilitated the connection between McGraw and seven cinematography companies: PictorVision, Aerial MOB, Astraeus Aerial, Flying Cam, Vortex Aerial, Helivideo Productions and Snaproll Media, which were the first to receive Section 333 exemptions from the FAA to fly commercially.
 
Before the joint effort, major motion picture companies expressed interest in engaging cinematography companies with UAS expertise, but without a legal means to use drones for filmmaking there was no real progress in incorporating them into productions.
 
“We met with all the studios prior to 2014, but were kept at arms length,” says Tony Carmean, partner, aerial producer and head of business development for Aerial MOB.
 
McGraw hesitated to take on the project at first, thinking the FAA would develop regulations on its own and that the road ahead would be tough. The collaborators faced a few challenges, not the least of which was being competitors with proprietary information.
 
“Back then, a lot of the drones we were using we developed and engineered ourselves,” says Carmean. At the same time, standardization was difficult to develop. “We all did the same thing, but we did it with different tools. When everyone has a different drone with different operating guidelines, how to do come up with regulations?”
 
“John had a tremendous understanding of the regulatory space and what it would entail. And the steps we would need to take to push it through,” says David Wagreich, CEO and pilot of Astraeus Aerial. “We were kind of stabbing in the dark, but John was great in guiding us and helping us formulate what the FAA would like to see in the requests.”
 
After the first few submissions resulted in rejections, there was doubt across the team. But reassessing guidelines issued by Congress in its 2012 FAA Reauthorization Act provided the path to success. The provision gave the agency 90 days to make the approval process faster for law enforcement and government agencies, and three years to begin processing approvals for commercial use.
 
“A lot of my work is helping people understand how to apply for approvals, helping them do things that they wouldn’t understand how to do, helping them navigate government policy and controls,” says McGraw. “What helped with that is I had a lot of years on the side of either approving or not approving applications to the government.”
 
‘Find a way’
 
McGraw’s experience in analyzing and developing policy led to the beginning of a solution.
 
“It was reevaluating Congress’ actual intent rather than what was thought to be the intent,” says McGraw. “We realized Congress was saying, ‘find a way to approve them.’” 
 
Using that framework, McGraw led the team in months of weekly conference calls to carve out a way to use UAS in filmmaking. He says part of the solution was treating UAS operations like any other aviation operations.
 
“We created a safety system, including operations manuals, safety manuals for unmanned aircraft, using the safety system as a thesis for how the UAS would operate,” he says.
 
Along with support from the MPAA and AUVSI, the collaborators were the first companies to receive Section 333 Exemptions from the FAA. The exemption allows companies to operate UAS using policies that were originally intended for manned aircraft.
 
The Section 333 Exemption had an immediate impact. Collaborating cinematographers went from having no legal means to film in the United States to being sought-after experts. Carmean describes how winning the exemptions put them on the map, with the firm receiving calls from major motion picture companies the next day.
 
“Within months, Aerial MOB was on the approved vendor list for all six major studios,” he says.
 
The introduction of UAS transformed what U.S. fans expect from television and movies. Drones allow productions to complete complex aerial filming in one take – everything from a motorcycle chase across rooftops in the James Bond thriller “Casino Royale,” to Harry Potter and pal Ron Weasley steering a flying car in tight quarters under a bridge, to an unprecedented opening dance number on mountain top castle for the reality show “Dancing With the Stars.” 
 
With the help of both off-the-shelf and custom-designed UAS, filmmakers are capturing previously unattainable shots. 
 
At the same time, drones don’t replace traditional camera work. Cranes, helicopters and other conventional tools are still best to capture some shots. The most successful cinematographers will be those who understand when and where to use UAS, what needs to be in place for a closed set, and how to work with local officials, permitting departments, property owners and other stakeholders to put together film shoot.
 
“If we’re shooting in downtown Los Angeles, that area needs to be shut down. We only operate on fully locked-down sets,” Carmean says. 
 
The FAA opened the door to commercial UAS wider in 2016 with the introduction of Part 107 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, which allows operators to fly drones weighing less than 55 pounds with a pilot certification (instead of a license), and sets basic requirements.
 
With some coming from engineering and business backgrounds while others are established cinematographers, the original collaborators bring a unique shared experience and diverse, valuable knowledge to an expanding part of the industry. Wagreich sees a need for maturity in the industry.
 
“There’s a novelty to it still. There are a lot of operators out there that are finding their way and not being very successful,” he says.
 
Carmean agrees, noting that much of his work involves educating fellow filmmakers.
 
Oscar next?
 
Having helped dozens of companies since hanging out his own shingle, McGraw sees an industry and an FAA that will be challenged to keep up with changes. With Part 107 in place, “I don’t think we’ll see a lot of those [Section 333 exemptions],” he says. “But, what will happen is that aircraft will start to get a lot larger. So, what I think you’ll see is larger and newer technology, including airships, and the FAA will have to craft new rules.”
 
And, some have their sights set on more milestones.
 
“Funny how things work,” Carmean says. “A few years ago, my partners and I sat down about what we want out of Aerial MOB, and one of them said, ‘I want an Oscar.’ Being the first to get an Emmy huge! So, the Emmy is one step closer.”