
TVBEurope talks to Take 1 CEO Louise Tapia about the companys work providing subtitle and localisation services to broadcasters and streaming services, as well as how it supports production companies in the creation and delivery of their content
By Jenny Priestley
Published: December 2, 2021 Updated: December 7, 2021
TVBEurope talks to Take 1 CEO Louise Tapia about the company's work providing subtitle and localisation services to broadcasters and streaming services, as well as how it supports production companies in the creation and delivery of their content
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
A recent study by captioning charity Stagetext found that 80 per cent of 18 to 25 year olds in the UK use subtitles some or all of the time. Whether that's because subtitles help viewers understand dialogue more effectively, or they help audiences concentrate on the TV show or film they're watching, it seems subtitles are an important part of content from both broadcasters and streaming services.
Launched in 1998 by Dom Bourne, Take 1 is best known for providing transcription and translation services to media and entertainment companies including Discovery Inc, ITV Studios, BBC Studios, National Geographic Channel, A&E Networks and Peacock.
In the company's early days, video was shot on tape and the only way to log or view footage after the shoot was to either book expensive playback machines by the hour or transfer footage to VHS with burnt-in-time-code.
Take 1 offered an alternative - and more effective way for production companies to prepare for edit. Instead of spending hours viewing VHS dubs of their shoot footage, producers sent these tapes to Take 1 where Bourne and his team would transcribe the time codes, dialogue and action onto paper. These transcriptions were then posted or biked back to Soho and used to prepare paper edits.
Fast-forward to the present day, Take 1 continues to provide transcription, access and localisation services to the international media and entertainment industry under the leadership of CEO, Louise Tapia. With offices in the UK and US and a global workforce, the company leverages digital technology and data-driven workflows to provide high quality, artisan services at scale.
We support production companies in the production and delivery of their content; we help broadcasters, networks and streaming platforms ensure that their content is accessible to all audiences, and we help content distributors create global content for any platform, Tapia tells TVBEurope.
Take 1 transcribes and translates shoot rushes for production teams, journalists and documentary-makers so that they can prepare storylines, find soundbites and cut down the time spent wrangling high volumes of content and multilingual stories in the edit suite. We also create as broadcast' or post production scripts which include a timecoded transcription of all dialogue, captions, credits, music cues and other information based on each project's specific requirements. We provide these to production companies at either picture-lock or final edit stages for deliverable compliance and to networks to facilitate localisation.
Louise Tapia The company's access services include video captions and audio descriptions to make content accessible to hard of hearing or visually impaired audiences. Our clients in this space include production companies, vendor partners and broadcasters, networks and streaming platforms, adds Tapia. Finally, we provide high-quality translations, subtitles, dubbing services and foreign language audio descriptions as part of our localisation services to help content producers, distributors, networks and streaming platforms reach international audiences with global content.
Take 1's workflows combine the company's multi-skilled teams alongside AI integrated technologies - some of which have been developed in-house while others are recognised and utilised across the industry.
Our proprietary metadata harvesting platform, Liberty, is integral to our data-driven approach it supports the production of XML-based post production scripts, TTML timed text for captioning, and the re-purposing of this data into the various documents, files and reports needed throughout the global content production workflow, explains Tapia.
The Take 1 cloud provides a secure-by-design web-based interface for our clients to transfer video assets to Take 1, add comments or instructions for specific projects or media files, monitor the status of work in progress and retrieve completed outputs.
The team also employs some third-party tools, including Xytech's MediaPulse to co-ordinate high volumes of content across the organisation, and products from Ooona and Starfish Technologies to support its access services. Using VoiceQ and ProTools, we can bring voice artists from home setups and partner studios anywhere in the world into one recording session for dubbing or audio description projects, she adds. These industry tools are componentised so that we can easily swap out technologies to always ensure we're using best of breed, accommodate changing requirements and work according to our customers' preferences.
Back in September, Take 1 announced plans to expand its localisation and access services departments. Recent mergers in the sector have created a gap in the market for boutique service providers with an artisan approach and an already substantial appetite for international programming was amplified in 2020 when Covid-19 restrictions reduced new content production, Tapia explains. Localisation and access service workflows are also becoming increasingly data-driven, an approach pioneered by Take 1 and underpinned by the transcription data that the company provides.
The expansion has so far included t
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
30/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
The An Evening with Emerson, Lake and Palmer tour brings one of rock's most iconic bands back to the stage. These performances seamlessly blend live foota...
30/09/2026
Schibsted Media, one of Norways largest and most influential digital media publishers and content producers, has invested in mixers and digital signal processor...
30/09/2026
Big Blue Marble announces the addition of live multiview channels to Cloud Video Kit, its broadcast-grade video processing platform. The feature is powered by A...
30/09/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that Telekom Slovenije, Slovenia's largest provider of telecommunications and TV services, is open...
30/09/2026
PODCAST EXPO 2026 Recorded Using Blackmagic Design Workflow
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Conference featuring 24 sessions over two days ...
30/09/2026
IBC2026 Show Report
David Kirk September 29, 2026
0 Comments
The International Broadcasting Convention has long been Europe's equivalent of the US...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Mavis has launched Mavis Camera 8.2, the latest release of its professional camera app for the iPhone and iPad. This update brings support for iPhone 18 Pro and...
30/09/2026
How to Shop Well Now starts Monday at 9.35pm
on RT One and RT Player
On the...
30/09/2026
Building on nearly a decade of co-engineering, CoreWeave has built NVIDIA compute, networking and software into a cloud purpose-built for AI that's still re...
29/09/2026
Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...
29/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...
29/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...
29/09/2026
Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...
29/09/2026
FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...
29/09/2026
Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...
29/09/2026
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...
29/09/2026
REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...
29/09/2026
Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...
29/09/2026
NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...
29/09/2026
19 Nonfiction Projects Across All Stages of Production to Receive More Than $1 million in Support as Documentary Film Program Approaches 25th Anniversary
LOS ...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Ikegami announces that the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X600 camera systems as part of an advance to IP-based operation ...
29/09/2026
Blendkit Offers 20% Discount to Celebrate Crossing 150K Asset Milestone
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Blendkit, the largest 3D asset libr...
29/09/2026
Interactive streaming specialist Ease Live supported more than 76.5 million fan sessions across three major European media operators during this summers FIFA Wo...
29/09/2026
Ease Live has added support for VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) to its graphical overlay technology, opening up new ways for broadcasters, streamers and rights...
29/09/2026
Rise AV has announced the launch of the inaugural Rise AV Awards, a new global awards programme celebrating the women, advocates and organisations across the AV...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Clear-Com announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom solution as part of a comprehensive sanct...
29/09/2026
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Captured Action Shots for Sketch
Brie Clayton September 28, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's portable design and dynamic range...