Apple responds to open letter about improving usage and reputation of Final Cut Pro in filmmaking industry

In April, a large group of Final Cut editors signed their name to an open letter asking Apple to do more to promote the use of Final Cut in the TV and film industry, in addition to closing long-running feature requests.

Today, Apple publicly responded. The letter reads: “the creative community has always been so important to us at Apple,” and the company pledged to address “your important feature requests.” Apple also said that is adding new training products, expanding workshops, and setting up a consultation panel of experts.

For those unfamiliar with the back story, in the early 2000s, Final Cut usage was very dominant in indie and professional moviemaking. Apple rolled out a major rewrite of the app, Final Cut Pro X, in 2011 which was met with much criticism.

The rewrite advanced the state of the art in many ways but also lacked what most considered essential features that made the software “unusable” for professional work. Competing products like Avid and Adobe Premiere capitalized on the fumbles and took a lot of marketshare.

Nevertheless, Apple has committed to Final Cut Pro X and quickly responded to the early criticism with a series of feature updates. Although its reputation in Hollywood remains somewhat depressed, Final Cut Pro has much larger penetration in the independent video creator market (like YouTube).

The April open letter was targeted at the reputation and adoption of Final Cut in Hollywood productions. The letter complained that Apple’s app does not work well with other production workflow tools and that Apple simply has not done enough to correct the industry reputation of Final Cut Pro X, since the biggest feature omissions in the post-X rewrite have been addressed. Many editors who would like to use Final Cut are not allowed to because they cannot get approval from their producers and directors.

Here’s how Apple responded. You can read the letter in full on the FCP.CO website.

While we believe we have plans in place to help address your important feature requests, we also recognize the need to build on those efforts and work alongside you to help support your film and TV projects and keep you posted on important updates. This includes taking the following steps:

• Launching new training products and Apple-authorized certifications for pro video starting this month with our partner Future Media Concepts.
• Establishing a panel of industry experts for regular consultations, starting this summer
• Expanding the content and frequency of Final Cut Pro workshops for major film and television productions.

Today’s response is a positive sign. Setting up a panel of industry experts may help advise the future development of the software, to keep it on pace with customers’ needs. We will have to wait and see what announcements Apple has in store for Final Cut Pro over the course of the year.