Real News. Real Los Angeles. Caught on Tape, 1984–2019.
The FootageWorks Archive is built on more than 50,000 raw, unedited breaking news stories, all digitized from the original videotapes. Each story is offered two ways: as a complete raw story you can preview and license any portion of, and as stand-alone, broadcast-ready clips cut from it, with a goal of more than 500,000 clips. New stories and clips are added online as the work continues, and any story in the archive can be licensed now on request.
Every frame was shot on the streets and in the skies of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities, covering 35 years of the city’s news history, from 1984 to 2019.
At a glance: 50,000+ original news stories • 500,000+ stand-alone clips in progress • 1984–2019 • Los Angeles and Southern California
Featured by: ABC • NBC • CBS • FOX • CNN • PBS • BBC • Netflix • Hulu • A&E • National Geographic • Univision • Telemundo • Warner Bros. • Paramount
Our Story
FootageWorks founder Jay Steinbrecher began his career as a professional helicopter pilot in 1980. His first contract was flying camera-equipped helicopters for Entertainment Tonight. As a member of SAG, he went on to fly camera ships for television programs, commercials and feature films.
In 1982, Jay incorporated Citicopters in California, based at Van Nuys Airport. He was soon flying the LA News Service helicopter in pursuit of the day’s breaking news, learning airborne news reporting under legendary LA news pilot-reporter Zoey Tur (then known as Bob Tur). The fast pace of aerial news hooked Jay right away, and he began gathering news stories of his own.
In 1988, Jay landed a contract with KFWB News 98 as the station’s Jetcopter News 98 pilot-reporter, on the air as “Jay Mitchell.” At the time, only three Los Angeles TV stations had news helicopters, and they flew only after a story was already confirmed. Jay saw the gap. With KFWB’s agreement, he put a news camera aboard his helicopter, adding extra radio news and traffic flight hours for the station in exchange.
That year, he launched Citicopters News Service. Tapes shot in the air were dropped from the helicopter to a news van on the ground for editing, dubbing and delivery to the stations. Jay added and trained ground camera crews to cover breaking stories of their own, and Citicopters grew into an aerial and ground news operation running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At its peak, it produced more than 300 news stories a month, airing on all 11 Los Angeles TV news stations and supplied to national news outlets across the country. From 1992 to 1994, Jay also flew as the helicopter news pilot for KMEX/Univision.
In 1995, Jay retired from news flying to focus on the ground news operation. Over the years, he also purchased the copyrights to the news video archives of prominent former Los Angeles news stringer companies, including Independent News Service, Nightvision News Service and Video Specialties News Service. Combined with the Citicopters library, the archive grew to more than 50,000 news stories.
In 2005, Jay launched FootageWorks to make the archive available for licensing as digital stock footage. Beginning in 2007, using Blackmagic Design capture technology, he re-digitized the entire videotape library into clean, broadcast-quality ProRes 422 HQ master files. Today, he is separating those masters into individual news stories, each offered as a complete raw story for rights-managed licensing and as stand-alone clips cut from it, with new footage added online on an ongoing basis.
Meet Jay
The archive was built by a working television news pilot and photojournalist who covered Los Angeles from the air and on the ground for more than three decades.
- Jay Steinbrecher, known on the air as Jay Mitchell
- US Army Aviation veteran, 1973–1976
- FAA commercial rated helicopter and airplane pilot, helicopter flight instructor, and air traffic controller licenses
- Member of SAG (now SAG-AFTRA) since the early 1980s
- Pilot-reporter for KFWB News 98 and helicopter news pilot for KMEX/Univision
- Founder of Citicopters News Service (later Citibeat News Service) and FootageWorks
- Sought out by television producers in the US, the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Japan for reports and documentaries about his Los Angeles news gathering, including American Adventurer (Associated Television), hosted by NFL Hall of Famer Lance Alworth
What Makes FootageWorks Different
Authentic, caught-on-tape news. This isn’t staged or re-created footage. It was shot in real time by experienced news camera operators who followed a strict code of broadcast news standards and ethics, and story details were verified with officials at the scene.
Every story is documented. Each original news story has a preserved one-page story sheet that was delivered to news station outlets. Each sheet includes:
- the day, date and time of the news story event
- the location and address
- a description narrative of the news event
- a list of the first-responder crews, agencies and officers involved
- any soundbite interview recordings with PIOs, officials, first responders and witnesses
- a complete chronological shot list of what was captured-on-tape at the scene
Every clip traces back to its original story, so the date, location and details behind any clip you license are on record.
The original story sheets are being digitized into a searchable database, tagged with keywords, so any story can be found by event, place, date or subject. As each part is completed, it will be searchable directly on the website.
This level of documentation is rare in the news footage business. For producers and clearance teams, it means faster, easier clearance, because the facts and details behind every clip are on record.
Our Footage Has Appeared In
For more than 35 years, footage from the FootageWorks archive has appeared in network newscasts, documentaries, true-crime series, reality shows, talk shows and feature films. The logos and credits below are just some of the productions, studios and networks that have licensed our footage. Every one of those stories is still in the archive and available for your next production.
Networks That Have Aired FootageWorks Footage
Our Los Angeles news footage has aired on broadcast, cable and streaming networks across the United States and around the world.
A&E • ABC • Animal Planet • BET • CBS • CMT • CNBC • Court TV • The CW • Discovery Channel • Disney Channel • E! Entertainment • ESPN • FOX • FX Networks • History • HLN • Hulu • Investigation Discovery • Lifetime • MTV • National Geographic • NBC • Netflix • Ovation • OWN • Oxygen • Paramount • PBS • Reelz • Showtime • Spike • TBS • Telemundo • TLC • Travel Channel • truTV • TV One • Univision • VH1 • VICE TV • The Weather Channel
Production Companies and Studios We’ve Worked With
From Hollywood studios to independent documentary makers in Los Angeles, New York and London, these companies have licensed FootageWorks breaking-news footage.
44 Blue Productions • Actuality Productions • Arnold Shapiro Productions • Arrow Media • Associated Television • Asylum Entertainment • Brad Lachman Productions • Carson Productions • Cheri Sundae Productions • Columbia Pictures • Critical Content • Crown Street Films • Duo Creative Communications • Entertainment One (eOne) • Fox Television Stations Productions • GRB Entertainment • Harpo Productions • Jupiter Entertainment • King World Productions • Kurtis Productions • Langley Productions • Legendary Pictures • Lightbox Entertainment • Lincoln Square Productions • Live Nation Productions • LMNO Productions • Meetinghouse Productions • Nash Entertainment • Network Entertainment • Original Media • Paramount Domestic Television • Peacock Productions • Pilgrim Media Group • Prometheus Entertainment • Relativity Television • Ryan Murphy Television • Sony Pictures Television • Studio Lambert • Telepictures • Termite Art Productions • Towers Productions • Twentieth Television • United Artists • Universal Pictures • Universal Television • Wall to Wall Productions • Warner Bros. Television • WGBH • Wolf Entertainment
Documentaries and Specials Featuring Our Footage
True-crime series, network specials and award-winning documentaries have used our coverage of the Menendez case, the Notorious B.I.G., the LA Riots, the Northridge earthquake and more.
20 Most Horrifying Hollywood Murders (2006, E!) • 25 Celebrity Near Death Experiences (2007, E!) • A&E Biography: The Menendez Brothers: Sins of the Children (1996) • American Dream/American Knightmare (2018, Showtime) • Barbara Walters Presents: American Scandals (ID) • Behind Closed Doors with Joan Lunden • Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G. (2017, A&E) • Biggie & Tupac: Worlds Collide • Celebrity Mysteries • Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008) • Death Row Chronicles (2018, BET) • Driven: The Notorious B.I.G. (VH1) • E! Love Chain • E! Special: Child Stars of the ’80s • E! True Hollywood Story • Earthstorm: Earthquake (2022, Netflix) • Famous Crime Scene: The Notorious B.I.G. (VH1) • How It Really Happened: The Menendez Brothers (HLN) • I Love the ’80s (VH1) • LA 92 (2017, National Geographic) • LA Riots Anniversary Special • Mega Movers (History) • The Menendez Brothers: Murder in Beverly Hills (2017, HLN) • Minute by Minute: The Northridge Earthquake (A&E) • MTV specials • Murder Made Me Famous: The Menendez Brothers (Reelz) • National Geographic specials • The Northridge Earthquake (NBC special) • Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life • NOVA (PBS) • Shockwave (History) • Showtime documentaries • Sing Your Song (2011, Harry Belafonte) • VH1 Behind the Music • VH1 specials • The Weather Channel specials
Feature Films and TV Dramas Using Our Footage
Our archive footage and aerial work have appeared in Hollywood feature films and TV dramas.
Deal of the Century (1983) • Death Becomes Her (1992) • Enemy of the State (1998) • The Executioner Part II (1984) • The Glass House (2001) • Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders (2017, NBC) • Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024, Netflix) • Real Men (1987) • Straight Outta Compton (2015)
True Crime and Investigation Series
Real crime scenes, arrests and courtroom moments from Los Angeles, used by the leading true-crime and investigative series on television.
A&E Investigations • America’s Most Wanted • American Justice • Barbara Walters Presents: American Scandals (ID) • Celebrity Crime Files (TV One) • City Confidential • Cold Case Files • Crime Stories: Double-Cross (2004, the Kenneth and Carolyn Stahl murders) • Crime Watch Daily • Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege & Justice • The Investigators • It Takes a Killer (Oxygen) • The Justice Files • Lifetime Life & Crime • Murder by the Book • Murder in the Family with Geraldo Rivera (Reelz) • Murder Made Me Famous (Reelz) • North Mission Road • Notorious (Reelz) • The Real Murders of Los Angeles • Snapped (Oxygen) • True Crime Stories • Unusual Suspects (ID)
Police, Rescue and Caught-on-Tape Series
Real pursuits, rescues and emergencies from the streets and skies of Los Angeles, as seen on reality and caught-on-tape television.
America’s Dumbest Criminals • Caught on Camera • Code 3 • Demolition Theater/Fast N’ Loud • Destroyed in Seconds • Emergency Call • Hot Pursuit • Maximum Exposure • Most Daring • Most Daring: World’s Wildest Drivers • Most Shocking • Real Stories of the Highway Patrol • Real TV • Rescue 911 • Sons of Guns • Top 20 Most Shocking • Video Justice • World’s Dumbest Criminals • The World’s Funniest • World’s Most Amazing Videos • World’s Scariest Police Chases • World’s Wildest Police Videos • World’s Worst Drivers
Entertainment and Tabloid News
Celebrity news, Hollywood events and headline-making moments captured by our crews for entertainment and tabloid news programs.
A Current Affair • Access Hollywood • American Journal • BET Tonight • E! News • Entertainment Tonight • Extra • Good Morning America (ABC) • Hard Copy • Inside Edition • MTV News • The Today Show (NBC) • TMZ • VH1
Talk and Late-Night Shows
Our footage has helped tell stories on some of television’s best-known talk and late-night shows.
Dr. Oz • Dr. Phil • Maury • The Maury Povich Show • The Montel Williams Show • The Oprah Winfrey Show • Sally Jessy Raphael • The Tonight Show with Jay Leno • The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Network and International News
Our breaking-news coverage of Los Angeles has been seen on national and international newscasts, from the evening news to the morning shows.
ABC 20/20 • ABC Good Morning America • ABC Nightline with Ted Koppel • ABC Primetime Live • BBC • CBS 48 Hours • CBS Up to the Minute • CNN • CONUS (Conus Communications) • Dateline NBC • ESPN News • FOX News Channel • NBC Nightly News • NBC The Today Show • NewsNation • PBS • PBS California Connected • Sky News
Los Angeles News Stations
For more than three decades, our crews delivered breaking news to every major Los Angeles television newsroom.
CBS 2 News Los Angeles • Good Day L.A. • KABC 7 News Los Angeles • KCAL 9 News Los Angeles • KCOP 13 News Los Angeles • KTLA 5 News Los Angeles • KTTV 11 News Los Angeles • NBC 4 News Los Angeles • Today in L.A.
Spanish-Language Television Partners
FootageWorks has a long history with Spanish-language television in Los Angeles, including years of exclusive helicopter coverage for KMEX Univision 34.
Estrella TV • KMEX 34 Univision News Los Angeles • KRCA 62 Estrella News Los Angeles • KVEA 52 Telemundo News Los Angeles • KWHY 22 News Los Angeles • Telemundo Network News • Univision Network News
…and many more.
Logos are trademarks of their respective owners and are shown to identify productions that have licensed FootageWorks footage.
Work Directly with Jay
When you license from FootageWorks, you work directly with the person who shot, produced and built the archive. Jay has been licensing Los Angeles news footage for more than 35 years without a break, from tapes delivered to newsrooms to today’s digital files, and has more than 40 years in Los Angeles news.
- Questions about a clip? Jay can answer questions about the source footage and the details behind any clip.
- Looking for a specific story? Jay can search the full archive and its story records for the event, place or year you need. Research is free for rights-managed customers.
- Need help with clearances? Jay works with experienced clearance professionals and can refer you to one who fits your production, so rights questions don’t slow down your schedule.
- Can’t find it here? Jay knows the stock footage industry and the archives behind it. If FootageWorks doesn’t have the shot you need, Jay will reach out to trusted footage providers he has worked with for years and help you track it down. There’s no charge for the search.
Your Production Could Be Next
The same footage seen on these networks is available to license for new documentaries, series, specials and films. Whether you need a single shot or a complete story, Jay can help you find exactly what you need.