Support the U.S.A.!" That was the rallying cry following the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11. Understandably, agencies and production companies—feeling patriotic and also fearing overseas travel—tried to keep more production work stateside. What may have been good for U.S. business, however, badly hurt the international production service industry, particularly those companies that provide services overseas to U.S. commercial productions.
The bad news for such operations was the immediate decline in productions outside the United States. "The last quarter of last year was not good," admits Matthew Stillman, founder/ managing director of Stillking Films, Prague. "After Sept. 11, business just went dead. People simply did not want to travel, and the events of that day changed the way people made decisions. Before, it was for economic and creative reasons. After that, it was based on politics, on wanting to support the U.S., and [on the fact that] people were apprehensive about flying. I think it is a commendable thing that U.S. companies want to support the U.S. industry. The government certainly isn’t."
"Production overall is definitely slower in Canada than last year, and it’s been slower on the whole," reports Jennifer Sykes, head of sales at Steam, Toronto. "Given the events of Sept. 11 and the recession in the States, we saw less roadhouse work in the last year. Everybody was scared to spend money, and that meant a lot less local work, too." Typically, "roadhouse" jobs—i.e., work coming from the United States—comprises about 40 percent of Steam’s business.
"Since Sept. 11, there has been a huge drop-off," notes Howard Woffinden, owner/executive producer at Milk & Honey Films, which is headquartered in Hollywood. He says that from mid-September through December the company had virtually no overseas jobs. Milk & Honey has offices in Prague, Mexico City, Montreal, and Moscow, and also covers the British Isles and Ireland through an alliance with London-based producer Martin Bruce-Clayton. In addition, Milk & Honey now offers production services in Italy through an alliance with Panorama Films, Rome; in Madrid, Spain, through Elise Varela; in Cape Town, South Africa, through Africa Filmservices, which is run by producer Dale Kushner; in Montreal via an alliance with Bruce Dawson; and in Moscow through an affiliation with Artem Vassilief.
"Business is inconsistent. It was slow from September to March, and has picked up since then," says David Levine, executive producer of the bicoastal Mission Critical Media, a production and production service company, specializing in high-end beauty and fashion work. Currently, the company represents several photographers for commercial work, including Mario Sorrenti, Craig McDean, Mikael Jansson, Satoshi Saikusa, and Wayne Maser. "We’ve bid on a few things to shoot internationally, but ended up shooting them domestically. We haven’t done any international spots for about a year." Recent credits out of Mission Critical Media include Bain de Soleil’s "Paradise," helmed by Sorrenti via Brand Architecture International, New York.
An Upturn
In spite of such bad news, some in the business are reporting that business is starting to improve. "There has been an increase in the last few weeks," reports Sykes. "We have seen a considerable increase in board flow. I attribute that to the economy picking up, and to the fact that summer is usually a busier season for us. There is a lot more location shooting. And the exchange rate is a factor; the American dollar is strong and that brings us more work."
Among Steam’s recent jobs: an Eggo Waffles’ spot, called "Cow and Bear," directed by James Wahlberg of Los Angeles-based Visitor for Leo Burnett Chicago; Capital One’s "Theme Park," directed by David McNally, who is represented by Steam in Canada and by Omaha Pictures, Santa Monica, in the U.S., out of D’Arcy New York; and three Sara Lee ads: "Sheet," "Checkbook" and "Radio," directed by John Curran of bicoastal Anonymous Content, out of FCB Chicago.
Steam also worked on three commercials in the Nike "Play" campaign that are currently topping advertising awards show lists, including The One Show and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP Show). Two of the ads, "Shade Runner" and "Tag," were helmed by Frank Budgen of Gorgeous Enterprises, London, and bicoastal Anonymous Content. The third spot, "Tailgating," was directed by Tom Carty, also of Gorgeous and Anonymous. Additionally, Budweiser’s "Relationship Counselor," directed by David Kellogg of Anonymous—he’s repped in Canada by Steam—out of Palmer Jarvis DDB, Toronto, and produced through Steam, was awarded a gold Bessie, which is one of Canada’s premier advertising awards shows.
Locations
The pick-up in business resumes a growing trend of agents and production companies going outside the U.S. for production. As agencies have sought ways to cut costs and still find appropriate locales, they have been attracted to relatively inexpensive foreign climes. Sykes reports that such faraway locales as South Africa and Australia are currently two hot spots because, "there is a good exchange rate. Most of our American affiliates bring roadhouse work to Canada because they can buy an extra shooting date based on the exchange rate alone." She cites the aforementioned Wahlberg, who has brought three jobs to Steam in the last two months because, "he says [the exchange rate] can buy him an extra day of work."
"On the one hand, U.S. clients are eager to keep work in the U.S., but economics force them to go overseas," notes Woffinden. Because of costs, Campbell Mithun, Minneapolis, had director Marcel Langenegger, who was freelance at the time (he recently signed with Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles), shoot "Hooskya!" for General Mills in Prague this past December. The agency used Milk & Honey. "We’ve worked with Campbell Mithun before, and they were used to the logistics of going over there," explains Woffinden. "They were trying to maximize the image on the screen for limited dollars and good product quality." More recently, in February, director Joe Pytka of Venice-Calif.-based PYTKA worked with Milk & Honey shooting IBM’s "Bogey" and "Rumor," out of Ogilvy & Mather, New York, in Prague as part of a multi-country trip. (Other locales included Scotland and Italy.)
Financial incentives long ago attracted productions overseas, but the process was accelerated two years ago by the 2000 SAG strike against advertisers. When that happened, a number of agencies began taking the work to Canada, South America and Europe, among other locations, finding agreeable working conditions and efficient production service companies. After the strike ended, the U.S. production companies and their clients didn’t all return to the home front.
"The SAG strike was a slight catalyst [in bringing work here] because it forced U.S. production companies to look outside the U.S. for work," Stillman notes. "It made people more focused on and comfortable about traveling overseas for work. That change in psychology helped producers change the mindset, [seeing] that they can shoot outside of the U.S. and still get good value. That’s different from nine or ten years ago when people didn’t know or trust overseas production service."
Stillman should know: In 1993 he established Stillking in Prague as an alternative to shooting in England. "When we started [in Prague], there wasn’t any infrastructure," he recalls. "They had locations and some studios, so I thought it would be a good place to develop as a production center. Because the volume of production had picked up, we got more experienced crews. As things gradually got busier, the camera and lighting equipment companies came. People now know about Prague."
Since then, Stillking has established offices in the Polish cities of Warsaw and Krakow, in Los Angeles, London and Milan. Calling his firm "the foremost production company in Central and Eastern Europe," Stillman points to a production slate of roughly 120 commercials each year in Prague alone. "We also shoot three or more films each year," he notes. "In Prague, we have just wrapped what will surely prove to be a very controversial music video with Traktor of bicoastal/international Partizan. In Poland, we have just finished working on a new Guinness commercial, directed by Rupert Sanders, through Outsider, London [Sanders is repped in the U.S. by Omaha], and in Italy we have finished production on two Ragu commercials, directed by Steve Chase through bicoastal Reactor Films." Additionally, Stillking is currently working on spots being produced by Stink, London; bicoastal/international @radical.media; and bicoastal RSA USA.
As more firms travel abroad, the growth and competition among production service companies has increased. That has meant that production service firms have had to find new ways to compete and offer services. "There is a lot more competition that has grown up quickly in the production service area," says Stillman. "So it is important for us to focus on the services we provide in order to stay competitive. You have to look for ways to differentiate yourself and create added value. You have to find better ways to provide services. We are constantly finding ways to reinvent production value."
One of the many ways competitors do that is by staying on the cutting edge of technological development. For example, both Stillking and Milk & Honey utilize the latest advances to transfer impressive location photos and casting choices from any of their offices to anywhere in the world in minutes. "We maintain an online locations database with more than fifteen thousand pictures and operate a virtual production office for each job," Stillman relates. "The idea is to make everything easier. Even if your key personnel are in different countries, they can access information about locations, storyboard information, casting and wardrobe online. If the director wants to communicate with the production designer and the producer and they are all in different cities, this facilitates communication. You have information immediately at your fingertips."
The one-year-old Steam, which represents commercial and feature film directors from Canada (Stephen Markle, Sammy Ray Welch, David Wellington and Robin Armstrong), the United States and abroad exclusively for the Canadian market, initially earned credibility through its parent company, Radke Films, also of Toronto. "Clients feel more comfortable using us because of the reputation of Radke," explains Sykes.
Most firms are diversifying rapidly. Last year, Stillking added a development team to source, finance, and produce film scripts. "On the services side," Stillman says, "we have worked with many of the top directors and production companies from around the world." Recent features serviced by Stillking include From Hell, directed by The Hughes Brothers—Allen and Albert—who also helm spots via Oil Factory Films, Hollywood; Bad Company; XXX, and The Bourne Identity. Stillking is currently shooting Shanghai Knights, the sequel to Jackie Chan’s Shanghai Noon.
Milk & Honey Films is in its seventh year of operation, during which time it has orchestrated spots for commercial directors such as Bruce Dowad of Bruce Dowad Associates, Hollywood; Peter Smillie of Smillie Films, Venice, Calif.; Janusz Kaminski of bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures; and Kinka Usher of House of Usher, Santa Monica. Milk & Honey is currently in production on the miniseries of Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune for ABC and USA network. In addition to its production service arm, Milk & Honey has other divisions: Milk & Honey Pictures produces content for the motion picture, television and home video markets. That division is currently in the early development stages of a feature film based on the novel The Money Lovers, by Timothy Watts.
In this highly competitive world, few will predict the future of the international production service industry, but all agree that such diversification is crucial to survival. "These days, it’s a case of striving to keep the overhead as low as possible while seeking new revenue streams," observes Woffinden. "A Krispy Kreme donut franchise, maybe?"
