The Miami commercial production community is experiencing uncertain times. While some companies report a brisk business, others are scrambling to find new revenue streams. Like other cities and states, Miami is losing productions to places like South Africa and Latin America.
"The industry is in a real weird state, says Craig Whitaker, president/executive producer at Native Films, Miami Beach. "I’m diversifying—we’ve opened a print division and we’ve affiliated with a lot of offices around the world trying to make it work."
Despite the fact that he’s branching out into other areas, however, Whitaker says, "I love [spot] production. I grew up in it, and our company is very solid at it. We’ve survived a lot of the storm." Much of his spotwork comes from agencies in Europe and Latin America. "In Miami itself, I don’t work with a lot of local agencies," he relates. "They have a tendency to go out of town and work with production companies in New York and L.A. They can pick and choose who they want these days."
Mo Fitzgibbon, director/producer at Walker/Fitzgibbon Television and Film Production, Bay Harbor Islands, Fla., and Los Angeles, says that none of her company’s recent spotwork came from out of state or ad agencies in Miami—all the jobs came via ad shops in nearby counties like Broward and Palm Beach. "A lot of agencies are launching in Palm Beach now," she says. "They’re spreading out from Miami."
Fitzgibbon recently directed Palm Gardens Medical Center’s "Special Nurses," "Healthcare Professionals" and "Impressive Patients" through The Boner Group, West Palm Beach, Fla. Fitzgibbon points out that "agencies in the northern part of the state will work with a lot of Florida production companies," but that Miami agencies consistently work with out-of-state production companies.
Walker/Fitzgibbon, which provides production support to outside companies shooting in Miami, reports a recent increase in that area of business. "I’m getting more calls for production support from companies based in the U.S.," Fitzgibbon says. "I think there’s going to be less international activity right now, no matter how you look at it, because of [the possible] war with Iraq."
Director Bill Randall is president of AFI/Filmworks, Miami. Almost all of the spots the company produces are for the general market, and are regional. Randall says that in the past his company shot about 100 spots a year, but in the last two years, jobs have dropped off significantly.
Recent work includes Well Care’s "Well Care," directed by Barry Dukoff via Nunez Guim McCarthy, Miami; and Leverock Restaurants’ "Reveal," also helmed by Dukoff via Spark Branding House, Tampa, Fla.
According to Randall, the commercial business in Miami is not doing well. "Right now everything is sort of at a standstill," he says. "Last year was pretty dismal until the last quarter, where we actually did quite a bit of work and made up for most of the year. I expected the first quarter to follow suit and it hasn’t. I’ve talked to a number of people who are in the payroll business and they said everybody has fallen off. I don’t know much about the Hispanic market, but certainly the [general market] is like that."
Kim Wolf heads up Worldwide Production Services, located in the Coconut Grove section of Miami. The shop provides services to overseas companies shooting in the United States. She is also executive producer at Miami’s Directors Lounge and Atelier, a production shop that launched last year. Worldwide recently provided support for a General Motors of Canada spot directed by Jorn Haagen through Directors Film Co., Toronto, via MacLaren McCann, Toronto; and a BMW of North America spot, also helmed by Haagen for Academy, out of Publicis, New York. (Haagen is repped by Academy, London, for U.K. and U.S. work.)
Incentives
Jeff Peel, director of the Miami-Dade Mayor’s Office of Film & Entertainment, notes that in ’02, overall production—which includes commercials, feature films and episodic television—in Dade County was at about $34.2 million. In ’01, production totaled $37 million; in ’00, the figure was about $35 million. "It was about even with where it’s been for a while, so in some ways I’m pretty happy with that," he says. "I’d certainly prefer to see those numbers going up rather than staying even, but given the state of the economy, even is not such a bad place to be."
Peel notes that there are tax incentives from the state for productions, and his office works closely with the Florida chapter of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) to promote production. "We’re providing the same level of service we normally provide," he says.
Possibly one reason the numbers aren’t so bad is that companies who focus on work for the U.S. Hispanic market are actually doing well, according to Massimo Martinotti, president/director of Mia Films/The Mia Network, which is headquartered in Miami; Martinotti is also president of the AICP’s Florida chapter.
"We [recently] had an AICP board meeting and our perception is that most of the production companies are quite busy at the moment," he says. "Most of the business here is Hispanic, and it’s going much better than it did last year."
Martinotti says the AICP is continuing to work with various local and state film commissions to market Florida abroad and in the rest of the United States. In addition, according to Martinotti, the AICP chapter "decided at the beginning of the year to dedicate ninety percent of our resources, manpower and efforts to education of our members and the industry in general. We are planning to have several seminars related to different aspects of this business," he notes. "The change in advertising is evident, so we think we should start educating our members and the industry in general to evolve into new ways of producing, communicating and doing advertising."
Martinotti points out that several studies indicate that the U.S. Hispanic market will increase at a rate higher than the general market. "Investment in the Hispanic market was very low in comparison with the number of people," he says. "The Hispanic population is almost eleven percent, while investment [in advertising to that market is only] three percent. [Businesses] are adjusting that spending."
GoGoGo Films, Miami, which primarily produces spots for the Hispanic market, opened last year and is doing quite well according to owner/executive producer Graciella Creazzo. The start-up shot more than a dozen ads in just the last few months of ’02. "There are a lot of productions going on right now," Creazzo relates of the Miami market. "There was a slump for a while, but right now the business is growing." Recent GoGoGo jobs include spots for MCI and McDonald’s. In addition to producing spots, GoGoGo provides production services
Peliculas Ponder, Miami, works almost exclusively on Spanish language spots. The company’s Los Angeles office specializes in feature projects and is developing a series of films based on stories by major Latin American writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Carlos Fuentes.
Recent Peliculas Ponder spot projects include the U.S. Army’s "Jobs," directed by Marcos Zurinaga via The Cartel Group, San Antonio, Texas; Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration’s "Bandera," helmed by Daniel Bohm through Garcia LKS 360º, San Antonio; and DIRECTV’s "TV Guy," directed by Pablo Sofovich out of Casanova Pendrill Publicidad, Irvine, Calif.
President/executive producer Lynn Ponder feels that the current geopolitical situation could lead to more people staying close to home. "I look forward to shooting more in the United States," she says. "We’re not shooting in the U.S. [very much right now]. The percentage is like seventy-thirty. Most of the jobs are shot out of the country. I’d like to stay home once in a while. I look forward to that happening."
