While the dollar has cooled against the Euro, international production by U.S. agencies and production companies–and conversely, productions from Europe and other areas coming to the U.S.–shows no signs of letting up. As noted in SHOOT‘s recent Border Watch on Florida, many European productions are taking advantage of the exchange rate to shoot in the Miami area.
Oftentimes, when a production goes overseas–say to Europe, South Africa or South America–the U.S. shop producing the job will enlist the services of a local production house to help things run smoothly. The reasons for going to foreign locales vary–it might be for a favorable talent buyout, a particular creative spin on a project, or a location that is integral to concept or storyline.
Looking to facilitate and to evolve into somewhat of a clearinghouse for this activity is Los Angeles-headquartered Global Production Network (GPN) headed by Harry Tracosas. A former key grip and underwater cinematographer, Tracosas previously owned a Miami production service company called Walk on Water. Four years ago, he launched a company called Production Network, which became GPN. The firm represents production and production service companies from 70 different countries internationally. “We really try to brand and build one company at a time,” notes Tracosas. “We’re very dedicated to those companies. There not always the biggest, but they are exceptional.”
Once the companies are signed to GPN, they are marketed both to U.S. production houses and internationally. For example, GPN is currently working with a company in Greece that will likely bring its production to Miami, and last year GPN worked on a Qantas airlines job out of Australia that shot in Montana, New York and Washington, D.C. Conversely, GPN also works to bring together U.S. production companies with international shops. For a Chile shoot, GPN brought together Benito Cine, Santiago, Chile, and Independent Media, Santa Monica, for PBS’ “Bucket Brigade,” out of Fallon, Minneapolis. GPN has also lined up foreign production services for such established U.S. houses as bicoastal Moxie Pictures, on projects including an Avaya spot directed by Frank Todaro in Chile, bicoastal Anonymous Content in Romania with director David Kellogg, and Omaha Pictures, Santa Monica, in Denmark and Croatia with the directing team of Speck/Gordon–Josh and Will, respectively–for lensing in Denmark and Croatia.
Tracosas notes that he works with production companies differently. For instance, with larger shops that have been producing internationally for quite some time, GPN offers options in regions where they haven’t worked before, or by giving them alternatives. “Some production companies come to me, and ‘Listen Harry, I have to go here, I don’t have a company in XYZ country, who do you know?’ and then I connect them with a company, I give the names and the references, and I vouch for them,” he explains. “Some companies say, ‘where do you go, who do you know, we’ve not been there,’ and I just turn over what I know. Other companies tend to get me involved, looking at storyboards, and talking about where we can go. I give them options, and sometimes we go ahead and research five or eight or ten countries, and the first thing we do is gather location photographs, which I deposit onto their computers on a daily basis. At which point, they either bid all, or narrow the field of players, and bid on one.”
While Europe–particularly Eastern Europe–still remains a destination, Tracosas concedes that the strength of the Euro against the dollar has had some impact on shooting. He notes that Argentina, although climbing in price, remains a favored spot, while Chile is becoming more popular.
THE ROSTER
GPN represents one company per region–the firm just signed on Bulgaria Film Services–and works with shops such as Ocean Films, Brazil, where GPN worked on a Luv’s spot for director Garth Davis of Anonymous, and Pangea, in Mexico, where a GPN brokered spot for Blockbuster and A Band Apart, Los Angeles, recently shot.
“The theme of what I look for when I do my due diligence and research,” explains Tracosas, “is that the companies are excellent at production, and they usually have to [have] worked with Americans, if at all possible, because the American nuances are important to understand when you’re bringing something half way across the world, but that’s not always possible. The general parameters are they have to be excellent, and they have to be good human beings.”
Among the other prominent production companies for which GPN has secured foreign production services are harvest, Santa Monica, Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles, and Reactor Films, Santa Monica.