Last month the Florida Governor’s Office of Film and Entertainment reported there were movies shooting in three major Florida cities at the same time, something that hadn’t happened in quite some time. Down south, a 20th Century Fox feature, Bachelor Party 2, starring Sara Foster, was filming in the Miami area; in Orlando there was Morgan Creek’s Sidney White and the Seven Dorks, a comedy starring Amanda Bynes; and in Jacksonville, the indie film Rocket, a feature starring Sharon Stone, Jimmy Fallon and Tom Arnold, was in production.
The future also looks bright for commercial production. State film commissioner Paul Sirmons is optimistic that Florida will be able to attract more commercials, music videos and digital media projects soon if the legislature passes the new proposed financial incentive (HB 1325 and SB 96) since it will finally work in their favor.
“The bills in the House and in the Senate that will make our incentive program commercial and music video-friendly are still making their way through the legislative process. We will know their fate no later than May 4, as that is when the session ends. So far they have passed committees with all positive votes–not one vote against either bill.
At press time, the governor’s office noted that two commercials were in production, one for Gardasil being shot by Milagro Films, Los Angeles and one for Suncom Puerto Rico, being produced by Metropolis Films, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Even without the implementation of the financial incentive program, commercial production is up slightly this year compared to 2006, reports Jeff Peel, director of the Mayor’s Office of Film & Entertainment, Miami-Dade County. He says 88 spots have been shot in Miami so far in ’07, worth about $10.7 million in direct spending there. Of those, 70 were produced in English, 15 in Spanish and another three in other languages. In ’06, 86 commercials were shot there in the same period , worth about $10.6 million in direct spending there.
Production companies that have shot there recently are Milagro Films, bicoastal/international @radical.media, Rhythm + Hues, Los Angeles, Anonymous Content, Culver City, Calif., bicoastal The Artists Co., bicoastal MacGuffin Films, Screen Gems Studios, North Carolina, bicoastal Go Film, Catatonia Films, Mexico and Giraldi, New York, among many others, including Miami’s own Mia Films. Clients have included Telefonica, Foster Grant, Cingular, Honda, Home Depot, Hellmans, Crest and Volkswagen.
“Among the most interesting spots shot here in the last few months has been an Opel commercial. London-based Home Corp. shot in dozens of local odd locations for the car commercial, including inside one of our libraries. In post, they will make it look like the car is actually driving around in all of these strange places,” says Peel.
He notes Miami Beach remains a hot location, as does the new Performing Arts Center in downtown Miami.
Peel has been working closely with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers’ Florida chapter and other local film commissions to promote the state as a production destination, according to Massimo Martinotti who heads Mia Films and is president of AICP Florida. “We have been cooperating with [film commissioners] Jeff Peel, Graham Winick (Miami Beach), Robert Parente (City of Miami) and Rita Brown (Florida Keys) to communicate the advantages of shooting here to producers, agencies and clients both in the rest of the United States and in Europe. We are planning at the moment actions, for instance, in London and Spain,” Martinotti says, adding those actions will likely include lunches and dinners with decisionmakers in both cities.
Among those advantages are the variety of locations, technical and human resources and a creative edge, Martinotti points out. “Miami has a special connection with Europe and Latin America. If I had to define the production industry here, I would say that it is eminently international and multicultural. The production companies based in Miami have established relationships with directors from different part of the world: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany. What we can offer is indeed a global approach to every project from a creative perspective and a logistic standpoint.”
Agency perspective
Luis Miguel Messianu, chief creative officer, del Rivero Messianu DDB, Coral Gables, says the agency has been producing considerably more in Florida. In 2006–half of its spots were produced in Miami.
“There are more and better options now. Both the production and postproduction companies have grown, attracted better talent and now offer the quality and standards you find in other major markets. In addition, Hispanic casting has improved considerably with migration from Latin America,” he says.
Like the other agencies SHOOT spoke too, Hispanic advertising is DRMDDB’s core business. “It’s a fast growing one,” Messianu says.
Rodrigo Vargas, senior producer at Conill, Miami, believes that the biggest trend in commercial production has been the growth and expansion of the U.S. Hispanic market, saying that clients are investing in it more and coming up with more initiatives for it.
But the growth is not only in terms of dollars and cents; there’s been an progression in the creativity behind Hispanic advertising as well.
“There’s still a long way to go but we’ve come a long way baby,” says Messianu. “Hispanic work in general has improved its standards. We went from selling the business case and opportunity to now selling the ideas. Before we had to sell the viability of the market and now that has proven itself and clients realize the great ROI it brings is now about better creative solutions.
“You can look at it as going from the functional to the emotional. Now it’s about the aesthetic value beyond just the performance.”
He recently produced with Mia Films two spots for Marshalls, which are the Hispanic renditions of “The Marshalls’ Principles.” “Those two spots were quite an evolution from the previous work and are very fashionable and contemporary,” Messianu says.
Other recent work included a campaign for the Miami International Film Festival, which consisted of a media spot called “Is he?” and three trailers that were shown before every film. Those trailers were pitch dark and an intriguing track told a story. The tag was: “Films that leave something to the imagination.” The agency had also produced five new spots for McDonald’s. For Royal Caribbean International, it shot two spots with Letca Films helmed by Argentinean director Henry Meziat.
Speaking to Messianu’s point of better creative solutions and making emotional connections with Hispanic spots, among the recent work Daniel Marrero, partner, Creative On Demand, Coral Gables, is most proud of are two spots for Volkswagen shot in English and Spanish in Miami.
Called “Confrontation” and “Taking it Back,” they show what it’s like to break up with your old car because you just can’t resist a new Volkswagen. “[Director] John Dolan from Anonymous Content really brought these stories to life, capturing the angst and tension of walking away from the old car, while harboring that inner delight of getting into a brand new VW. We think they’re pretty breakthrough for the automotive category,” Marrero says.
‘Interacculteration’ Because of the elevated level of creativity behind some Hispanic work, U.S. Hispanic agencies have found their projects being picked up and adapted to the general market. Case in point is Conill, a 100 percent U.S. Hispanic agency.
“In the last years many of our productions have been picked up and adapted by the general market and also by Europe (Italy and Portugal),” says Rodrigo Vargas, senior producer.
“I would say that the main reason why the general has picked up and adapted some of our spots, is basically because of the creative work that is behind each spot. The creative team of Conill led by Antonio Lopez, executive creative director, has the vision of ‘interacculturation.’ ‘Interacculteration’ is all about the immigrant culture becoming more like the host culture as the host culture adapts to become more like the immigrant culture, making Conill’s creativity expandable to multi cultures and other markets.”
He says that although he has been involved in TIDE’s award-winning campaigns for the U.S. Hispanic market, what he finds most rewarding is taking ideas that transcend culture to create connections with people of multiple backgrounds.
“Conill’s ‘one team one dream’ is the spirit and philosophy that all Conillians believe in and practice. Conill is just like a Latino family, we all work like one team, hand by hand to present our ideas; we believe passionately in the power of ideas.
His prediction for the future is that the U.S. Hispanic market will continue its explosive growth and that the Latino identity will be part of the U.S. culture in a few more years.
Messianu’s prediction: “Mass media will decline or be flat at best, with the exception of Hispanic. New media will grow at a faster pace. Advertainment and interactive are the new core,” he says. “In the case of the U.S. Hispanic market, more and more of our work will run globally in all Spanish-speaking markets. The future is bright and this is just the beginning.”
