You might ask, “How do I know this?” Through my own personal research, of course.
It all goes back to when I started with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) in 1994. I was walking to work through Union Square, and a very panicked-looking young man approached me and told me that he had been locked out of his apartment on 16th Street. To compound the situation, he was a PA working on a Ridley Scott-directed commercial at Silvercup Studios. As the story went, when the door closed behind him, he not only locked himself out, but also locked in four garment bags of wardrobe for the shoot. If I would lend him $20 for a cab, he could go get an extra key from his mother, get into his apartment, retrieve the bags and get to Silvercup before his call time. He promised to messenger me the $20 from petty cash once he arrived on set. I gave him my card, and he certainly recognized the AICP logo, so it seemed he had to have worked a job in the industry at some point. I felt that this was just one more way I could help a poor distressed soul in the industry. So I complied.
Flash forward 14 years. Walking down 5th Avenue on my way to the office this morning, I see the same guy (now looking a little worse for wear, and clearly not having worked for some time) harassing what looked like a nice Midwestern businessman, who really didn’t know what the guy was talking about, but gave him $5 to go away. I stopped and asked the would-be PA if I could be of any help, baiting him. Of course, he launched into the story. When he explained the part about the garment bags I jumped in: “Don’t tell me–you are working on a commercial for director Ridley Scott as a PA.”
He looked surprised — and possibly offended –and said “no, I work on TV shows in the wardrobe department.”
Clearly, the city of opportunity created another success story. His “move” from commercials to episodic television and into an IA union craft category from a PA, is obviously due to the recently expanded TV and feature film tax incentives offered by New York City. This has led to campaigns, celebrations and much bragging by city officials about wooing shows such as Ugly Betty and In Treatment to New York from Los Angeles. So much so that every New Yorker (even a two-bit panhandler) knows that television show production is up in New York, and it is less believable (in our hero’s pitch) that he would be working on commercial productions, which have continued to slide over time.
This may not be quantitative research. But as a sociology minor, I can tell you that on a qualitative, long-term basis, this is solid data. When business trends become part of the social psyche, you know it is for real. Perhaps we need to recruit this guy to explain to the New York City Council and the Mayor why they need to act, and match the New York State spot incentive package, and support commercials with the same vigor that they have supported features and television, or we may continue to “lose” more of our workforce.
Matt Miller is president and CEO of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP).
