Several trends cloud the U.S. commercial production horizon these days: more directors and fewer boards, budget cutbacks, concerns over runaway production—and, most recently, a seemingly imminent strike by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). But within the stateside production community, a Darwinist, can-do attitude prevails. "The business is changing drastically," says Gregg Stern, executive producer of bicoastal M-80, one of the shops in the Stoney Road family of companies owned by Michael Romersa. "We just have to stay on top of it."
For many companies, that means tapping into the global marketplace, either by opening branch offices or forming alliances with overseas outfits. "In today’s market," Stern says, "if you don’t, you’ll be out of business."
M-80 maintains several informal relationships with companies outside the U.S., including Entropie Films, Paris; The Partners’ Film Company, Toronto; and Moonlighting Films, Johannesburg. M-80 recently parted ways with Velocity Afrika, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Per that arrangement, M-80 repped several Velocity directors in the U.S., while Velocity provided a South African production base and resources to M-80 (SHOOT, 9/17/99, p. 1). Now, Velocity is handled in the U.S. by Creative Management Partners (CMP), bicoastal and Chicago, and CMP’s New York-based rep Lorin Munchik. (Velocity managing director/executive producer Barry Munchik owns Velocity with director Keith Rose.)
As evidence of M-80’s activity overseas, Stern recently bid on a Volkswagen job for the French market and M-80 director Tenney Fairchild, to be run through Entropie. Also, M-80’s Jim Tozzi helmed a French ad for car company Seat, also via Entropie.
Meanwhile, Velocity maintains relationships with several production houses outside of South Africa, including Film Master, Rome and Milan, and Group Films, Barcelona. Lorin Munchik estimates that about a third of the company’s business is generated by its production services operation, which has grown significantly over the past few years. Velocity, for example, recently provided production support for a Sun Alliance ad directed by Josh Taft of bicoastal/international Satellite, via Deutsch, Los Angeles.
Howard Woffinden, partner/executive producer of Los Angeles-based Milk & Honey Films, and Matthew Stillman, founder/ managing director of Prague-headquartered production services company Stillking Films, also cite an increase in American commercial shoots abroad. "You only have to look at our balance sheets to see that," says Woffinden, whose company maintains Milk & Honey Production Services, with offices in Mexico City, Moscow, Montreal, Prague, London (through an alliance with First City Films) and Rome (through an alliance with Panorama Films). Recent campaigns that Milk & Honey supported include a Timex spot directed by Tim Burton of Los Angeles-based A Band Apart 35mm for Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis, which was filmed in Prague; and Hewlett-Packard’s "HP Invent" campaign, which was shot in various locations around the world, and helmed by Leslie Dektor of Dektor Film, Hollywood, for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
Reasons
Woffinden maintains that the stateside commercial production business isn’t in danger of drying up. "It’s not the same as the movie-of-the-week world," he says. "Literally, no movies-of-the-week are shot in Los Angeles now. And even though some commercials come to us from a purely financial point of view, they are driven by necessity, whether it be the need to access a location or a certain stage. And there is a thriving commercial turnover in Los Angeles."
Stillman believes the increase in overseas shooting is due to several factors. "Directors often prefer it for creative solutions," he says. "And producers prefer it for production solutions." He estimated that a four-day production in Prague would typically result in savings of about 30 percent, not including lower talent fees and actor buyouts. Stillking, which has offices or affiliated operations in Los Angeles, Warsaw, Budapest, Milan, Cape Town and Sydney, typically assists about 10 commercial productions a month from various countries, and Stillman says his shop works regularly with bicoastal U.S. production houses such as Gartner, Headquarters and HSI.
The trend toward globalization may be why the potential SAG/ AFTRA strike has not caused panic in the U.S. "Nobody seems too wigged out about it," says Tim Clawson, president/executive producer of New York-based Shooting Gallery Productions (SGP), and executive VP of its sister production and post facility Gun For Hire (GFH), New York. "There’s more of a feeling that production can continue almost as usual." SGP and GFH are part of the New York-headquartered independent feature film company The Shooting Gallery. GFH maintains offices in New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Miami, Los Angeles and is looking to expand into Europe. At this juncture, the company has alliances with companies in Prague, Mexico City and Italy.
"A strike is not going to stop us from working," adds Frank Scherma, co-proprietor of bicoastal/international @radical.media, which maintains offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Sydney. "There are some jobs we’ve automatically taken overseas. And if a strike occurs, and it prevents us from shooting here, we’ll go overseas in a minute."
Likewise, Woffinden believes dealing with a strike is all in a day’s work. "The production community’s first reaction is always ‘Here’s a problem, how do we solve it?’ That’s what they are geared to do every day," he says.
"Normally, Velocity’s production services would be winding down this time of year, because there’s less climate issues in the summer," adds Munchik. "But they’re keeping an eye out, and are sort of on call, in case of a strike."
While a strike may not cause major disruptions in production flow, it could have long-term ramifications. "By forcing U.S. companies to seek production fulfillment outside the U.S., it [will] open their eyes to the world-class options available," contends Doug Lewis, director of Stillking’s Los Angeles office. "Once you go and know, it’s easier to go again."
Lewis is not alone in his viewpoint. "Striking at this particular time is detrimental for the industry as a whole," says Bernie Wesson, partner/executive producer of Venice, Calif.-based Cucoloris Films. "It’s one more step along the path that will undermine the strength of production in the U.S."
Cucoloris recently formed a strategic alliance with Berlin-headquartered DoRo, a European company active in music videos, concert films, television programs and spots. Per the arrangement, Cucoloris gains several benefits, including a conduit through which to procure international spot assignments (SHOOT, 1/14, p. 1).
In spite of runaway production concerns, going global brings potential benefits. "Our offices overseas allow us to find the best work from around the world for our directors," says Scherma. This includes a French campaign for Bic that was shot in Rome and New York for TBWA, Paris, and helmed by the directing team LeMoine/Miller (Rick and Steve, respectively).
Wesson points to a Cucoloris production last year that was directed by Jim Manera for Aleve. The campaign involved DMB&B, Buenos Aires, and DMB&B, Rome, and was managed by DMB&B, London. Shot in Buenos Aires, the project resulted in ads for Europe and South America with significant cost savings. "That’s an example of the smart part of international production," says Wesson.
Munchik also mentions Rose’s recent spots for Philips Flat TV via Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG, New York, as being equally international in scope. The U.S. spots involved a South African director, a client from Amsterdam, an American agency, and an Italian shoot via Film Master.
Despite admissions that economic incentives—both in terms of production costs and talent buyouts—often represent the driving force behind overseas shoots, most members of the production community contend that shooting locations are largely dictated by creative factors. "You can’t shoot the Eiffel Tower in Vegas," says Wesson. "The background ain’t right."
On the other hand, Wesson says it’s hard to top New York or Los Angeles when it comes to production resources: "Some clients or agencies think they can take a director and drop him in Cape Town and everything will be perfect. But the creative reality [is that] some things we’ve been asked to do [abroad] were beyond the capabilities of anybody there."
Production service companies are doing their best to change that. "Producers need to have options, and overseas production services companies provide exactly that," says Stillking producer James Ricketts. "Companies like Stillking open up previously inaccessible parts of the world … and they enable filmmakers to shoot in these places with the benefit of local knowledge, and in many cases, high production value."
Others believe that location shooting—either in the U.S. or abroad—has gained popularity due to desire for a greater production value. "That production has become increasingly global in recent years is as much an indication of the desire to reflect—in a creative sense—the way we live nowadays, as it is an indication of what is both practical and possible," says Ricketts.
Clawson agrees. "I think that a lot of the runaway production problems that we’re having is that a lot of spots are calling for situations where you’ll have more production value shooting it, rather than recreating it. It’s not so much running to a foreign land to save money, as it is running to a foreign land to get more for your money—more authenticity."
Interestingly enough, Clawson adds, "The things we’ve recently shot for overseas [markets] have all been shot overseas." At the same time, SGP’s domestic projects have remained in the U.S. For example, director Carlton Chase directed a campaign for communications company Telefónica, which was filmed in Buenos Aires for Young and Rubicam, Madrid. Meanwhile, the directing team of Spooner/French (Nick and Andrew, respectively), have helmed several domestic projects recently, including an ad shot in New York for Homedics.com via Campbell Mithun Esty, Minneapolis.
But the trend towards globalization shows no sign of slowing. "It is essential to be as connected as possible to nurture and grow global relationships," says Lewis. "These are the seeds of tomorrow’s creative work environment."
