A litmus test for annual highlights is arguably that they have implications beyond the calendar year during which they occurred. That’s certainly the case for the all-consuming development that unfolded in 2000: the strike by the actors’ unions—the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists—against the advertising industry, which was represented at the negotiating table by the Joint Policy Committee of the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
When all was said and done, there was a lot more said than done. After six months—with both sides holding out for what they defined as necessary landmark changes in recompense for actors’ services—an agreement was reached which pretty much maintained the status quo. This led observers to question why the strike lasted so long, in that the settlement terms reached seemingly could have been hammered out much earlier if different, more progressive strategies had been applied at the bargaining table.
Instead the prolonged six-month stretch translated into financial hardship for union actors, U.S. crew people and support service businesses. During the strike, American spot shooting increased significantly in Canada and overseas. Estimates were that the strike-caused plummet in filming of spots domestically cost Los Angeles approximately $1.5 million a day, while the impact on New York was pegged at some $500,000 daily. Union actors reportedly lost some $200 million in wages.
Clearly the strike served to exacerbate the runaway production problem. And there is growing industry concern that this will have a lasting effect. Many advertisers and agencies had positive experiences—creatively and in terms of cost savings—when shooting in Canada and overseas during the strike. These clients and ad shops have come to view shooting outside the U.S. as a viable, practical alternative.
"The impact is going to be far beyond what it’s meant thus far in lost dollars to the town, crew and actors," observed Patrick Collins as the strike came to a close in October (SHOOT, 10/13, p. 1). Collins is general manager of BBS Pacific, the Los Angeles-based operation of Westport, Conn.-headquartered production consultancy firm Bird Bonette Stauderman (which also has an office in London).
"A window has opened up to multinational advertisers," contended Collins. "The strike has forced them to realize that the production world goes beyond the U.S. There are some great creative resources [globally], and the strength of the dollar in many foreign countries is incredibly advantageous. [Prior to the strike] there were already smart clients who knew about some of the benefits of shooting offshore. But many other clients had considered it a boondoggle—’You guys just want to travel there,’ or it was going to cost too much money. The strike has caused [those clients] to see otherwise."
Supplier companies have just begun the recovery process, with some having learned an important lesson. The observations of Rufus Burnham, principal in The Camera House, a North Hollywood-based rental house specializing in spot production, were typical. "The strike opened up my eyes to the fact that setting up an additional situation in Vancouver [B.C.] is something I have to consider—even if I don’t want to," acknowledged Burnham shortly after the strike’s settlement (SHOOT, 11/3, p. 4). "I now anticipate that we’ll have some sort of facility or service operation there within the next 12 months. I would have never thought that before the strike. Runaway production is real, and it’s not going to go away."
Though many U.S. commercial production houses remained busy in 2000—albeit with increased lensing in foreign countries—the strike undeniably tempered economic prospects for many in the spot support community. Ironically, this occurred during a year that should have been far more prosperous stateside, with the Summer Olympics and a national political election among the traditionally favorable advertising dynamics.
Not all of the labor news was negative in 2000. In recent months, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) reached agreements on new spot contracts with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) covering the labor pool in Los Angeles County (SHOOT, 10/20, p. 1), and with the Directors Guild of America (SHOOT, 11/10, p. 1). Both are four-year pacts.
D.C. DOCKET
Progress was made on other fronts in 2000, perhaps most notably in the legislative arena. In October, President Clinton signed a bill into law that raised the annual allotment of H-1B visas to 195,000 for each of the next three years. The measure was supported by U.S. high-tech firms—including many visual effects and computer animation studios—that depend on recruiting foreign talent to help offset what they contend is a shortage of qualified American workers.
While the 70 percent increase in the H-1B quota buys some time until more homegrown talent is developed stateside, the legislation also hopes to offer a partial long-term remedy by launching a program to train U.S. workers for high-tech jobs. Both supporters and opponents of the larger visa allocation seem to agree that the big-picture solution is to commit more resources to the U.S. educational system—particularly in math, science and the arts—so that it can turn out more of the skilled workers necessary for the new-millennium job market.
In June, a bill governing filming on federally owned lands—including those under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS) and the National Wildlife Refuge System—became law. At press time, agencies under the U.S. Department of the Interior, like the NPS, were in the process of finalizing regulations reflecting their interpretation of how the legislation should best be implemented.
Passage of the public lands filming measure was supported by the AICP, the Association of Film Commissioners International and other industry organizations. The legislation carries provisions that the spotmaking community embraces. For example, the law bases "reasonable" filming fees for federal public lands—such as national parks—on crew size and length of stay on location. Both of these barometers are favorable to commercials, which are usually smaller-scale productions and have shorter lensing periods as compared to their TV program and theatrical feature counterparts. The legislation also calls for timely processing of film permits. The timetable for processing would be tied to the length of projected filming. For filming permits of shorter duration—typical with commercials—the turnaround for processing would be shorter than would a request to shoot for an extended period of time, which is the norm for theatrical movies and telefilms.
Another provision in the law establishes an 80-20 split of film fee revenue, with the 80 percent going to the local public land facility where lensing takes place, and the remaining 20 percent set aside for system-wide federal land needs. Some segments of the industry reason that this revenue distribution policy may serve as additional incentive for local public land managers to facilitate production. The locally retained revenue could be put towards the hiring of liaisons to handle and expedite reasonable filming requests. Currently, many public land managers have assorted responsibilities, making it difficult for them to divert time to facilitating quick turnaround for the issuance of film permits.
Enabling producers to access public lands for filming in a more timely manner is a significant legislative step to combat runaway production. Currently, individual states are contemplating runaway proposals, encouraged by such recently enacted initiatives as the Film California First program, which will reimburse certain film-related state and federal agency costs to production companies shooting on public, government-controlled land (SHOOT, 10/6, p. 1). The State of California has budgeted $15 million for each of the next three fiscal years (a total of $45 million) to fund the Film California First program.
DEALS
The year also saw assorted deals, as companies looked to leverage themselves into stronger positions via acquisitions, strategic alliances and/or working relationships. The publicly traded Liberty Livewire family of companies grew with an agreement to buy Northvale, N.J.-headquartered Video Services Corp, parent to such post operations as Manhattan Transfer, New York, Manhattan Transfer-Miami, and Northvale-based Audio Plus Video International, among other holdings (SHOOT, 8/25, p. 1). Earlier, Liberty Livewire subsidiary 4MC had bought four post houses from London-headquartered Virgin Media Group: 525 Studios, Santa Monica; Mexico City’s Virgin Television de Mexico; and London-based Rushes and West One Television (SHOOT, 5/26, p. 7). Liberty Livewire was active on the U.K. front, as 4MC also acquired Soho Group Ltd. this past summer and SVC Television, London, in March.
Other deals carrying implications for the future, particularly in the new media and/or digital sectors, included: Bicoastal/ international @radical.media’s acquisition of New York-based Outpost Digital (SHOOT, 10/20, p. 1); the non-exclusive new media relationship between Fallon, Minneapolis, and Hollywood-based iBelieve Media (SHOOT, 8/4, p. 1); bicoastal HSI Productions’ launch of Kayoss, a satellite designed to produce original Internet content (SHOOT, 7/14, p. 1); bicoastal/ international Chelsea Pictures’ agreement to team with online animation firm JibJab Media, Brooklyn, on an Internet advertising venture (SHOOT, 11/3, p. 1); Los Angeles-based Palomar Pictures’ deal with Web animation shop Fullerene Productions, Los Angeles (SHOOT, 10/6, p. 7); and the agreement by director Peter Kagan (whose spot roost remains Stiefel+Company, Santa Monica) to enter his new media boutique, [+]iTV, into a joint venture with editorial/design/ interactive media firm ARTiFACT, to form ARTiFACT[+]iTV, a Santa Monica-based convergent media shop, with emphasis on interactive television (SHOOT, 8/18, p. 1).
TRAGEDY
Sadly, the year was also marked by tragedy, as two accidents resulted in the deaths of five commercialmaking artisans. On Aug. 10, a sports utility vehicle careened out of control after its driver was fatally wounded in front of a New York nightclub. The SUV proceeded for a couple of blocks, striking and killing director Jhoan Camitz of bicoastal/international Satellite Films. He was 38.
And on June 22, a helicopter crash in a remote section of the Vancouver, B.C., area claimed the lives of director Paul Giraud, 47; first assistant cameraman Mikael Glattes, 37; grip Ivan Weber, 28; and copter pilot Christopher Guichon, 42. The four were in the copter during a Nissan spot shoot for TBWA/ Chiat/Day, Los Angeles. Giraud was a mainstay at HSI Productions.
