Outrageous overhead. A saturated market. The prospect of companies going under. What’s a small-sized shop to do? An increasing number are joining forces with production services companies such as bicoastal Johnson Burnett Productions, which offers everything from day-to-day business support to office space, line producing and, on occasion, repping. Already this year, a handful of high-profile companies have clambered aboard to utilize the 16-year-old company’s expertise, including Sandbank Films, Barking Weasel Productions and Pfeifer Van Dusen.
"We’re one of the last hopes for the independent," claims owner Biff Johnson, who recently bought out partner Jim Burnett. "Look. We’re at the turn of the century. And I envision an older guy driving a nail in a horseshoe talking to a kid: ‘Tough work, kid, but they’ll always have horses.’ I’ve been in the TV commercial business since ’70, and at that time it was a growing market. Jesus, it was like the gold rush. But it’s not the gold rush anymore. It’s much more difficult now."
The answer, he adds, is companies like his. "With us, you’ve got a longer time to keep money in your pocket, and we have production experience. We’ll provide a platform for you and a place to work."
"The way I see it, the way business is going, a director has two options," adds Robert Berman, Sandbank Films’ executive producer. "Be part of a huge company which provides all these services in-house, or do what we’ve done with a company like Johnson Burnett. I believe that companies in the middle ground are going to have a difficult time-are having a difficult time. Generally, many of these companies are structured around one primary director who’s doing a lion’s share of the billings and other directors are either in a build situation, or doing moderate billings. It’s hard to sustain an infrastructure with that in the equation. It’s sad, but it’s just the way things are."
Indeed, many choose Johnson Burnett because of a business climate in which umpteen directors reels are commonly stacked at any given time in an agency producer’s office. When supply outweighs demand, it’s often the middle that gets squeezed-just ask any middle-class New Yorker looking for an apartment. Big is good, of course, when top directors can pay the way for others, and small can work when the director’s top notch, billing and bidding are being handled by professionals, and overhead is kept to a minimum.
Industry vets Chuck Pfeifer and director Bruce Van Dusen, who formed their new company back in February, readily concur that the Johnson Burnett model’s a good one.
"He has production facilities on both coasts, office space, something you can step right into," says Pfeifer, whose company, while operating out of Johnson Burnett’s New York and L.A. offices, is headquartered in New York. "It was like putting a glove on. You’re two fighters and want to fight and Biff offers you boxing gloves and the ring and the water, and the sponges. We don’t miss a beat; we hit the ground running."
"In an industry where it’s now a given that you need to have an excellent production," adds Van Dusen, "where you need to be able to shoot in Tokyo on 48 hours notice, you need to be able to react instantly. And because we didn’t want to spend a lot of time opening up office space, this enabled us to open a company in 48 hours."
Sandbank Films, which recently added noted documentary directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Brother’s Keeper and Paradise Lost), decided to move into Johnson Burnett’s Manhattan office in the Flatiron district after selling its Hawthorne, N.Y. headquarters this past winter. Berman explains that, "My own philosophy, based on the last couple of years running Sandbank Films, is that in an environment of decreasing markets and profitability, you’re better off trying to keep your overhead low and put your resources into the producing of great commercial work. [Johnson Burnett] enables me to do just that."
And Barking Weasel Productions, nearing its 10th year in business, moved into Johnson Burnett’s Hollywood office space this past February. "The real key is right now there are a lot of pressures on smaller companies, whether it’s cash flow or work flow," notes Barking Weasel executive producer Bill Hewes. "And really, for right now, it’s about alliances and teamwork, and, through that, being able to do more work and better work."
Other affiliated shops include bicoastal A Pictures and Melbourne, Australia-headquartered redBACK Films, which until recently maintained its own office in Venice. Both are based in Johnson Burnett’s Hollywood office, and Schofield Films is based in the New York office. Honey, a new shop put together by husband/wife directorial team Nick Brooks and Laura Kelley, works with Johnson Burnett in Hollywood but does not have an office there.
Elma Garcia Films in San Francisco recently ended its affiliation with the company. "We got her up and running and worked with her for a year," says Johnson. "But sometimes people just want to do it all and don’t want anybody else’s hands on it, and this was one of those cases. We wish she was still with us, and we’re looking for a player to fill Elma’s spot." In addition, longtime client, New York-based Chelsea Pictures, left Johnson Burnett this spring, when it entered into a deal with Children’s Broadcasting Corporation, Minneapolis (SHOOT, 3/19, p. 1).
At Your Service
Some internal changes have been at work at Johnson Burnett. The biggest change of all, of course, was Burnett’s leaving the company, a decision that Johnson plays down. "Jim just wants to try to do something else," he explains. "He’s out AD-ing and producing again, [and] shooting rounds of golf. I like the challenges of the business, the changes."
Johnson has been working in the business since the early ’70s, when he was VP/production for now-defunct Wylde Films. He and Burnett opened the New York office when now-shuttered Sunlight Pictures approached the duo with a joint venture offer. "Biff has an incredible production record," notes Pfeifer, who first met Johnson while repping at Wylde. "He’s been doing it a long, long time, and he really knows his beans. He’s probably the most cogent, knowledgeable producer on both coasts."
His understanding of the market is literally global, and he and Burnett started out in ’83 with several overseas clients. He explains, in fact, that giving overseas clients a place to produce in the U.S. was one reason for the company’s start-up. But international clients, he says, have become scarce. The U.S. has "lost a lot of foreign business for a number of reasons," says Johnson. "Canada’s hurt us; the dollar is just so strong that foreign companies are not doing a lot of U.S. locales; and there’s a lot more competition. South Africa’s hurt us a lot, especially with Europeans. Also, I think the Japanese have discovered Australia. It’s closer to home, a friendly film climate, and they’ve got very competitive pricing."
The more things change, however, the more things stay the same. "The business has always been about delivering talent to the service of a creative idea," says Johnson, "and then executing that idea into a reality within the constraints of time and budget. I think what we can do is give that talent the service of providing the business of the business-and let them pursue the critical match-up of delivering their solution."
