Should there be any lingering doubt as to the importance of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), consider what the spotmaking business would be like without it: There would be no standard bid form, commercial production contract or guidelines regarding fair and ethical business practices. There would be no annual AICP Show honoring the industry’s artistic achievements, no permanent collection of the best American commercials at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. Nor would there be an organized means for the 300 member companies to address common business issues, to communicate with other unions and trade organizations, or to speak to state and federal legislators about laws, policies and issues that directly impact them.
"It would be anarchy," observed executive producer Frank Stiefel of Santa Monica-based Stiefel + Company, who served as AICP national chairman in 1996.
Indeed, the AICP has accomplished much in its 30-year history, the majority of those achievements unforeseen even by the organization’s creators. According to AICP founding father Dick Hall, formerly executive producer of now defunct Griner/Cuesta, the so-called cost-plus formula was among the earliest issues addressed by the AICP.
"No one [agency] used the same forms, and the ability to determine the cost for what they wanted [to produce] was difficult," said Hall. "Often it wasn’t cost plus; it was cost, and you had to eat the overages if you went over budget. We came up with an agreed cost-plus form that almost all agencies ultimately accepted. That was a very uniting force, because we were then an entity, not individuals. The same was true with our relationship with various unions. They realized they had to negotiate with us as a group."
Hall served as national president of the AICP from ’84 to ’85. (The post’s title was changed from president to chairman a decade later.) In ’88, he also completed the unfinished term of AICP president Jerry Bernstein, former West Coast-based executive producer of New York-headquartered EUE/Screen Gems. (At the time, EUE closed its Burbank operation, and Bernstein exited the business.)
During that second stint as president, Hall was invited to the White House for a drug abuse prevention briefing. The Reagan administration wanted to open a dialogue with people who had a hand in making public service announcements. The gesture underscored the U.S. government’s burgeoning awareness of the commercial industry’s impact on American culture, and of the AICP itself.
A few years later, bicoastal/ international @radical.media co-proprietor Jon Kamen took on the post of AICP president, and in ’92 ushered in the first AICP Show. "The Show was my baby," he recalled. Making the Show a reality, he continues, "was the platform I ran on."
Kamen was a principal of the former Sandbank Kamen & Partners then. He told SHOOT, "We were trying to think of ways to reinvigorate and recognize the creativity of our industry. At the time, the AICP was flat broke, and we didn’t have the wonderful administration we have now. What we had was a group of hard-core volunteers who made the call to action." What the group planned was ambitious. But things fell into place when MoMA agreed to host the event and archive the AICP-honored spots in its permanent film collection. Kamen mentions the tireless efforts of AICP members who pulled things together, such as Steve Jacobs, then a staffer at Sandbank Kamen & Partners; Diane McArter, now managing director of Santa Monica-based Omaha Pictures; and Jordan Kalfus, the Show’s first chairman and former executive producer of now defunct Harmony Pictures. (Kalfus is now retired.) "They donated time, and many of us literally reached into our pockets to kick-start it," reported Kamen. "We did it with the faith that people would come, but had no idea if it would happen. They came in droves."
To be sure, the Show proved a windfall for the production industry, in part because it was an "industry-owned event," according to Kamen, which lent a purity to the celebration. Moreover, the Show proved to be a unifying force beyond the commercial production ranks. "The day we got a check from the first ad agency to buy tickets to our Show, we realized we’d created something the entire industry wanted to support," says Kamen. "We had crossed over that path from our battling to a spirit of cooperation. The Show really created a focal point that the industry could rally around."
By the time Bill Perna, now president of DCODE, New York, stepped into the national AICP presidency, in ’93, the trade organization clearly had become the definitive voice of the commercial production community. Perna was then executive producer of Smillie Films, Santa Monica, and he remembers during his term in office negotiating with such government bodies as the IRS and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in addition to ongoing communications with advertising agencies and unions.
Perna recalls that the IRS had begun to examine the film community’s tax practices regarding independent contractors. "The IRS [was pushing a] strict interpretation as to what was an employee and what was an independent contractor," he said. "But that didn’t take into account what were established standards in the production community. A lot of production companies were staring at the wrong end of a barrel, with the IRS asking, ‘Where’s the money?’ That was potentially devastating to a lot of companies. We started to take an active role, so that the IRS began consulting us as to their guidelines, which had gotten strict over the course of a couple years. So the AICP was instrumental in helping to define what was an independent contractor and what was an employee." The interpretation was of critical importance when it came to the director/production company relationship, Perna noted. "Directors were independent contractors," he explained. "Being the high-ticket guys, that would mean a lot of back taxes to be responsible for if that standard were to change. So we had to educate the IRS as to how we work, and we fought to get an understandable interpretation."
Meanwhile, various environmental groups had taken issue with the BLM’s practices regarding film permits. "The environmentalists were pushing for a strict interpretation of permit laws, which required a two-month review process," Perna says. "That would never work in commercials. An ad would have been filmed somewhere else and on air by then." Therefore, the AICP worked aggressively to spread awareness—both among the environmentalists and the BLM—about the commercial industry’s habit of "leaving only footprints behind" after a shoot, as well as the positive economic impact that spot production has on communities.
Other issues Perna faced during his term had to do with the ongoing squeeze on production profit margins, and developing a standard production agreement. In the past, agency lawyers wrote production contracts, typically requiring producers to assume most of the associated liabilities.
Toward the end of Perna’s term in office, the organization named Matt Miller as its first national executive director (a post that was later changed to president/CEO). "Being that Matt was chapter neutral really worked to nationalize the organization," Perna said. "Before, there was a really competitive nature between AICP chapters."
Efforts to truly nationalize the AICP continued during Stiefel’s term as chairman in ’96. "The structure up until then was based on regional representatives," he recalled. "[As chairman] I set about federalizing it, because the business had changed. The best agencies weren’t just in New York and Los Angeles. The best ideas were coming out of Portland and San Francisco, and business was the same across the country. The AICP had grown in an ad hoc way over the first twenty years; it was cobbled together. [When I became chairman], Matt [Miller] had just come on as president, and the idea of the organizational structure was silly, with regionalized dues. What I pushed for was the idea that this was one business, and so all monies should connect to a national board. That streamlined the AICP and made it a more powerful deal with a national agenda." Stiefel said there were initial concerns that the organization would lose members due to the change. In fact, it lost none.
Frank Scherma, co-proprietor of bicoastal/international @radical.media, took over as national chairman of the AICP in ’97. His primary goal centered on raising awareness of the commercial industry’s contribution to the entertainment community. "Commercials were seen as this bastard stepchild to entertainment," he pointed out. "Every discussion, in newspapers, in labor or whatever, was about television and film. No one realized that we were important both economically and from a creative point of view. My goal was to make politicians and the entertainment industry stand up and take notice."
To accomplish that, Scherma began playing politics. "I got involved with [Los Angeles] Mayor [Richard] Riordan’s office, so at meetings I was there or someone was there representing the commercial industry," he recounted. "We made sure we had a presence where things were going on. That sent a signal."
Scherma also spearheaded efforts to compile data on the commercial business. "We decided to get some statistics together, to show how big and important an organization we are, and to let people know, and know that they need to start dealing with us," he explained. The plan worked, and as a result much has changed over the past five years. "Now," Scherma quipped, "we always get letters from politicians asking for money."
Beyond that, Scherma’s term as AICP chairman was also about maintaining a focus on the organization’s core agenda. "As always, we want to make this business better for everyone who’s in it," he said. "That means improving relationships with ad agencies, all the usual labor negotiations, and keeping an eye on where we’re going in the future." He continues: "I couldn’t imagine this business without the AICP. The important thing about a trade organization is that you realize you’re not alone."
Alex Blum, partner/executive producer of bicoastal Headquarters, became AICP chairman in ’99, a year that will go down in history because of the six-month actors’ strike against advertisers.
"It was an extremely difficult time for our members," Blum recalls, "a real hardship that I’m not sure we’ve all recovered from. The AICP had to do as best we could to help members navigate those waters, to give the best advice, so people understood what their legal rights were. It was also about keeping our members informed, because in that situation there’s a tremendous amount of misinformation out there. We tried to get accurate information about what was going on and how things needed to be done. There were a lot of logistical and legal issues that came into play, because people were trying to stay in business.
"I’m disappointed in the results, considering what it cost everyone," continues Blum. "In terms of what it proved, there didn’t need to be a strike. There’s a terrific need to change the way actors get paid, and that wasn’t addressed. Conversely, people got in the habit of doing production overseas. Six months of agony, and that’s the result."
But, conceivably, things could have been worse. While the AICP couldn’t stave off significant financial losses suffered by its member companies during the strike, the organization proved a vital resource as an articulate voice, a symbol of unity and a source of reliable information. "There’s been a tremendous evolution in the credibility of the commercial industry between now and when I came into it," Blum notes. "The idea of [agencies and labor unions] seriously sitting with us to discuss issues was ludicrous [in the early days]. Now, we sit in the room with them as equals, and they look to us for feedback. There’s no question that among production trade associations worldwide, ours is by far the most powerful, and people take it for granted. In a sense, that proves its value. People are so used to having us deal with union issues and contracts, and reacting to issues in the industry. It’s a very effective organization, and that those things are just expected is a symbol of the organization’s success."
During Blum’s chairmanship, the AICP also entered into a strategic partnership with the Association of Music Producers (AMP). The strategic alliance (SHOOT, 4/14/00, p. 1) enabled AMP to tap into the longstanding administrative infrastructure and organizational expertise of the AICP. Conversely, the relationship has helped the AICP to meaningfully extend its reach into the music and sound design arena.
The AICP/AMP relationship has brought about tangible, positive benefits on several fronts. For example, AMP unveiled a set of music production guidelines in Oct. ’00, which were published in the AICP Membership Directory. When the guidelines were unveiled, AICP president/ CEO Matt Miller described them as in a sense "taking a page out of what the AICP has done…The guidelines outline how the [music and sound] business function, and should prove to be a useful resource for agencies. The AMP guidelines also reflect a position and philosophy about how that business runs—and how to get the most out of it."
In ’01, AMP—with the help of AICP—gained major ground on the development of an errors & omissions insurance policy tailored specifically for the commercial music and sound design business (SHOOT, 7/27/01, p. 1). At the time, Dain Blair—a founding father of AMP’s West Coast chapter—observed, "It’s a case of AICP’s experience paying off for us [AMP] in terms of helping to access the right people and resources such as the insurance broker and carrier. The strategic alliance [with AICP] has helped us to avoid some growing pains and to be further ahead of where we would be otherwise." Blair, owner/creative director of Los Angeles-based Groove Addicts, added, "Both organizations and the entire industry are benefiting from the relationship."
And in the wake of 9/11, the AICP and AMP teamed on a gala event in New York, featuring food, drink and live performances from noted musicians and vocalists. Proceeds from the fundraiser were donated to New York relief organizations, including the Twin Towers Fund.
It should also be noted that in response to 9/11, the AICP was a founder of the Advertising and Entertainment Coalition to Help Rebuild New York. The group, also known as The We Love N.Y Coalition, has had a hand in the Big Apple being able to keep and attract more business. The coalition has played a proactive role in helping to promote an economic recovery for New York—and for that matter, the U.S.
