MILK & HONEY PRODUCtion Services has embraced the fact that production, like all businesses, is going global. Looking back on this final year of the 20th century, I see several questions rising to the foreground. Here are some of them:
Is the production industry in the U.S. winding down? How much will global production grow to take its place? The idea of filming abroad is on everyone’s lips. Agencies and directors are more aware of the production opportunities that exist throughout the world, and they are no longer afraid to pursue them. They’re more willing to hop on a plane to test new waters, thanks to the growing number of companies created to look after their production needs when they land. Will U.S. production cease? I don’t think so, but as the walls collapse between all other areas of business and cultural life, so will production flow even more between borders.
What will be the next Canada? Producers are beginning to grumble that Canada has become too crowded, that resources are so thin that they’re forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel for crew and equipment. Many are also complaining that immigration restrictions for long-term projects stifle the creative process.
To what countries are these producers turning? Many are testing the waters in Mexico, where locations and crews are extensive—and less expensive—and where Titanic proved that projects of any scope are possible.
What impact has the Internet had on commercial production? In addition to the obvious impact of dot-com spots on our bottom line, the Internet continues to find new ways to expedite production across states and continents. First there was e-mail, then FTP sites, and now there’s FTP Drop Box, which provides additional assurances of privacy. It’s just as simple as sliding an image or text file into a folder, which can then be instantly accessed on the other side. Last-minute art direction changes, location photos and more are easy to transmit, making the notion of overseas production that I mentioned above even easier to accomplish.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More