The postproduction market in Texas is booming, according to those who work in the sector. Sales and the number of spot offline and finishing jobs at the state’s post facilities are robust. Austin, Texas, continues to build on its reputation as an emerging film and art center, and the Dallas commercial market is thriving. Still, some disquiet lurks around the edges.
What has some full-service and boutique post shop owners mildly fretting are the shifting client lists at some of the state’s major agencies. Temerlin McClain, Irving, Texas, for example, lost the J.C. Penney’s account to DDB Chicago last spring. Others worry that Texas agencies are too ready to hop onto a plane to Los Angeles with their work because of a widespread perception that the Dallas market lacks the depth to handle the "really big ones."
"I think the market is static," says Tom Aberg, owner/editor of Easyway Editorial, Dallas, and outgoing president of the Dallas chapter of the Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE). (Elections for a new Dallas AICE president will be held later this month.) "I’d like to see [the local] agencies get some new accounts. Temerlin losing the Penny’s account hurt. That was a big account here in Dallas. … I don’t think there are any more editing joints opening up to service advertising agencies."
Although Aberg sees the market as being in something of a holding pattern, he says that his shop is doing well, pointing to a 20 percent revenue increase for 2000. Ken Ashe, the director of sales and marketing at Match Frame Post Production, Austin and San Antonio, concurs that his business is also doing well, coming off a good performance last year.
"We had a banner year in 2000," echoes George O’Dwyer, executive producer at 501 Post, Austin. "I had three quarters in 2000 that were twenty-five-year record-setters [in terms of revenue]. And 2001 has started off with a bang."
Advertising accounted for most of the bottom line at the companies in Texas that SHOOT surveyed. Ashe and Lola Lott, president/executive producer at charlieuniformtango (CUT), Dallas, estimate that TV commercials comprise 80 percent or more of their total revenues, while Aberg calculates that 90 percent of his business is spots. Richard Gillespie, principal/editor at Fast Cuts Edits, Dallas, pegs advertising at 90 to 95 percent of his firm’s business, while Michael Van de Kamer, president/senior editor of Post Op, Dallas, says about 80 percent of his company’s work is in commercials.
All of the shops say that their work is mostly for the national market; O’Dwyer estimates that 90 percent of his firm’s work is national, while Aberg estimates that his spotwork is split 50-50 between national and regional jobs. Van de Kamer says all of his shop’s work is national, while Lott estimates a 60:40 ratio of national to regional work. Some of the national clients using Lone Star State post facilities and editorial shops are Anheuser Busch, Miller, Molson, Subaru, AT&T, the restaurant chain Chili’s, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) and Land Rover.
While Texas post houses routinely work with ad shops in the state, some are looking beyond their borders for new business. "Most of my work does come out of Texas," notes O’Dwyer of 501 Post. "I am doing more with Rogers & Townsend, Kansas City, and we’re bidding projects with Fallon in Minneapolis. We’re also being looked at from Atlanta."
In addition to looking to other states, some companies are getting work from south of the border. Match Frame, for instance, recently completed work on a spot called "The Shadow," for client Power Milch via Delta-Rho, Mexico City. CUT is making an effort to get more business from outside of Texas. "I’ve traditionally competed with shops in L.A. and New York. That is still the case," Lott says.
Companies are also adding new personnel and equipment, or expanding into other cities. Business has been so good for Post Op that Van de Kamer recently hired editor April Wilson, and audio engineer Dave Marcus, who had previously been with Margarita Mix à la Hollywood.
CUT is opening a new boutique in Austin, on March 1, with two offline suites and an online room; when Janell Brown, formerly the executive producer at Lost Planet, New York, relocated to Austin, Lott hired her as exec producer of this new branch. Editor Dan Clougherty rounds out the Austin office of CUT.
At 501 Group, O’Dwyer is also actively looking for a new cutter—perhaps someone from outside the area. "What’s comforting is that a lot of editors want to come here," he notes. Additionally, the Austin-based 501 is contemplating the opening of a Dallas branch, and O’Dwyer says that expansion is always on the staffers’ minds. "I think that’s our next step," he adds. "We do a lot of work out of Dallas, but I think I need a greater presence there on a regular basis. I think that’s something that’s in the cards."
Match Frame has taken a unique approach by agreeing to rep bicoastal Crew Cuts’ editors in the Southwest, allowing Texas agencies access to that company’s 20 editors. "It’s a unique arrangement that allows our clients to work with our people if they choose, or to work with some of the great editors Crew Cuts has on staff at our facility if they choose to go that way," says Ashe.
Another sign of a healthy post industry is a movement to upgrade equipment. Fast Cuts recently upgraded to Avid’s Unity digital image-storing package, while Easyway upgraded its Avids to the Avid G4 Meridian 9000XL, and completed a new Smoke room last year, with plans to add Avid’s Unity later in the first quarter of 2001. 501 Post, which has a Quantel Henry Infinity, plans to add a third Avid to meet growing creative editorial need, and looks to add some Discreet Logic tools to complement its digital finishing capabilities. Additionally, CUT completed an upgrade of its Discreet Logic system last year.
While the Texas shops are busy, most agree that jobs taking flight to Los Angeles and other areas are still a problem. "I hate to keep pounding this button, but we’re losing a lot of work out of town," states Aberg. "We need to find out why that is and what we need to do keep that business here in town. I don’t think you’re ever going to stop it, but a certain amount of it is due to people not knowing what we can do in this market."
Lott agrees: "They [agencies] would say, ‘We give you a lot of business.’ And I do get business from them. I’m not complaining whatsoever. But when there’s a real juicy graphics project, I feel they don’t believe there’s enough depth here in town to do that—or for an animated project either. We need to pull some talent from L.A. so that people will look to Dallas as a serious market."
The Dallas chapter of the AICE is actively using the national AICE’s "Who’s My Editor" campaign to upgrade the perception of editors and graphics professionals as fellow creatives in the eyes of agency people. The chapter is discussing the possibility of a local/regional editing awards show that would run concurrently with the recently announced national editors’ awards show to be put on by the AICE (SHOOT, 1/12, p. 1) later this year. "Every year we have this big client party where only agency and editorial house creatives are invited," Aberg explains. "At the last AICE chapter meeting, we talked about having a [regional] awards show at the same time as the national awards show.
Aberg adds that he is keeping his fingers crossed that Texas companies will do well at the national show. "We’re hoping that at the party this year we can have an announcement about one of our own being a national winner."e
