Chicago may be Bears country but it and its fellow Midwest cities are in a bull market when it comes to the production and post communities assessing the state of the biz and prospects for future creative opportunities. On the former front, 2007 was a record year for feature, TV and spot production, according to the Illinois Film Office–with a strong impetus being the state’s tax incentive program, which offers savings of 20 percent of the money spent by a qualifying project shot in Illinois.
Mark Androw, principal/executive producer of STORY, with bases of operation in Chicago and on both coasts, lauds the incentives program as not only helping the state to keep and attract filming but also serving as a catalyst for building production and post infrastructure.
“Our directors in Los Angeles have been shooting in Chicago because of the tax incentives,” relates Androw, a past chairman of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers.
“Sears has been a big user of the incentive. We’ve done quite a bit of work for them in Illinois.”
And with all the work that’s coming in, crew people are also migrating to the state for employment and companies are investing in the market. Thus the talent and production resource pools are getting deeper. Fletcher Chicago, for example has made sizeable camera acquisition expenditures and Schumacher, another camera rental house, has invested as well, meaning there’s more gear in town. Infrastructure has increased with the workflow.”
Fletcher recently added 3-Perforation film cameras to its film and digital camera inventory. Fletcher thus became the first facility in the Midwest to carry 3-Perforation cameras which can help commercial production companies navigate the budget and technology issues of 16×9 productions. 3-Perforation cameras are standard ARRI 35mm film cameras that use an alternative advancement system–three perforation movement per image frame versus the traditional four perforation. With the emergence of 16×9 HDTV and Digital Intermediate, 3-Perforation’s mainstream popularity is increasing.
“Instead of the camera advancing the film every four sprockets, it advances every three,” explains Fletcher VP Tom Fletcher.” This eliminates the unused space between frames when composing for 16×9. Since a majority of today’s commercials are shot for widescreen, 3-Perforation’s efficient use of the film is a great option. You’re able to shoot more frames, the magazine lasts 33 percent longer (which means fewer reloads and shortends) and you save about 25 percent on both film stock and lab costs. The best part is that all of this comes without any compromise in image quality. In a world of shrinking budgets this is good news.”
A commercial that needs 10,000 feet of 35mm film shooting 4-Perforation would only require 7,500 feet of the same stock shooting in 3-Perforation and would benefit with more shooting time per reel. STORY just wrapped its first 3-Perforation shoot on new spots for Union Bank. Androw says his company was pleased with the results.
But he’s not taking anything for granted when it comes to the aforementioned incentives program, which expired on Dec. 31, a temporary casualty of the battle between the governor and the legislature over the state budget. Allocations for schools and public transportation have also been in limbo but the logjam is soon expected to break. Androw reports that the tax incentives program for filming has passed the state Senate and should be brought up in front of the House in a week or two, with the governor saying he would sign the measure. “We need to get this back up and running,” affirms Androw, noting that even during the interim he’s been able to tap into the incentives program for projects that were bid in 2007 and which went or are going into production this year.
Perfect pitch
A few years ago, Digital Kitchen (DK), Chicago, was trying to sell the notion of nontraditional media content to clients and agencies. “And we weren’t getting anywhere,” recalls DK president Don McNeill. “But that’s all changed. Now instead of selling the opportunity to do nontraditional work, the question now is, ‘What kind of nontraditional content do you want to do?’ That’s a major shift and the response has been overwhelmingly positive with clients and agencies committing to varied forms of content. The marketplace is embracing the opportunities, particularly the Midwest agencies.
“East Coast agencies may have a greater volume of this business but not proportionally compared to the Midwest. There are still a lot of major East Coast clients holding out and not thinking in these terms.”
While DK is active in different forms of nontraditional content spanning the web and other outlets, McNeill notes that often overlooked is the experiential market. For client Target and its in-store Channel Red, DK is doing assorted projects, including in-store digital signage and videos. And in Victory Park in Dallas, a huge shopping and business development, DK is producing a complex Target art project being displayed on monitors 20 x 60 feet that move at 10-20 miles per hour around the courtyard. The four monitors can independently showcase images or come together to exhibit art. “The experiential market is fast on the rise,” relates O’Neill.
Emerging content opportunities underscore the importance of the AICP.next committee, which is working to shape new business models beyond the traditional work-for-hire scenario. McNeill, who’s a member of that committee, says that AICP.next has made major strides in developing informational packets and contracts that can serve as templates for new ways of doing business in the nontraditional project realm.
Even with the talk of a pending recession, McNeill is optimistic. “If you’re a traditional production company relying solely on traditional advertising, I’d be a little nervous even though I’m still a big believer in that market. But if you’ve staked a claim in new media and are starting to meaningfully diversify, there are incredible opportunities surfacing. People are experimenting, going outside TV, and the creative challenges are exciting.”
Diversification
Foundation Post remains firmly established in the post business while extending its reach into the production arena and different content forms. The Chicago-based house, launched by editor James Lipetzky and creative director Samantha Hart in 2004, began to diversify beyond its ongoing post base in ’06 with the formation of Foundation Content, a production company which has allowed many of the company’s editors, including Lipetzky, to become hybrid directors/editors on select projects while managing to attract other young filmmaking talent.
Today Foundation Content has a diverse mix of projects to its credits–and on its docket. Currently it’s producing webisodes for an ambitious Chef Dreams series on behalf of client Blu 47, a hot local restaurant. Phil Lee, one of Foundation Post’s editors, is directing the series, sharing editing responsibilities with company artisans Brad Holland, Steven Pit and Anna Patel who are all emerging directors in their own right. Piet, for example, recently wrapped some national spots for USG building products.
Foundation editor Devin Bousquet directed and cut an ambitious package of longer format B.F. Goodrich commercials for The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., backed by a Foundation Content crew that encompassed production, DP and editorial talent that went on the road shooting monster trucks, race cars and other action. The package of work aired as part of a regional buy, primarily during football on TV but also on designated websites.
Hart notes that Foundation Content is also producing its own shorts and a feature-length project that are slated to hit the film festival circuit. She reasons that an eclectic mix of projects spanning different platforms will help to nurture and develop an eclectic mix of filmmaking and editing talent at the company.
Hart is no stranger to mainstream entertainment. She started in the music industry at Geffen Records and considers David Geffen to be a personal and professional mentor. She then entered the film industry as creative director for Gramercy Pictures (now Focus), developing campaigns for such films as Four Weddings & A Funeral, The Usual Suspects and Fargo. Hart later served as senior VP of marketing & advertising at Fox Searchlight and then Universal Films before moving into production for leading trailer houses, helping to shape spots and trailers for such clients as Miramax, Universal, Fox and Fineline Features.
With that pedigree, Hart sees Foundation becoming all the more relevant as a producer and post studio bringing entertainment and fresh filmmaking value to the advertising/marketing sector.
Busy signal
Indeed several Chicago shops from various sectors report that business has been good and prospects for continued activity look promising. Tom Duff, president of Optimus, Chicago and Santa Monica, notes that while TV spots remains strong, nontraditional fare has become more prevalent, with higher quality and bigger budgets than what had been the norm as recently as a year ago.
“It used to be that you’d throw a webisode in with a couple of :30s already being filmed, but now we’re seeing more shooting exclusively for web content,” he relates. “The nature of the webisode and other new media business we’re getting in post has changed for the better. Websites themselves have become so important and you have a greater sense of competition with companies trying to keep up with the Joneses so to speak. Add to that the kiosk stuff, cinema release content and varied media and we have more markets to draw from, which is good for our overall business picture. Plus, we’ve been campaigning for so long for clients to finish in HD. More than half of our spots are finished in HD today. By the end of 2008, it will probably go up to 95 percent with the pending transition [to DTV].”
Radar Studios, Chicago, has enjoyed steady growth as an artists-driven production company specializing in projects that blend live action, animation and visual effects. Formed in ’99 by live action director Don Hoeg and Flame artist John Truckenbrod, the studio has grown its roster considerably with such artisans as 3D directors Mark Angres and Sean Skube, the Gray Brothers who helm 2D and design work, live-action director Sam Macon and editor Greg Somerlot and effects supervisor/editor Brian Willard. Lisa Masseur started working as a freelancer at the company from its very inception, left to become executive producer at Ebel Productions, Chicago, and then three years ago returned to Radar as staff exec producer.
“We’ve found a niche in commercials primarily and also with some new media projects by providing creative solutions spanning live action, animation and effects for varied jobs, some of which are budget challenged,” relates Masseur. She adds that while it has drawn much of its business from Midwest ad agencies–with recent endeavors including Airheads candy from Cincinnati agency WonderGroup, McDonalds via Leo Burnett, Chicago, and the Illinois Lottery out of R.J. Dale, Chicago–Radar hopes to extend its reach by securing spot representation on both coasts later this year.
Business has also been on the rise at BAM Studios, Chicago, according to its president, sound designer Brian Reed who notes that the audio mixing/sound design shop has drawn projects from the mainstay Chicago agencies such as Burnett, DDB and DraftFCB and assorted ad shops in St. Louis, Detroit and Milwaukee. “They’ve all been regular clients for commercials primarily while some of their interactive departments have brought us web work.”
For example, Burnett and its sister agency Arc Worldwide have tapped into BAM for broadcast spot and interactive fare, respectively. Add to the BAM business mix work in radio, voiceover casting, documentaries and corporate communications and Reed notes that there’s been no telltale signs of recession for his shop. In fact business has come in from Australia and New York in recent months, the latter yielding a corporate project for Raytheon that required hi-def and SurroundSound services for screening in a movie theater venue.
Woodward expansion
Indeed Griot Editorial, which currently maintains two shops in Southfield, Mich., and a smaller office in Santa Monica, is optimistic enough about immediate and future business prospects that it is building a new space in Detroit’s trendy, more urban Woodward corridor. This new studio, which is actually in the suburb of Ferndale, is slated to open in May and will tke the place of one of the Southfield offices.
Craig Duncan, Griot VP/general manager, notes that several companies are in Woodward, including Pluto Post, Milagro Post and Mad River Post. “We also want to have a presence there and it reflects how positive we are about the future. I’m on the national AICE board and am very optimistic about creative editorial because true storytellers in our business will always be in demand no matter what form the content takes. To be able to creatively edit and pare down a lot of stuff into a relevant story is a talent that will always have a market.”
The big difference, Duncan says, between now and years past is that the old norm used to be that houses could book work well in advance. But today creative concepting often evolves and comes into play at the last minute. We recently wrapped a massive Chevy Red Tag event campaign [for Campbell Ewald, Detroit] with 3D and CGI and it came about so quickly. It was nearly a million dollar project just from a post standpoint and it was a matter of a couple of weeks from the time we heard about it to the time we were doing it.”
Griot’s advantage on a project like Chevy Red Tag, continues Duncan, is being able to tap into the family of companies under the Grace and Wild Inc. umbrella, which include Griot. For example, Griot was able to tap into sister shop Division X for 3D, and into Postique’s Design Group, complementing the efforts of Griot editor Terry King. “You can move costs around and put the pieces together much easier with all these resources to access when dealing with a job of that magnitude,” says Duncan.
Griot too has seen new media work become more prevalent but often in conjunction with broadcast commercialmaking. A case in point is a Ford F150 Super Bowl commercial which also encompassed behind-the-scenes footage expressly for the Ford website via JWT Detroit.
Minnesota
Kirk Hokanson, president of the AICP’s Minnesota chapter and exec producer at Minneapolis-based Voodoo Films, says that “the state of the union is good here” after informally surveying his colleagues at AICP member companies. “The consensus is a feeling of optimism regarding the amount of business but the workflow is certainly different than in years past. There are a lot more nontraditional approaches to advertising and marketing, a lot more projects for the web, some of it client-direct. Everyone seems to be looking to reach more eyeballs across different platforms in different ways.”
The other big difference, he relates, is that Minneapolis companies report that more than 50 percent of their business is coming from out of town. “Ten years ago, that would have been a dramatically different story,” says Hokanson. “But it’s evolved to the point where the community is drawing from outside its borders which is healthy.”
Helping that “draw” has been Minnesota’s “Snowbate” economic incentives program which has attracted production, including a number of national commercials, into the state. However, Hokanson notes that the incentives initiative has run out of funding and ended at least for the time being at the end of ’07. The push will soon begin in the state legislature to renew the program and have it funded by sometime around June.
Minnesota meanwhile has also seen an expansion of motion graphics shops, which Hokanson describes as a new breed of production company handling varied projects. He cited such Minneapolis motion graphic houses as Make and Motion 504 as being in an aggressive growth mode looking to hire qualified talent.
Outer Radius
“Overall the Midwest is in line with what’s going on in the rest of the country. Digital media and nontraditional content are marking their mark here with agencies and in the production and post communities,” observes Mark Egmon, president/executive producer of Outer Radius in Wilmette, IL.
Outer Radius jumped into the branded entertainment fray years ago well ahead of the new media curve. Now Egmon’s firm is active on several fronts, including providing brand strategy consulting services to mid-level advertisers who may not have an agency of record, offering new media/branded entertainment expertise to agencies that don’t maintain interactive operations, and helping to facilitate the creation of relevant branded content by tapping into Outer Radius’ pool of creative/filmmaking talent ranging from up-and-coming artisans in Chicago’s improv community (Second City, The Annoyance and I.O. Chicago) to established artists such as director Harold Ramis who sprung into prominence after developing their craft in Chicago’s sketch comedy biz. Egmon notes that there’s a great deal of Midwest talent that dovetails perfectly with the content creation needs spawned by the convergence of marketing and entertainment.
