Launched in 1995, Santa Monica-based The Finish Line has extended its Southern California reach with the opening last week (11/27) of a second facility, this one in the Orange County community of Costa Mesa (see story, p. 7).
The Finish Line’s decision to expand regionally grew out of global and national factors that post/effects industry entrepreneurs have been scrambling to adjust and adapt to in recent years. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, Jack Schaeffer, president of The Finish Line, recently looked back on the marketplace dynamics that led to his company making a significant commitment to Orange County.
"It started in 1999 when Los Angeles started to feel the impact of runaway production," recalled Schaeffer. "Up until then, longform had been the most affected, but then commercials started to go elsewhere, mostly due to the exchange rate and other incentives in Canada. The norm had been that the Los Angeles post community could rely on people coming here to shoot and to frequently stay for postproduction and finishing needs, but that started to change. As productions went to Toronto and Vancouver, Prague and other overseas destinations, agencies figured they might as well go back to their home bases in New York or Chicago and edit there."
Schaeffer had adjusted his plans accordingly and business had started to show signs of picking up, when the ad industry was hit the following year by the six-month-long SAG/AFTRA strike. "During the strike, those who didn’t shoot in Canada or abroad learned how," observed Schaeffer. "Many of those agencies and clients became comfortable with foreign production and will continue to go outside the U.S. The strike will have a lasting impact."
As a means to cope with Los Angeles losing its spot mecca status, Schaeffer explored several options, including a diversification into broadcast graphics, which has paid off with network ID and promo work.
"We were optimistic going into 2001," recollected Schaeffer. "But in late January/early February, the stock market’s woes became quite pronounced. The trickle effect on corporations and their advertising decisions hurt business prospects for the post industry in general. Plus in the spring there was the threat of strikes by the Writers Guild as well as SAG and AFTRA against the feature/TV studios. This caused advertisers to put their plans on hold as the fall [TV] season was in jeopardy."
A spark of optimism, however, was ignited when those strikes were averted during the summer. "We were really looking for business to rebound as advertisers went fully into the new season. We started to see business perk up in August and thought September would be telling—and then Sept. 11 happened."
In a roundabout way, The Finish Line was prepared—not that anyone could have foretold the horrific events of 9/11. Over the summer, the shop had begun exploring the Orange County market, which has experienced bullish growth—in sharp contrast to other ad agency cities. From its Santa Monica facility, The Finish Line had been doing an increasing amount of work for Orange County ad shops, and the thought was that the company would be better positioned to accommodate those jobs and attract others if a local base of operation were established.
"It’s a way for us to be expansive during a time of industry cutbacks," related Schaeffer. "Our business has to be constantly looking for potential growth areas. Ironically, the global and national climate helped lead us to a local opportunity."
