Three years ago when Argentina experienced a financial crisis that brought the country to its knees, the South American country became a destination for Mexican commercialmakers who, taking advantage of a favorable exchange rate, began flocking to the area to save money. Now that Argentina’s economy is recovering and Mexico has become more competitive, Jaime Souza–a partner at Mexico-City based production house Filmcore, and director general of the Mexican Film Association (Asociación Mexicana de Filmadoras, a.k.a. AMFI), an organization which represents the interests of the Mexican commercial production community–says the country is now better able to compete against runaway production and keep spot projects local.
Flor Vega, executive producer at the Mexico City office of Mia Films, which is headquartered in Miami, relates that 85 percent of the work out of the Mexico shop is for that country’s market, for clients including MasterCard, Nestle, Coca-Cola and El Universal newspaper. The office additionally does some work for the U.S. marketplace–recent projects includes spots for McDonalds, Tyson and Verizon.
Karen Watts is a liaison between Latin American production service companies and U.S. commercial producers, and owns Shoot Latin America, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. She agrees that the cost of filming in Mexico and Argentina seems to be leveling out, creating a positive situation for Mexican commercial production. In addition to being economically feasible, Watts points out that Mexico has a strong infrastructure, which makes the country well suited to spot production. “Mexico has the best infrastructure of any country in Latin America,” contends Watts, noting that the country is equipped with Hollywood-style studios, such as Estudio Churubusco in Mexico City, as well as supportive local film commissions, which along with Mexico’s National Film Commission, work to facilitate filming in the country.
Diversity also exists in the country’s talent pool, making casting relatively painless. “Commercial production in Mexico has been increasing over the past five years partly because of the lower costs of crew and talent wages in Mexico, and the availability of European-looking talent in non-speaking roles,” says Mark Pittman, executive producer of production services company Cine South, Mexico City. “Each year we’re seeing more and more companies from different parts of the world coming to shoot south of the border and using an entire Mexican cast.”
Among the production companies Cine South has worked with are: London shops Gorgeous Enterprises and Joy @RSA; bicoastal Epoch Films; Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif.; and Good Films, New York.
“Mexico has great talent,” concurs Vega. “There’s always the tendency to do new things, and there is a lot of influence from the U.S. and Europe that affects the creative of the local directors in a good way.”
While productions from outside the country often shoot there, Mexico has its own thriving ad business. “The creative climate in Mexico is very exciting because at the moment, Mexican creativity is very competitive and aggressive,” notes Yuri Alvarado executive VP/chief creative officer at Foote, Cone & Belding Mexico, Mexico City.
He estimates that the agency shoots around 200 commercials each year for clients that include Modelo Light beer, Radio Shack and Bristol Myers. Most of the work is lensed in Mexico, relates Alvarado; if certain location work is needed, it’s generally done in Spain or Argentina. When shooting locally, Alvarado works with production partners such as CineConcepto, García Bross and Catatonia, all in Mexico City. For postproduction, they turn frequently to Rushes and New Art, also in Mexico City.
UPON ARRIVAL
Although Mexico can be a beautiful place to film, there are some kinks in the system, which, on a legislative level, Souza and the AMFI are working to smooth out. Not all of the residents of the many neighborhoods, or delegations, in Mexico City see the advantages to working with, instead of against, filmmakers. Each of the 16 delegations that make up Mexico City has an elected delegate to represent the people, and each location has different filming criteria for producers to adhere to. Without proper permission from the delegations, which can take 60 days to secure, delegates will often stop productions that are taking place on location and delay filming for hours. To rectify this situation AMFI is pursuing unifying legislation from the central government. Souza expects the legislation to pass in October. The problem, however, is restricted to Mexico City; in neighboring states, filmmakers are welcome, he notes.
Another problem AMFI–whose role is to “unite all the production efforts in Mexico and fight for rights for the production business”–is working to correct is difficulties people experience when bringing foreign talent into Mexico for filming projects. The process for approving a talent’s ability to work is slow and bogged down with red tape. Often, to get around the ordeal, actors and models are often brought into the county as tourists. Souza is talking with immigration officials to speed up the permission process and add another level of ease to foreign productions that want to come to Mexico.
In addition to securing local productions, Mexico is working to bring in commercial work from abroad. With locations that include colonial towns, beaches, deserts and jungles, villages, villas and haciendas, Mexico offers a range of exotic locales to foreign commercialmakers. With its proximity to the U.S., it is a natural place for stateside companies to turn.
COSTA RICA
The Central American country of Costa Rica is a popular tourist destination because of its two coastlines, volcanoes, rain forests, cloud forests and diverse animal and plant life. For many of those same reasons, it is a desirable spot for commercialmakers.
“Even though we’ve done all kinds of jobs in Costa Rica, the ones involving natural locations are the most usual,” says Maria Jordá managing director of bananafilms, which has offices in San Jose, Costa Rica, and in Buenos Aires. “Given the dimensions and compositions of our country’s surface, it’s easy to find a lot of variety in a considerably small area, which usually contributes to budget effectiveness.”
Compared to Mexico’s nearly two million square kilometers–which makes the country almost three times the size of Texas–Costa Rica covers an area of about 51,000 square kilometers, slightly smaller than West Virginia.
Jordá’s clients include Coca-Cola, Toyota and Heineken. Among the agencies she works with are DDB Moscow, Ogilvy Buenos Aires, and McCann Erickson Costa Rica. Bananafilms recently completed two spots, “Kiss” and “Runner” for McCann-Erickson–the former was for Coca-Cola, while the latter was for Powerade, a Coca-Cola product. In “Kiss” a couple is featured kissing and drinking Coke throughout the years, while “Runner” features the simple visual of a woman running. Jordá directed both.
In addition to working as a production company, bananafilms also offers production services to foreign shops. Services range from simply assisting with production to full production that includes the company’s directors. Some of the shop’s jobs come from countries such as Spain and Chile, as well as other Central American nations.
Victor Barriga, production manager and owner of production service company Servicios de Production Filmica VB, S.A., San Jose, Costa Rica, also collaborates with agencies like BBDO in Chicago and New York. For Ogilvy in Buenos Aires, he worked on the fun and colorful spot “Club” for Fanta through SCP Films, Buenos Aires, and bananafilms.
TRANQUIL SETTINGS
Costa Rica’s peacefulness is not due solely to its natural wonders. It is also a politically and economically stable country that leads foreigners to feel comfortable there, Watts explains. The infrastructure in the country is small but sufficient, Watts relates, adding that it is easy to get equipment shipped in from other places like Miami.
Jordá added that commercial production is a “growing industry, well aware of its capabilities and most important, conscious of the closeness with other big film production centers like Mexico or Miami that serve us to complete any lack in ours.”