How’s business in the Windy City these days? Interviews with a number of Chicago area production and post companies make it clear that there are many different answers to this question. Mark Androw, executive producer at The Story Companies, New York, Chicago and Santa Monica, assesses the state of the industry in the Midwest metropolis. (Androw is also the vice-chairman of the national board of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers.) "There are two different issues you need to analyze separately: There’s work emanating out of Chicago agencies, and there’s the work that gets produced in Chicago," he says. "The amount of work from Chicago agencies has been relatively steady over the last couple of years. The amount of that work that gets shot in Chicago has been decreasing. I think that’s probably a reflection of something the entire ad community is experiencing, which is that agencies and production companies are going to locales that are less expensive.
"We shot a large campaign in South Africa in March and April," continues Androw. "We shoot in Canada frequently, and when budgets allow, we shoot in Los Angeles quite a bit, but we all like working in Chicago [when we can]."
Does Androw try to encourage agencies to shoot in Chicago and its environs? "It depends on the job," he responds. "We try to find a location that makes the most sense for the project."
By way of example, he cites a Walgreens campaign—comprising the spots "Perfect Birthday," "Perfect Over The Counter," "Perfect Photos," "Perfect Milk," "Perfect Valentine’s Day," and "Perfect Hosiery"—directed by Story’s Rodney Smith, via Euro RSCG McConnaughy Tatham, Chicago, that is set in a fictitious land called Perfect—a place of manicured lawns and flawless homes, where no one ever runs out of anything or forgets to buy a birthday card. Of course, since Perfect doesn’t exist, Walgreen’s is there to make life easier. "We decided the best place to shoot that was in Charleston, South Carolina, where the weather was also perfect," Androw recounts.
Story was in Chicago for "Up Front," a spot for the sleep aid Ambien, which was helmed by Laurie Rubin, through Draft Worldwide, Chicago. The ad called for nice domestic interiors and exteriors, and a house in suburban Chicago fit the bill.
A three-spot campaign for Schwans food delivery service—"Here Comes Harry," Fuss’n" and "Never Home" —directed by John Massey via Campbell Mithun, Minneapolis, is a good example of an ad that combined local and out-of-town production. "For that project, we needed nice-looking, normal suburban exteriors," explains Androw. "We wanted to shoot in Chicago, but in April, the weather hadn’t quite turned yet, so we shot the exteriors in Atlanta. There were also a number of studio food shots, and Chicago has a great tabletop community—food stylists, home economists, riggers—so we shot the food portion of the job in Chicago on a stage. That worked out well."
Bob Ebel, owner/director of Ebel Productions, Chicago, who is known for working with children, says that his company’s "business has been consistent. We specialize in kids, and most of our commercials are kids selling adult products, which is an interesting twist. It’s not like we’re doing Saturday-morning toy stuff—we haven’t done that in a number of years."
Ebel believes his company has been able to weather the recent downswing in spot production. "Even during the [actors’] strike [against advertisers in 2000], we were busier than ever," he notes. "Because we specialize. We’re fortunate that we have a niche, and we get a lot of repeat business. We have a number of clients that come back five or six times a year, and that keeps us hopping. We haven’t seen any slowdown."
Not even with the national economic downturn and the effects of 9/11? "It didn’t affect us at all," states Ebel. "We were told by a number of people that we were the busiest production company in Chicago, so we’ve been very fortunate. We’ve got a lot of new business and a lot of repeat business."
Ebel sings the praises of Chicago’s crews, facilities and stages, and his company shoots about a quarter of its jobs at home. In addition to shooting in Chicago, Ebel works frequently in Orlando, Fla.; Los Angeles; and Vancouver, B.C. He has recently directed such spots as "Perfect Day" for Friendly’s Restaurants via Laughlin & Constable, Chicago; Berkeley Farms’ "Mallory" and "Casey," out of Rick Johnson & Co., Albuquerque, N.M.; and Bob Evans’ "Nicholas/Big News," part of a five-spot package for the restaurant chain done through Chicago Creative Partnership. Larry Bessler, another director at Ebel Productions, just finished helming eight spots—including "Bryan Spencer"—for National City Bank, out of Doe-Anderson, Louisville, Ky., as well as a package of ads for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which included the spot "Multikid"; that campaign was done client-direct.
Ebel points out that one reason his company is successful is that it offers A-to-Z production services. "We have our own stage building and casting facility," he notes. "We have our own editorial with [Bass Edit], so we have been able to do many projects from start to finish. That’s a big plus to a lot of our clients."
Upturn?
Dan Lundmark is the executive producer at Manarchy Films, Chicago. He says that times have been tough for commercial production. "Chicago is in the same position as almost every production center in the world, in terms of TV commercials," states Lundmark. "I would say the last year is the worst year I have ever seen."
He reports that business slowed down last summer, and then came to a halt after Sept. 11. "I had never seen this in my twenty-two years [in the production business]," he relates. "In September and October there were virtually no boards."
Despite the downturn, Lundmark sees some improvement, but "[business] had no place to go but up," he observes. "If there are no boards, by definition, it’s going to get better, but it’s not back to what I would call normal."
Lundmark, whose shop draws work from all over the country, describes what he sees as a general, rather than a local, trend. "What seems to be happening now are these bursts of activity followed by slow periods," says Lundmark. "September and October: horrible; November, December and January: actually, quite busy; February and March: very slow again; April and May: OK." Manarchy has four directors on its roster: Dennis Manarchy, Claudia Alberdi, Randy Diplock, and Marek Kanievska. Recent credits out of the company include the Manarchy-directed Panasonic ad "Power Video," via the Ocean Group, Toronto; and Jeep’s "Grandma’s House," through BBDO Detroit. Alberdi recently completed work on the spots "Sanctuary" and "Protient Lift Cleanser" for Johnson & Johnson/ROC; and the California Milk Fluid Processors Board’s "Working Mom" and "Three Milk Cake" via agency Anita Santiago, Los Angeles.
"I talk to my peers, and I think everybody is in survival mode," Lundmark continues, "hoping that at some point in the not-too-distant future, there’s a return to some sense of normalcy. Advertisers have laid off creating new commercials, in some cases, for almost a year. Hopefully, there is a pent-up need for new production."
Richard Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, says that, overall, commercial activity has been down this year, and in much of 2001, but his office has noted a modest increase in spot production. "Starting a couple of months ago, we’ve seen an increase in commercial production activity," reports Moskal.
While the city of Chicago doesn’t track expenditures on commercial production, Moskal relates that a survey conducted in 1999 by the Chicago chapter of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) found that spot production in the city generated about $60 million in direct revenue, while creating an additional $80 million in indirect revenue.
Moskal notes that feature film and television production in Chicago tallied $124 million in direct revenue in ’99—the city’s biggest year to date—while in ’00 the figure dropped to $85 million; ’01 posted $71 million. Longform production, like spots, has also been on the rise recently. Independent feature Uncle Nino and Normal, an HBO film, are currently filming in the Windy City. In addition, the HBO series Mind of a Married Man recently completed shooting exteriors locally. "And we’ve been fielding inquiries from studios for potential films to be shot in the summer or early fall," reports Moskal. "That is definitely a change from what was a very quiet winter."
Post Issues
One Chicago-based company that had a busy winter is Cutters. Founder/editor Tim McGuire—who is CEO of the overall Cutters family of companies, which includes Chicago audio house Another Country and SOL designfx, Chicago and Venice, Calif.—says that Sept. 11 didn’t seem to affect business at his company, which draws about 80 percent of its jobs from Chicago-area agencies. In fact, this past November, December and January were good months, but then business dropped off. "Currently," he adds, "it’s probably about the same as it was a few months ago. I would characterize the business as soft."
McGuire believes that business will start to improve in the fall, and his shop is planning to open another office at some point in the future. "Cutters will open outside of Chicago," states McGuire. "We’ll wait until the advertising recession is over [to do it]."
According to Scott Seltzer, managing director of SOL designfx, business has "been a real interesting up-and-down ride." Referring to the time after 9/11, Seltzer says, "We found that while our L.A. work declined rather noticeably, our Chicago work oddly picked up a little bit." Seltzer thinks that post-9/11 anxieties may explain why this happened. With a large percentage of his office’s clients based in the Midwest, "people were still going to the West Coast or wherever to shoot, but they were not wanting to stay away from home that long, so people were bringing more work back to edit, finish, and do music, sound and mix here," he surmises. Recent work out of SOL designfx includes the opening sequence for Monster’s Ball, and work on spots for Michelob Light, Lamasil, Toys ‘R Us, and Wrigley’s Eclipse Gum, and Keystone Beer.
Since that period, relates Seltzer, business has fluctuated. Does he sense increased competition from Canada? "Production companies and post companies are seeing a whole lot of competition from Canada and from abroad," he answers. "With the ease of the transfer of information, now we’re bidding for jobs against The Mill in London [which also has a New York outpost] and Buf Compagnie in Paris. Our competition is becoming global as opposed to local. That’s why it’s important to have a presence in L.A.: It’s a production center and people from all over the country are shooting there."
Expansion has become a key part of many business plans at Chicago-area post houses. "You’re seeing many of the Chicago postproduction companies and editorial companies with L.A. offices," notes Seltzer. "Serving your clients wherever they are is becoming more and more important. Our offices act as one company—any project of any size probably has both offices involved. We have dedicated T-1 lines between the offices, and we’re able to move files [of various edits] back and forth with clip mail.
"If we have a Chicago-based agency going out to the West Coast to shoot, someone from our Venice office can be on the shoot as a postproduction supervisor," Seltzer continues. "We can start the project in Venice and then move it back to Chicago and complete it here. It also affords the agency a way to keep the director involved in the editorial process."
Chicago-headquartered Avenue, which also has an office in Santa Monica, offers creative editorial, color correction, and online services, and boasts a digital division, as well: SOMERsault, which creates digital animation, graphics, effects, and design, and has DVD programming and authoring capabilities. Like Seltzer, Marc Lichtenstein, producer at Avenue, feels that having an office outside of Chicago is good for business. (There is a branch of SOMERsault in Santa Monica, too.) "Sometimes, we’ll send our Chicago editors out to L.A. to work with clients [who] are out there on location," he explains. "There’s a lot of mixture between the two offices and that helps from an overall business standpoint."
Asked how business has been in the past year, Lichtenstein replies, "It’s been pretty steady—surprisingly good despite what the state of the world has been like. Chicago has a concentration of advertising agencies, and the bulk of them generally do post near where [they] are based. Merely because of that fact, the Chicago post market stayed consistent, and we’re no exception to that. Our business has still been good." Recent credits out of Avenue include Coca-Cola’s "Fatima," "Next Up" and "Rising Star," directed by Francis Lawrence of DNA, Hollywood. Kim Salter cut all three spots. Additionally, two of the honorees at the recently held AICP Show were cut by Avenue edtiors. One, Aquafina’s "Nothing," directed by Irv Blitz of bicoastal HSI Productions and edited by Avenue’s Gail Gilbert, was honored in the tabletop category, while Minute Maid’s "Bobby Knight," out of Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, and directed by Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA, was honored in the copywriting category. "Bobby Knight" was cut by Avenue’s Terry Kaney.
Tom Duff, president at full-service post house Optimus, relates how his company has fared over the past year. "In April of 2001, things started slowing down and hit the wall with 9/11," he explains. "The fourth quarter was terrible for everybody. I expected to have a faster recovery at the first of this year, and there wasn’t one. It started getting somewhat steady in the first quarter of this year, and didn’t really start getting busy until April."
Optimus recently launched CO-OP, a creative editorial house in Santa Monica. "If you want to stay competitive in the high-end commercial business, you need to have a presence in L.A.," believes Duff. "A lot of the business we get, of course, comes from agency producers and creatives, but more and more we’re seeing directors influencing the selection of who edits their work."
Currently CO-OP is operating out of temporary digs in Venice, but the company is starting its move into its permanent space in Santa Monica. The Chicago and West Coast offices will be linked by a real-time remote editing system.
Recent Optimus jobs include Polaroid’s "Let Me In," directed by Lisa Rubisch of bicoastal Bob Industries, out of Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, and cut by Deb Schimmel; the United States Postal Service’s "Dry Cleaner," helmed by John Dolan of bicoastal Anonymous Content, out of Leo Burnett, and also cut by Schimmel. Optimus editor Randy Palmer recently cut Dove’s "Rain," helmed by Sean Thonson of bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), out of Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago; Wrigley’s "Share Time," out of BBDO Chicago, directed by Tom Routson of bicoastal Tool of North America; and Miracle Whip’s "Research," directed by Kasper Wedendahl of bicoastal Piper Productions. "Fridge" for Heinz, out of Leo Burnett, and helmed by Kevin Smith of Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif., was cut by Tim Kloehn; and Kate Wrobel edited Aveeno’s "Fireflies," out of DDB Chicago, and directed by Marcus Nispel of MJZ.
Speaking of the near future, Duff declares, "I feel real positive. That’s based on a combination of business that’s coming in the door, and hearing that many more creative briefs are coming down the pike in the agencies themselves."
