Can Settlement Lure Runaway Production Home?

While the actors strike is apparently nearing an end, its long-term impact on Los Angeles’ commercial-production industry has yet to be determined.

Even before actors walked off the job six months ago, local production was being hurt by advertising agencies shooting commercials in less costly locations, most notably Vancouver and Toronto. The strike exacerbated that trend and now it’s unclear whether advertisers who have grown accustomed to foreign shoots will quickly return to Los Angeles.

“Hopefully, the advertisers didn’t fall in love with Canada,” said Scott Dewees, a Los Angeles-based location scout whose telephone stopped ringing shortly after the strike began. “I know lots of directors and crews are tired of [foreign shoots] but we’ll have to see how long it takes for work to come back.”

Advertising agency executives also are waiting to see what powerful national advertisers take away from the lengthy strike. “A lot of advertisers who hadn’t gone overseas in the past did go,” said Dave Latta, executive management director at Foote, Cone & Belding in Detroit. “It will be interesting to see how the experience worked out for them.”

Advertisers maintain that the strike is failing to disrupt their sales and marketing efforts. The Assn. of National Advertisers and the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies continue to issue monthly reports showing commercial production at levels roughly comparable to 1999, a nonstrike year. Striking actors, however, counter that increased residual payments for old commercials now being replayed are proof that the strike is cutting production.

What’s not open for debate is pain being felt in Los Angeles, where the economic impact of the strike is estimated at $2 million per day. During September, the number of commercial production days reported in Los Angeles tumbled to 168, down from 533 in September 1999, according to the Entertainment Industry Development Council. Monthly tallies were equally low for July and August.

Rufus Burnham, who owns a camera-rental business in North Hollywood, said he has rehired only one of five employees let go early in the summer when new business disappeared. “The others are out there trying to work on their own,” Burnham said.

If the proposed settlement is approved by members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, new production in Southern California wouldn’t begin immediately.

“You’d start to see people returning to work in four to six weeks,” Latta said. “The timing depends upon where you are in the production process. It takes time to bid a job out, award it and get into production.”

“There’s a real likelihood that work will return to Los Angeles because we’ve got the best crews in the world,” said Steve Caplan, a spokesman for the Assn. of Independent Commercial Producers, a trade group for ad producers. “Given the choice, producers would rather be shooting at home in Los Angeles. But the strike is proving that it’s a competitive, global economy.”

Word of a settlement comes at a relatively good time in the commercial-production cycle. Colder, wetter weather is descending upon Vancouver and other northern locations that have benefited from the strike. Unlike some industries, the commercial-production world doesn’t slow noticeably late in the year--and this winter could be busy if national advertisers have depleted commercial stocks.

National advertisers declined to comment on how quickly the industry would return to business as usual. “We aren’t comfortable speculating, but if we get the OK, if the settlement is reached, we would want to proceed as soon as possible,” said Ford Motor Co. spokeswoman Marci Evans.