Dec 13, 2024
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or breaking news
Crew Call Mar 11
by Kim Salyer
How’s biz? A quick question to the Magic 8-Ball comes back with the answer: “Concentrate and ask again.” After checking with colleagues around the Bay, the answers are just as vague and, as usual, vary considerably.
The big news for local production personnel is the start-up of production on “Hemmingway & Gellhorn” the HBO production being directed by San Francisco’s own Phillip Kaufman. It is always good news when a major film comes to S.F. but this production is committed to hiring local talent and virtually all of the crew is home grown. Kudos to Phil, HBO and the SF Film Commission on making it happen!
In general, it seems like production has been up over the last several months with equipment rental houses reporting a general increase in rentals with some genuinely robust periods mixed in. Commercial production seems to leading the way with viral videos and other web-centric productions also on the increase. For many folks, perhaps the majority, the ride continues to bumpy and full of fits and starts, busy periods followed by fallow.
Corporate spending on media production also seems to seeing more blue sky as certain areas of the economy, particularly finance and banking doing well. Biotech and Pharma seem to be active and large scale meetings have been making a comeback of sorts though travels costs are on the rise again along with oil prices.
In general, for most of us, the challenges still seem more immediate than vacations to Tahiti and bread and butter accounts remain hard to find. Major industries remain disrupted and the disaster in Japan is sending out economic aftershocks that are not fully understood at this time. (See our story on the looming world-wide shortage of videotape and other media). And then there’s the nasty rainy weather! Keep your umbrellas handy and keep singing in the rain!
Posted on Apr 01, 2011 - 09:26 AM
by Kim Salyer
How’s biz? A quick question to the Magic 8-Ball comes back with the answer: “Concentrate and ask again.” After checking with colleagues around the Bay, the answers are just as vague and, as usual, vary considerably.
The big news for local production personnel is the start-up of production on “Hemmingway & Gellhorn” the HBO production being directed by San Francisco’s own Phillip Kaufman. It is always good news when a major film comes to S.F. but this production is committed to hiring local talent and virtually all of the crew is home grown. Kudos to Phil, HBO and the SF Film Commission on making it happen!
In general, it seems like production has been up over the last several months with equipment rental houses reporting a general increase in rentals with some genuinely robust periods mixed in. Commercial production seems to leading the way with viral videos and other web-centric productions also on the increase. For many folks, perhaps the majority, the ride continues to bumpy and full of fits and starts, busy periods followed by fallow.
Corporate spending on media production also seems to seeing more blue sky as certain areas of the economy, particularly finance and banking doing well. Biotech and Pharma seem to be active and large scale meetings have been making a comeback of sorts though travels costs are on the rise again along with oil prices.
In general, for most of us, the challenges still seem more immediate than vacations to Tahiti and bread and butter accounts remain hard to find. Major industries remain disrupted and the disaster in Japan is sending out economic aftershocks that are not fully understood at this time. (See our story on the looming world-wide shortage of videotape and other media). And then there’s the nasty rainy weather! Keep your umbrellas handy and keep singing in the rain!
Posted on Apr 01, 2011 - 09:26 AM
