mother in the house

Last week Mother NY announced the opening of an in-house production company. It was covered in both Shots and in 'Boards. 

My guess is that its sending quite a few shock waves through the production community. The nerve of these guys. Agencies are already making less commercials. Plus, their payment schedules stink and their contractual terms are worse. Now they are trying to stick it to us on our own turf, as if their wasn't enough competition out there already. How would they like it if we tried to go direct to client and cut them out of the loop? Ooops.

Production companies going directly to brand or agencies producing in house, it's all part of innovating our industry. Although doing each others jobs are never as easy as it seems.

Let's start with the agencies. If you read the articles, Mother is doing something smart. Their clients are cutting back on broadcast budgets and need to find alternative ways to advertise. Without a proven digital marketing model, we've experienced a glut of high deliverable/low budget ad content projects. Agencies have to ask themselves two questions - how many times can they ask their vendors to work on no margin projects and can we do it ourselves? Last week, Mother answered those questions with their actions.

The filmmaking technology required for web only distributed content is widely accessible. Buy an HD Cam. Small lighting package. Final Cut. After efx. Bang, you're in business. Does that mean they have the talent and the craft to be filmmakers? That remains to be seen. However, It addresses a major issue in their current business model. It is adjusting to their clients needs and the marketplace. If anything it is being proactive. As a professional EP and manager of a production company a word of advice, have a plan when you sell something to the client that can't be delivered as promised for the money. With this risk comes the responsibility. No scapegoats. No excuses. No tears. Good luck with that. And as I mentioned above, producing and directing is a lot harder than it looks. 

For production companies wanting to go direct to client, it's a lot tougher. Unlike agencies diving into production where all it takes to open the doors is the capital to purchase the tools, production insurance and accounts with suppliers, getting into the ideation business requires access. Relationships are what matters. Also, production companies are not set up to maintain daily hand holding. Selling ourselves as experts in execution with creative capabilities is an attractive proposition if positioned properly. It's less expensive and arguably more accessible to innovative creative talent. There are examples of this within our industry but I believe hard to scale, maintain or deliver the results needed to make a shift.

What this tell us is we are all racing to the same finish line, discovering a successful content model. Some times were racing their in tandem, other times in competition. In either case, it requires innovation and experimentation, two things we desperately need while in transition. It's how all of us will learn to develop new rules of the game and determine where the end line is for future of advertising. On your mark. Get set. Go....