The business boutiques: the creative heart of the industry—cozy boutiques fights for success while resisting the temptation to grow - small movie production companies with less than 10 employees

Post, Feb, 2003 by Christine Bunish

Christine Bunish there's probably never been a better time to be a boutique. Economic downturns, wobbly markets and a time of transition for the broadcast industry can spell business woes for mid-size and large facilities looking to keep rooms full so they can pay off notes and sign paychecks. Boutiques with low overheads -- less real estate, fewer employees, smaller equipment inventories -- are able to survive, and even thrive, when bigger companies are struggling to hang on.

But the boutique model is attractive for more than just economic reasons, Often owner-operated, boutiques have hands-on, collaborative creative environments prized by principals, employees and clients alike. Customers also value the attentive, personalized service they receive. Boutiques are win-win all around.

So it's no wonder that almost 90 percent of all visual effects/dynamic media businesses (which include production companies, Web interactive media companies, effects/animation studios, post production facilities and recording/mixing studios) have fewer than 10 employees, according to TrendWatch, Inc. (www.trendwatch.com) in Mill Valley, CA.

SERVING UP MUSIC AT DEEP DINER

When composers/arrangers Allan Schwartzberg and Bob Mann decided they wanted to form their own music house, they definitely had a boutique in mind. "We knew we didn't want to build a monument to ourselves," Mann recalls. "We're basically two very good friends, musicians who wanted an excuse to hang out together. We didn't need a giant physical ego-structure."

"I've seen all the glitz [in studios] that are now rocks around the necks of their owners," Schwartzberg adds. "I felt we could do it in a more streamlined and economical way."

The partners opened Deep Diner Music in New York City (www.deepdiner.com) four years ago to create music for commercials, records and films. They spent their first two years occupying The Warehouse's Studio B, where they had access to the renowned studio's other facilities, When The Warehouse was sold to Wyclef Jean and they had to leave, they scoured the city's SoHo, Tribeca and Flatiron districts for new space, but they discovered the ideal real estate uptown at 52nd St. and Broadway in the building that had housed the legendary Birdland.

"Birdland was a place Allan and I went to often as kids; it was called the jazz corner of the world," says Mann of the spiritual connection to the place. "And it was a good economic choice too: The square footage cost less [than downtown]."

The partners have made the most of every square inch of their 1,300-square-foot space, says Schwartzberg. "It sounds great, clients are comfortable and musicians enjoy it." Deep Diner features a studio with a Yamaha grand piano, a control room equipped with a Digidesign Pro Tools Mix 3 Plus system, and a separate MIDI room with Pro Tools. File sharing enables Schwartzberg and Mann to do two projects simultaneously.

Although the studio has easily accommodated sessions with 10 strings and horns, if clients require more live space or a room with a traditional big mixing board, the partners have their choice of facilities in town. But spot clients such as AT&T Radio Shack Advil, Prudential, Prego, Pepperidge Farm and Jell-O are perfectly at home in Deep Diner's boutique.

As a two-man shop, Deep Diner offers a distinctly hands-on approach to its customers. "Clients realize they're dealing with the people running the company, creating and producing the music, and performing the music," notes Mann. "They know we're doing it all."

"We're not just overseeing the music," Schwartzberg emphasizes. "Bob and I have been a party to a lot of hit records for the past 30 years and that experience may give us an edge and perhaps a unique perspective in solving music puzzles."

Looking ahead, the partners see a way to grow their business without abandoning the boutique model. "We have a Deep Diner South or Deep Diner West in the back of our minds," Schwarzberg reveals. "They'd be the same kind of operation."

DFREEDOMZONE'S TIGHT-KNIT FEEL

"These days boutiques are definitely a viable business model," says Ellen Poon, one of the partners in San Francisco's Dfreedom-Zone (www.dfreedomzone.com), a visual effects/animation boutique for feature films, commercials and interactive projects. "You used to need a lot of investment in software to do feature effects, but today you can buy Maya, Shake, Photoshop, After Effects and Final Cut Pro, and you've got yourself a fairly good set-up."

Poon has experienced both boutiques and large studios having worked in London at The Moving Picture Company and Rushes, then at Industrial Light & Magic where she saw the CG department grow from 25 to 800 people. With DFreedomZone, she hopes to "get back to a slightly different mindset where you can get your hands onto the entire process, not just part of it"

DFreedomZone employs 10 people fulltime and uses freelancers as needed. Because of its size," people get to do everything: be artists, creatives, technicians -- they aren't pigeonholed in one thing," Poon explains. "In a smaller company you can feel more creative more easily because there aren't so many layers of bureaucracy to deal with."