By Kevin Herrera
Daily Press Staff Writer

CITYWIDE — While residents here cherish Santa Monica’s small-town atmosphere, the truth is that the city houses some very large and lucrative industries, one of them being post production.

Whether it’s editing sound for music videos, filming pick-up shots at the beach for TV commercials, or coloring major motion pictures, most things post occur in this quaint beach community.

“Post production is pretty much everywhere you look,” said Kathryn Dodson, president of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce. “All along the old industrial corridor, around Olympic (Boulevard) and 17th (Street) on down, Lincoln Boulevard, most of those buildings are now occupied by post production houses. They’re pretty significant, but perhaps not as easy to see like tourism or the medical field.”

While they only contribute roughly $440,000 in business licensing fees to City Hall’s coffers — 2 percent of total business revenues — post production houses play a significant role in shaping the city’s vibe and enhance the area’s reputation as a center for new technology and creative thinking, business experts contend.

Post-production also attracts wealthy clients from the region and overseas, employs scores of residents, and is relatively pollution free, all of which make it a valuable asset, according to business analysts.

But the city may be in jeopardy of losing some post-production facilities to neighboring communities, other states, and even countries abroad, which offer incentives, open space and cheaper rents.

“We have to sit up and take notice that there is a lot of competition out there trying to draw these businesses away,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., which analyzes business activity throughout Los Angeles. “We definitely have competition and Santa Monica is feeling it with a lot of production houses moving even down to Venice and Marina del Rey, no to mention Arizona or the Czech Republic.

“There is a lot of flux in the industry from what I can tell.”

The Attraction

There are 64 post production facilities in the city’s 8.3 square miles, according to City Hall’s finance department. They range from industry giants like Riot, which employs hundreds, to small boutiques run by one or two producers.

Many companies moved to the area in the late ’80s and early ’90s, following the migration of advertising agencies to the Westside after Hollywood became too expensive and crime-ridden.

“If we didn’t locate to the Westside, our business would have dried up,” said Steve McCoy, president of FilmCore, which had operated in Hollywood for 20 years before moving to Santa Monica in 1998. “In addition to that, a lot of our clients from out of town were flying into LAX and started wanting to stay at Shutters rather than the Roosevelt Hotel.”

Santa Monica seemed to be a convenient central location that was open to emerging businesses, particularly those specializing in new digital technologies. The City Council 10 years ago approved changes to zoning regulations in the old industrial area to specifically accommodate post production facilities.

“We really designed our building standards to help them relocate,” Mayor Bob Holbrook said. “It seems to have worked out well.”

For Greg LeDuc of Aaron & LeDuc, picking Santa Monica as his base of operations was easy.

“The city (government) does show us a lot of support, but what it really is, is that we have everything here,” he said. “You’ve got great views, restaurants, hotels, the beach, ... clean, clear air. It’s located near the airport (LAX). Plus, there is really an established creative community here and we help each other when we can. It’s just a great place to work, and the people who do tend to settle here.”

LeDuc, who grew up in Santa Monica, said there are three post-production companies in his building.

Competition

Many people may want to live and work here, but as the desirability grows, many can’t find reasonable rents or open space to build facilities for an expanding business.

As a result, it has forced some post-production houses to move to neighboring locales or back to Hollywood, which has seen a resurgence in desirability because there has been an increase in economic investment, rents are affordable once again and crime has dropped in recent years.

“All of a sudden, Hollywood is looking up,” Kyser said. “Rents are down and it has a lot of character. It’s near where a lot of (film and commercial filming) takes place. Koreatown too is experiencing a boom.”

Payam Shohadai, president and visual effects supervisor for Luma Pictures, which produces special effects for films, said his company is moving from Santa Monica to Venice where they have purchased a building that can house their expanding operation. Luma Pictures has operated in Santa Monica for more than 10 years.

“There just weren’t that many buildings that are of the size we needed and are available in a prime location with a reasonable price,” Shohadai said. “We always heard that if you want to dabble in commercials you had to be in Santa Monica, but that’s changing. There are plenty of facilities in Venice on down.”

There also is competition brewing in other states and in Europe, which offer tax breaks to studios that want to shoot films there. Oftentimes, governments will agree to pay salaries of workers hired from the immediate area if filmmakers agree to spend a certain amount of time filming there.

The incentive programs have now spread to post production in an attempt to keep the entire process of filmmaking in particular regions.

“We haven’t seen a drop in our business yet because there are so many types of media out there with the Internet, now cell phones and iPods, so there isn’t this strong concern … but it can’t hurt to talk about creating some incentives here,” said Ed Zeier of Pacific Ocean Post Sound, which specializes in audio services for the commercial and home entertainment industries. “Santa Monica seems to be doing all right regardless. We weren’t offered any incentives or anything and we located here.”

Ideas For Action

While no one is ready to sound the alarm, those in the business community said City Hall will attract post-production facilities if it continues to invest in projects that benefit the community as a whole, such as a reliable public transportation system to ease traffic and eliminate air pollution, as well as upgrading the city’s infrastructure, particularly the power grid and digital network.

“We are looking at staying here for the long term,” Zeier said of POP, which has done sound for Budweiser and Burger King campaigns. “You just can’t beat the location and the people here. It’s all fantastic.”