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Under one roof - 22 small companies pool their creative talents |  |
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By Bob Rayner Times-Dispatch Staff Writer July 5, 2004 A Shockoe Bottom warehouse that once housed a tobacco-machinery and sheet-metal business has been overrun recently by an unusual confederation of independent marketing entrepreneurs. They're taking full advantage of galloping advances in technology that smash old constraints of time and place, unleashing creative forces - and business opportunities - that were once limited to cities much larger than Richmond. The historic building at 1901 E. Franklin Street was renovated more than a decade ago. But a real revival has hit in the past year, led by a couple of local business people with an eye - and an ear - turned to new ways of creating and delivering high-quality communications products and services. Now known as the Superior Production Exchange, the two-story, 36,000-square-foot building is home to 22 small businesses, all tied to advertising, marketing and the production of sound and video. The top floor is occupied by loft apartments. But during the day, the action is on the first floor, where the bevy of businesses can collaborate on projects, share clients and trade ideas. The building is split by a long, sky-lit atrium, with clusters of offices, studios and workshops on either side. Some of the space drips post-modern chic, with walls of blue brick separating state-of-the-art, acoustically perfect rooms filled with high-tech sound equipment. Across the hall, a warren of small offices takes its ascetic inspiration from the sleek designs of the 1940s. But the real inspiration for this place comes from the tenants' conviction that, if they marshal their talents and experience, they can make Richmond a focal point for the kind of production work that once fled invariably to New York or Los Angeles. "This is a technology story, it's a business-model story, it's a Richmond story," said Kristin O'Connor, co-founder and soon to be sole owner of RainMaker, a six-employee studio - and the Exchange's largest company - that provides sound design, audio post-production and music services for commercials and films. The foundation for the creation of the Exchange rests on new technology. If it were not for the industry-transforming advances in affordable audio and video equipment, combined with the lightning-fast modes of digital communications and distribution, Richmond would still have a hard time competing for a lot of production business. "Technology is just killing geography, "O'Connor said. "All the things that have come out in the last one to five years have made it possible to be in Richmond. Our idea is to make Richmond a destination." The area has had a strong advertising community for decades. But frequently, though not always, the job of actually producing the ads created by local agencies has been shipped out of town. That is slowly changing, and the Exchange's business owners believe they're in a perfect position to accelerate that trend. About 45 people work in the building, and more than half of them are owners or co-owners of their businesses. Producing television and radio ads or corporate films and videos is a complicated endeavor. Advertising agencies and corporate marketing departments generally provide the initial creative concepts. The Superior Production Exchange is poised to do the rest: shooting video and film, providing music and sound effects, casting actors, editing pictures and sound, adding animation, applying the multiple stages of post-production that make everything look and sound just right, adapting for the Web and distributing the final product. "Our additions to the concept are a large part of the creative process," O'Connor said. Advances in digital equipment have allowed small production companies to do much higher quality work than they once could. And the Internet has made cross-country collaborations easy and cheap, an essential element for small businesses that work with partners and clients who may be in the next office or on the West Coast. "We have clients hundreds of miles away who we can send cuts for approval all along the process," said Scott Witthaus, a partner at Greybox, a video-editorial firm next door to RainMaker, its sister company. "Or I can be working in real time with a colorist in Atlanta on some video." Leaps in distribution technology mean O'Connor can send out digital versions of a 30-second radio ad to 900 stations in about an hour. A spot that's finished in Richmond in the morning can be playing on a radio station in Los Angeles at 4 p.m. the same day, Witthaus said. Those kinds of changes are enhancing Richmond companies' ability to compete nationally. "We're returning more of the postproduction work to Richmond," Witthaus said. That's the kind of work local agencies used to send elsewhere. And it's the kind of work that out-of-town agencies might not have sent here just a few years ago. "I think we're already starting to effect that," O'Connor said. "We're making Richmond a more prominent place for production work." One day last month, a couple of businesses at the Exchange were putting the finishing touches on an ad for one of The Martin Agency's bigger clients, Thomasville Furniture Industries Inc. That's work, O'Connor said, that might have been shipped out of town before. Now, it's being shipped from one office to another in an old warehouse in Richmond. Businesses in the Exchange have collaborated on projects ranging from Work Inc.'s campaign for the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation to Big River Advertising's work for Anthem Inc., the big health-insurance company. Recently, they've been mixing and matching talents to help promote American Family Fitness Centers, a Richmond company. Martin Jones decided to move his production business, Martin Jones Films/Day For Night LLC, into the building after working with several Exchange companies on a commercial for Grolsch, a Dutch beer. "I was able to spend 95 percent of the money here in Richmond, most of it with companies at the Exchange," said Jones, who until recently was a partner and general manger at New Millennium Studios in Petersburg. "It was great to be in a place where I could just walk around and cover most of the corners of my production," said Jones, who has just signed a lease and plans to move into the Exchange this week. His clients for the commercial flew down to Richmond four times while the spot was being produced and were very impressed by the Exchange, Jones said. "They're now Richmond converts." Steve Humble, senior vice president for broadcast production at The Martin Agency, said Richmond's production industry has strengthened in recent years, and the Exchange has contributed to that progress. "It's good for Richmond and it's great for us to have a one-stop shop in town." Martin, which is the area's biggest ad agency, still sends a lot of its production and post-production work out of town, but Humble said he believes a bigger share is staying in Richmond these days. Martin has worked with several companies at the Exchange. "They're a very cohesive group," Humble said. "If you need something, they'll be the first to say:'That's not one of our strengths. If you want to do that, you should walk down the hall.'" Having 22 advertising- and production-oriented firms under one roof is the critical piece of the Exchange's business model. Some of the advantages are fairly traditional. Sharing a conference room, a kitchen, a workshop and some services, such as security, fax machines or high-powered digital connections, helps keep overhead low for the tenants, many of whom are one- or two-person shops. "I'd been running the business out of my house for four years. I'd reached a plateau," said Dave Gau, owner of ShaveFX, an animation and visual-effects firm. Moving into the exchange opened up new opportunities for his business. Most companies have seen a 10 percent to 30 percent increase in revenue since joining the Exchange, O'Connor said. Low overhead and improving technology may have opened the door, but it's the collaborative work ethic that seems to drive the Exchange. "We have a group of independent companies, each with individual expertise, who play well together," said Bunt Young, a director of photography and cinematographer whose office is in the building. His wife, Jeanne Boisineau, is a casting director who shares space down the hall. "Now a client can come here and get exactly who or what they need for a project. They can get a lot more value for their dollar. There's not a lot of waste." Most of the businesses work on different stages of the production process, so they rarely compete with each other. More often, they suggest that a client use another Exchange business to handle the next phase of a project. Most of the firms in the building focus on production, but not all. Tenants include an entertainment lawyer, a couple of small advertising agencies and a software company that has developed a system to help manage union acting talent. But all are working to attract clients for themselves and their neighbors. "This little co-op is very rare around the country, we're finding out," said Witthaus, the editor at Greybox. "It has kind of knocked the chip off our shoulders that we all need to do everything. I realize that I do some things better than others. There's a new mind-set: to get the client whatever they need in the process." Diana Hubbard agrees. She runs Impact Media Inc., a media planning and buying business, and her husband, Troy Hubbard, works as a designer and copywriting. "The clients can pick and choose who they need for a project. You don't have to use all of us. You can use some of us. We're all entrepreneurs." So, a building full of hard-charging, ambitious, creative professionals. Any nasty fights? "There's a lot of experience and personal maturity here," Witthaus said. Young added: "We all love to see good work go out. Ego is not a four-letter word, but it is checked at the door." "I came here for the energy this place brings," said Carla Rogers, president of Rewired Production Management LLC, which creates software for production management. RainMaker's O'Connor said "the way this came together is inspiring. We have experts in every area of the business right down the hall. Everyone focuses on what they really do well. It allows us to compete on a more national level." The Exchange came together mainly thanks to the efforts of O'Connor and Young, the cinematographer. "Kristin was the one," said Charles Tinsley, executive partner at Thoughtstream Media, which handles the final stages of post-production work, adding the fine visual touches that finish an advertising spot. "Her presence here made it a place of interest for all of us." O'Connor moved RainMaker to the Superior Building four years ago. At the time, about half the remaining space on the first floor was leased by Henninger Media Services, which was one of the area's larger full-service, video-production companies. In January 2003, Henninger folded its Richmond operations and consolidated its business in Washington. That left a big hole in the old building, which is owned by Secam Inc., a Richmond real estate company. "They've been a very friendly landlord," O'Connor said. She envisioned turning the place into a hothouse of small production entrepreneurs. "I knew we had the talent here." O'Connor found a kindred spirit in Young, who had been thinking about creating some kind of co-operative production venture for years. He took a chance, leased a sizable chunk of the empty building and began adding a startlingly effective 1940s design to the space. Young turned part of the area into an office for his business and began subletting the rest to similar firms. "We started talking it up," O'Connor said. It took less than a year for the Exchange to take off, although there's a bit of space still available to lease. The group held a grand-opening party in March to celebrate. "I'm still struggling with the landlord thing," Young said, smiling. "It was a necessity. You took on the risk," Tinsley said. These days, the Exchange is filled with optimism about the future and amazement that things all came together. "This was just a concept, and a year later there are 22 businesses here," Young said. "This is just an idea that came to life," O'Connor said. "We have an eye toward Richmond. We're invested here. We like being here." The other business owners tend to agree. "It's an office without a boss," said Diana Hubbard, the media buyer. "It's the best environment possible." |