To my international commercial production friends: please, please, please read this and share. Remember, you used to come to Ukraine to shoot projects that wouldnt be realistic anywhere else? Remember quick and detailed turn around on your bids? Brand new Russian Arms and SuperTechnos at a fraction of the price youd pay elsewhere? Incredible cinematic locations? Hundreds and hundreds of extras at rates that you couldnt quite believe? Willing, talented, friendly crews with astounding level of experience? Art directors that made you gasp by building city streets and miniature towns and frozen castles and space ships? Remember, how our sweet and charming producers and assistants took you and your clients out to generous Ukrainian joints and danced the nights away with you? Remember, how we used to close down streets and bridges for your productions, dress half of the downtown Kiev with FX snow, reverse subway trains and clear permits for airports and stadiums in a matter of days? Good times, eh? Do you know what all these helpful, talented, smart, beautiful Ukrainian production crews are doing right now? They are struggling to get by. In a matter of weeks, starting February 2014, you, dear international production friends, stopped sending your projects to Ukraine. Cut them off completely. Because your clients are scared to go to Ukraine. Imagine, that your workflow shrunk by 80% in a day… Imagine, that your national currency has collapsed, by reducing further your already reduced earnings. What would you do? You know what they are doing? They are donating every penny they can. And by they, I mean ALL of them. Look at my Facebook friend list - the majority of funny looking Slav names are Ukrainians (including plenty of ethnic Russians), most of them - in production biz. Every third post by every one of them is about collecting money for medicine, picking up a box of boots donated for the army, buying heaters for refugees and helping wounded soldiers with everything from surgeries to warm meals. Every single production person you have ever met while shooting in Ukraine is a new born volunteer. Every. Single. One. They give and give and give. Theyve given more than can be expected, more than anyone asked of them - and they keep giving. They deserve a break. They deserve your help. Its easy to do. Please, start educating your clients about the situation in Ukraine. Make your clients at least consider coming back, be it some abstract eventually or next month or tomorrow. Here are couple points that might help: - Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) is taking place in a tiny area in the eastern-most part of the country, while the rest of the country - which is bigger than France or Germany or any other on European continent - is safe and friendly and peaceful - Kiev is safer than downtown LA or New York or London, crime rates are ridiculously low, violent crimes practically non-existent - local currency is so low that even previously very modest budgets have now shrunk by additional 30% - best crews ever, that youd usually struggle to book, are available and super willing to work - you can pick any studio you like, with a discount - local talent are willing not to charge first year buyouts (remember those gorgeous Ukrainian girls?) - hi-end, state of the art equipment costs times and times less than it would anywhere else in the world... Yes, theres an on-going military operation near a part of the Russian boarder - a much worse situation doesnt stop people from visiting Israel, which is tiny, compared to huge Ukraine. Your productions never depended on either of the two eastern cities that are in the area of conflict. Gorgeous ancient Lviv can double for Rome or Prague, magnificent Kiev is a center of all things production, sunny Odessa features sandy beaches and one of the worlds most stunning opera houses - and none of them is anywhere near the action of ATO. Stand by Ukrainian production friends. We need your help. We are one of you, you are one of us.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 17:50:58 +0000