Page 491 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

0 | Runaway Product ons and the Global zat on of Hollywood

runaway ProduCtions and the
gloBalization oF hollywood
The United States has a long history of dominance in the global export and
circulation of movies and television programming. However, in our current
era of rapid media globalization, American film and television producers have
begun to actually take their projects outside of the United States in search of less
expensive production conditions in other countries. These enterprises, which
are referred to as “runaway productions,” have increased at such a dramatic rate
that American media industry critics have lobbied for legislation to encourage
producers to bring their projects—and the jobs they provide—back home. Run-
away productions are also not without detractors in their host countries, where
concerns have been raised about a new form of American media imperialism
in which domestic labor and financial resources are seen to fuel the Hollywood
machine at the expense of local media production.
The Director’s Guild of America (DGA) defines runaway productions as any
American movie or television program that is developed specifically with the
intent of being broadcast or screened in the United States but is filmed entirely
in another country. These projects fall into two categories: (1) creative runaways
and (2) economic runaways. Creative runaway productions are those that are
shot on location outside of the United States for aesthetic reasons such as unique
physical landscapes or exotic locales that are integral to the plot or “look” of a
movie or television project. Economic runaways, on the other hand, are devel-
oped outside of the United States for the primary purpose of saving money on
production and labor costs and thereby increasing the profit potential of the
final product.
Creative runaways are not a new phenomenon. Since the early days of the
Hollywood studio system, some movie directors have chosen to film their
projects outside of Los Angeles—and the United States—to add artistic value
to the story. This form of “locations shooting” reached a high point in the
1970s when a new generation of American movie directors sought a higher
degree of realism and authenticity in their films than could be achieved in
the more artificial environment of the studio backlot or soundstage. These
individuals unintentionally blazed the trail for future economic runaways by
establishing strong working relationships with policy makers, producers, and
other creative media personnel in countries such as Canada and the United
Kingdom, as well as other countries throughout Europe. Those working within
the Hollywood industry were not overly concerned about creative runaways
as such productions tended to be intermittent, few in number, and often of the
lower-budget, artistic variety. However, the economic runaways that followed
in their path a decade later would become a major source of alarm for the
Los Angeles production community. These subsequent runaway productions
not only tended to be big-budget feature films but also television movies and,
even more disturbing to those in Los Angeles, ongoing television series and
serials.