Free The Hollywood Economist by Edward Jay Epstein Page B

productions. Producers found Vancouver could double for middle America, Toronto could stand in for New York City (especially if the director avoids wide shots), and Calgary makes for a great American West. At times, some script adjustments were required to accommodate the cold reality of the North. For example, in
Final Destination
3, which was filmed in British Columbia, the climactic attack was supposed to occur during an outdoor party on the Fourth of July but since it was not feasible to have actors wear summery clothes during Vancouver’s chilly spring, the holiday was changed to the town’s tricentennial celebration. But for Hollywood’s illusion-makers, who have much experience in geographically deluding audiences, such adjustments are worthwhile, especially if they finance one third or so of the budget with a depressed currency,the plummeting Canadian loonie. As a result of this location shopping, Canada has emerged as a Hollywood stand-in for America.

PUSHING THE PSEUDO REALITY ENVELOPE
     
    When the
Wall Street Journal
cited the on-screen brand choices of two movie stars, Steve Martin driving a Mercedes Benz S-Class sedan in
Shopgirl
and Matthew Broderick driving one in
The Stepford Wives
, as empirical evidence that this model of Mercedes has practically become an icon for corporate chieftains, movie stars, and diplomats, it showed how effective product placement can be in movies. It was not the movie stars themselves who drive that brand of car, but their fictional characters who are cast with those cars by the producers.
    The casting of cars goes back to the 1974 James Bond film
The Man with the Golden Gun
, whose producer, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, made a deal to use American Motors vehicles in all the chase scenes in exchange for advertising dollars to promote the movie. The function of such product placement is to subtly associate the car brand with a class of people. Hence the choice of ChryslerJeeps in
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 2
, Audis in
I, Robot
and
The Transporter 2
, General Motors cars in
The Matrix Reloaded
, and Ford cars on
X-Files
and
24
. Product placement now includes products ranging from Apple computers in
Mission: Impossible
to Nokia phones in
The Saint
to almost any brand mentioned on NBC’s
The Apprentice
.
    The persistence of a brand in a studio’s movies often signifies nothing more than a package deal. The Weinstein Company, for example, entered into a multi-year marketing alliance with L’Oréal Paris, the world’s largest “beauty” brand, which will result in the integration of L’Oréal’s products in the Weinstein brothers’ movies. And, with digital technology, even if a L’Oréal product was not shot in the movie itself, it can be inserted later (as is now being done with old TV series). One successful producer, whose movies have been distributed by the Weinstein brothers, noted “Product placement gigs will become a major source of production financing in the future, in which a movie provides a controlled world of good-looking stars wearing a certain brand of clothing for an hour and a half, in exchange for which the brand manufacturer pays for a large share of the production.”
    Product placement, though at a much smaller (and discrete) scale, has a long history in Hollywood. In the 1930s, De Beers, for example, had itsagents give studio executives sample diamonds to use in roles that showed women being swayed by the gift of a diamond jewel. Not uncommonly, the diamonds were never returned. As brands took on more global significance, product placement became more open—and routine. Most product placements nowadays are barter deals. A manufacturer finances a cross-promotional ad campaign in return for their product being placed in a movie. In more recent James Bond movies, such as
Die Another Day
and
The World Is Not Enough
, for example, such ads for product placement deals were valued at over $30 million dollars. Cash deals are much rarer—and minuscule by