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Sunday, March 21, 2010
New Studios Chief Has Wealth of Experience
By Dan Mayfield
Of the Journal
I suppose it's a lesson in keeping your black book up to date.
When Nick Smerigan left his post as the head of Albuquerque Studios earlier this year, nobody was sure who was going to take over the state's largest movie studio.
It's not like these folks grow on trees. The studio business requires a specialized subset of business skills, from movie production knowledge to real estate management experience and, most important, movie business connections and know-how.
So when Pacifica Ventures, the studios' parent company that owns several studios, started looking, it found Wayne Rauschenberger.
Rauschenberger isn't a stranger to the business. He ran the Culver Studios in Culver City, Calif., for Pacifica, worked for Universal Studios' real estate division, and spent 25 years as a finance guy with Northrop Grumman.
"I had gone into semi-retirement and was working on a couple of independent projects," Rauschenberger said. "I'd hoped to get in touch and help in Connecticut or Philadelphia. They asked if I'd like to be the boss down here, and I said sure."
For now, he said, he's staying in a hotel during the week and flying home to Los Angeles on the weekends, but he hopes to change that arrangement soon.
Rauschenberger started in February and said he isn't going to try to reinvent the wheel at Albuquerque Studios. But he does have some work to do.
"First thing I'd like to do is get some productions in here," he said.
But as the new chief operating officer of the studio, Rauschenberger is facing one of the slowest times in recent history for the movie industry, and it's going to be an uphill battle. As credit markets have tightened, financing for new movies is tougher to get than ever before, and as more reality shows have come to prime time, studios have become less necessary. But that doesn't mean they're unnecessary.
"My initial impression is that I'm impressed with the physical aspect of the studio. There's not too many of these that even Hollywood can match," Rauschenberger said. "What I've noticed is that there seems to be a lot of location production going on, which is a good thing, that's a start."
But, he said, he's working to spread the word in L.A. that New Mexico has a price advantage for studio work.
"It's hard to beat the prices," he said. "The same thing I'd price in L.A. is twice as much, and when you consider the incentive, that's unbeatable." Over the years, Rauschenberger has seen the studio business change, but the economy has had the biggest effect on the overall business, he said.
"The economy has been putting pressure on everybody," he said. "The studios (in California) are going through several things, and shows are getting canceled before they're even starting."
He remembers the days when networks would host a pilot season. Up to 30 shows would film demo episodes every summer and try to get on network TV. It's not like that anymore.
But some are still trying. The pilot for the show "The Odds" — which stars Donald Faison, better knows as Dr. Turk on "Scrubs," as a cop in Las Vegas, Nev. — is using the studio.
" 'The Odds' is using office space. We're being nice, hoping we get on their good side," he said.
And he knows what can happen when a studio does get on a show's good side. The NBC drama "Las Vegas" shot at Culver Studios when Rauschenberger was the manager. For five years, the casino drama filmed in the studio with stars.
He has similar hopes for "Scoundrels," which is a new drama for ABC shooting at Albuquerque Studios. It has taken over the stages (and some crew) from "Breaking Bad," which wrapped a few weeks ago.
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