Production Service Companies (PSCs) operate in established film hubs worldwide to facilitate filming in their territories. They are built to smooth the way for foreign producers to successfully complete complex film, television, and commercial productions. The sum of a PSC’s experience, structure, and local connections equals efficiency that pays bottom line dividends cost controllers can count.

Read on for insights from our experts.

“There can be a temptation to think that by working with a line producer rather than a PSC perhaps we can save on some sort of company fee,” observes Saluja. “We say ‘sasti cheez mahengi padti hai’ which is that cheap things prove to be expensive. There are so many elements of added value that a company model brings to the table. For example, we leverage relationships with equipment houses to negotiate better rates to secure significant bottom line savings. There are intangibles, but there are also tangible ways we can calculate the added value of PSCs.”

Navigating foreign cultures, regulations, and logistics requires a nuanced approach. Consider the legal framework our PSN Ireland team flags as a requisite to hire Irish crew.  PSN Canada cites guild costs an independent line producer would have to shoulder to hire Canadian union crew.

PSN Czech Republic Service EP, Nick Saward highlights the importance of investing in local expertise to avoid significant financial repercussions. “Sometimes, if you don’t spend the money, you’re going to f*** it up, and then it’ll cost you money.”

“At the end of the day, it is more cost effective to pay a production service company fee,” concludes Nico Aznárez, owner and EP at PSN Uruguay. “The line producer would have to hire the different heads of the team, learn local regulations, set up a legal structure, contract experienced accountants, always acting as an overseas agent for a foreign company.  And as an individual they could not apply for the Uruguay rebate. What’s the sense?!?”

For any project of scale, cooperation is the sensible path outlined by our PSN UK Partner and service EP, Sarah Drummond, in her recent article entitled Line Producer or PSC – A Rethink.

There are times when you need all hands on deck. Stalled due to the pandemic, it took a well-honed team to facilitate the filming of scenes for the Korean feature film, The Point Men.

“It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life,” admits Dabeet at PSN Jordan. “I mean, the rules were changing on the day you’re shooting. So, there were way too many moving parts. I think what got us through was a very, very gelled team. We really backed each other up. I mean, nobody was throwing anybody under the bus. We were all collectively taking responsibility, pushing through every day.

Where an independent line producer may cobble together a production team ad-hoc for most any project, there’s no substitute for well-oiled machinery. “There’s inherent strength in a company that’s been working with one or two teams continuously for years,” surmises Dabeet at PSN Jordan. “I’ve seen my team improve year in year out. The way we’ve delivered projects professionally from some drama to no drama.  Multiple thank you letters of appreciation and clients coming back are proof positive of a good team that can truly back up a line producer.”

“I’m totally fine when people come in and want a small production. They feel that they can get away with a fixer. It only means that they have very little money,” observes PSN Thailand Partner and Service EP, Fred Turchetti.

“You can do it for a small thing, like a little road movie where everyone’s happy to shoot from the hip in that kind of indie way,” adds PSN Spain Head of Film & Television, Yousaf Bokhari. “But you can’t really expect to come out ahead.” 

“A foreign producer is still going to need the same number of people whether hiring a company or a freelance producer” concurs Turchetti at PSN Thailand. They’re going to need an army of accountants if it’s a rebate job. They’re still going to need coordinators for departments according to the specs. So in the end, their production team is the same. A fully-fledged, registered service company is not going to put more resources on the job than the job needs.”

One example is how we redirected the U.S. producers of this series of Motorola commercials from Puerto Rico to Brazil – a country where they could cast multi-ethnic talent and slash total production costs by two-thirds!

“There are a lot of misconceptions about filming in Brazil. People say, ‘Brazil is expensive, Brazil charges taxes, Brazil is complicated.’ Our job is to get foreign producers over the hurdles.” affirms Justin Bird, PSN Brazil EP and owner. “Not because it is simple or inexpensive, but because we make it that way.”

To the surprise of some producers, while our PSN Brazil Partner service company pays Value Added Tax on behalf of their producer clients for most all goods and services, they DO NOT pass it on as an expense in final production costs for the foreign client. As is professional practice for production service companies in countries with VAT or GST (Goods Services Tax), legitimate PSCs compensate their internal accounting to ensure that this tax amounts to zero net cost for foreign producers. PSCs do that by shouldering the VAT cost until they recover the balance.  While some countries only allow companies to recover this tax, individuals in all countries would be challenged to carry the financial burden.

We’ll have more insights to share in our next installment. Got questions? You know where to find us. We’re here – with boots on the ground in 50 countries worldwide – to facilitate your next shoots abroad.