Originally Posted by Jim_Gunn

Sure, there'll be some that do, but potentially just as many others that will move exactly the opposite direction for specific reasons. For many companies moving production in-house would be neither feasible nor cost-saving.

Firstly, many companies like ATK and others have photographers all over the world to shoot the brand new talent in different regions, so it's not realistic to have more than one set of producers, crew and support staff on the payroll all over the world in a half a dozen or more locations.

Secondly, doing production in-house is no guarantee of cost savings. I have one client that has been shooting a lot of their own stuff lately. By the time they pay the model's rate (which ironically I've heard is more than I would have paid the exact same model for the exact same job since the agent jacks the rate up for the model's traveling) plus the same agency fee plus the cost of flying the model in from out of town on a fairly expensive flight plus her hotel and feeding her and all that, plus the cost of their own producer, crew, makeup and location they end up paying more than it would cost to have me shoot the same content! Not to mention now the company owner himself is now personally involved in the miasma that is content production dealing with problems like the male talent can't keep his erection on set that day instead of running the big picture of his business.

Thirdly, there's something to be said for hiring talented and creative people who are experts at what they do. Having some eager person who's a friend of the owner or a producer who is willing to work for a finite salary shooting doesn't actually mean the content is going to be any good. The fans notice when they see a change and notice the same locations, same outfits or lack thereof, the same style. Not to mention other factors like the amount of investment veteran producers have in gear,outfits and props before. It's not just about a videocamera, still camera and lighting. Just the ancillary stuff like outfits, bedspreads, pillows and such costs thousands and thousands of dollars that would take companies a long time to acquire or simply just do without.

Fourthly, there's often a lack of variety when production gets concentrated in one place. I personally try to bring a different look in my photography and videography with different style of not only photography but even just the backgrounds like architecture, trees, foliage, yards, and pools than you would see from the work of a producer in LA for example. The physical world just looks different from one place to another. I'm big on natural light and even the quality of the light is different on one coast from another. People notice subtle things like that even if they don't consciously know why.

Lastly, when companies move production in-house, they aren't just moving away from their core competencies, but also now taking on all the inefficiencies and risk that comes with content production including wasted time, legal issues and governmental regulation. I am aware of a few companies in Southern California who specifically went back to hiring independent producers after a period of time with production in-house due to the massive overhead of their physical studios rent, electricity bill, water, bloated staff salaries and also the fact that they had problems and fines by OSHA so that they couldn't even risk being directly involved with production anymore.