Smuggler, which has been named Creative Magazine's "Production Company of the Year," had been sharing space with another production company in Beverly Hills when the time came time to find its own roof. As Jeff describes it, the company wanted a location that would cater to agencies' and clients' desires. When they found a site at Hollywood and Gower, at the eastern edge of possibility for them, they knew they'd come home.
They sandblasted the interior and hung chandeliers of Austrian crystal that can be seen from the street. Now they operate around the clock, in a building that houses 9 permanent employees but with shoots and projects bulges to fifty. Their selection has other agencies seeking to follow them. Jeff says that it's "set a new tone within the industry's perception of location as status."
Laura Thoel, the head of production at Smuggler, put it even more succinctly when she said, "I wouldn't work anywhere but Hollywood."
That sentiment is more and more common in the entertainment industry now. Like never before in recent memory, the creation of entertainment takes place in Hollywood the neighborhood on a day-to-day level. Smuggler is just one of the many entertainment companies and professionals who are finding out that, perhaps now more than ever, Hollywood is the place to be.