Built to Last: How The Scenic Companies Turned Set Storage Into a Production Powerhouse
Have you ever wondered where those gigantic TV and movie sets go once filming stops or a series takes a break? That’s when The Scenic Companies steps in, a family-run business specializing in hauling, storing, and even refurbishing production sets for every major network and studio.
Run by Mark Larinto and his brother Robert, the California-based company, which has facilities in Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, and Santa Clarita, is more than a specialty storage provider. Through multiple sister companies – Scenic Expression, Centerline Scenery, Upstage Rentals, and Scenic Recycling – the Larintos offer set construction, stage and truss rentals, liquidation services, and set dressing lockups, all under one roof. “Our services started in storing under our company Scenic Expressions, but we started to grow our business model to be more of an asset to the customer,” says Mark Larinto.
In doing so, they’ve worked with countless TV series, talk shows, and talent competitions like American Idol, as well as live productions, which include the Academy Awards, Grammys, and American Music Awards. Some of the most iconic sets and props have been stored within their facilities. “Robert and I grew up in the ‘70s, and some of the television shows we were storing sets for back then were shows like All in the Family. We even had the egg-shaped spaceship from Mork & Mindy here,” says Mark. “It’s a labor of love for us. We love television and film, and when we get to be a part of something that we actually enjoy, it’s a really good thing.”
Below, they share how the industry has changed since streaming, their expansion to Atlanta, and how they identified a need for more sustainable building practices.
How did The Scenic Companies get its start?
Robert is my brother and business partner, and Scenic Expressions is the oldest and largest company we started back in the late ‘80s. It was started by one of the first set construction shops at the time, and we were storing and refurbishing swing sets during the days of multi-camera shows. So our company was born by holding things aside for shows. And soon after, studios began to purge these types of services, so companies like ours were started not only out of necessity, but because studios wanted to separate themselves from work that wasn’t strictly production-related.
Fast forward to today. Does Scenic Expressions work more with studios or productions directly?
We do deal with studios, line producers, and people who handle budgets, but for the most part, production designers, construction coordinators, and staging supervisors are the folks we do business with. Our business is normally one of the last things they think about because, ultimately, shows have to store things because they need to reuse them or if they need them for reshoots.
Besides locations across Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, you have a Scenic Expressions branch in Atlanta, Georgia.
Yes, Georgia’s an interesting market because the one commodity that they do have is space. So a studio like Trilith can build a half-million-square-foot storage building on its own property. So the norms, customs, and behavior of the customer in Atlanta is very different from customers in Los Angeles. But overall, we’ve seen some consistency in Atlanta. We carry about 60 to 70,000 square feet of storage in Atlanta. Here in Los Angeles, you’d add a zero on that. So it’s much larger here in Los Angeles.
Can you share how storing and refurbishing sets generally work?
So, say Sony, they’ll hold a space with us for all of their shows. They’re paying storage, and we’re holding all of these things. Then they have a new project and want us to take what they can from their existing stock and reuse it. So this offsets some of the costs for the new shows where they don’t have to go out and rebuy the same things that the studio or a larger production company is already storing.
That’s a smart idea. You mentioned The Scenic Companies also has a set construction shop as well?
Yes, we started a company called Centerline Scenery, which is a construction company. We did that primarily because it was something we understood, because our family was in the set construction business. My mom worked for one of the first set construction companies, and that’s what this company was born from. We ended up starting the set construction company because we were talking to the same people who already worked with us. We realized we had some pretty good ideas on how to build sets to get the most out of the ever-shrinking budget.
What are some practical ways you found to reduce construction costs?
We felt like we had a different approach to set construction because of the knowledge we had gained through Scenic Expressions. So we tried to really leverage the materials we’re able to get our hands on to have less of an impact on the environment. We’re a company that recycles about 84% of everything that passes through our facilities before it gets discarded. We spent the last 10 years really trying to figure out how to reduce the impact on the environment. My brother and I love the industry, and we feel like the industry has a lot of waste. We wanted to make a change and see our industry get better at recycling materials.
Is your construction shop unionized?
We’re a Union signatory. We utilize our own folks, but we’re either working under Local 33 or Local 44 or something. What we’ll do is estimate a project against other companies within the industry based on the criteria, say a production designer’s drawings. But what we’ll try to do is make suggestions on finishes and other things that we think will impact price.
Since streaming changed the industry, are you collaborating more with certain types of productions?
The share of episodic television that we had diminished a bit, but the share of live audience shows like game shows and award shows started to really increase. It’s our sweet spot because we specialize in it and can be more cost-effective in our bids. So for instance, we can build a massive award show because we have space. We have the bandwidth because of the primary business that we’re in.
Can you share what Upstage Rentals offers as services?
We started Upstage Rentals a few years after we got into Scenic Expressions. Today, we do a lot of rentals for shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, where we are staging audience sections. It’s not a huge business, but it is something that can lend itself to some of our other businesses. The whole idea of having a few different businesses that are basically targeting the same customer base is to be able to share all our services with them. We want to be more of an asset to the customer and provide more than just trucking and storage.
This article is part of an ongoing series that raises awareness about businesses in the film and television community. The Scenic Companies is a member of the California Production Coalition.
The series includes:
From “Dune” to “The Last of Us”: How Formosa Group Elevates Storytelling through Sound
Featured image: Nickelodeon 31st Annual Kids’ Choice Awards. Courtesy of the Scenic Companies
