SCDP celebrated its first Christmas with a mix of holiday cheer and consternation. A veteran creative returned with a new client attached, business was okay but not great, finances were tight, and the agency's marquee talent, Don Draper, was struggling with self-doubt and drinking a bit too much, even for Don. Everyone was looking forward to the start of a new year, some big creative home runs, and an influx of new business.
But first, there was that week between Christmas and the New Year. In the agency business this particular week has always been a little awkward. The big holiday push was over, most clients took a long Christmas break, and the staff was ready to wind the year down. Unless the agency had an active retail account that needed servicing and attention, the office virtually closed down with a limited number of staffers to handle the phones and any client emergencies. (We all left our contact information and hoped we didn’t get that client call.) So, in that last week of 1964 at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, it wasn’t surprising that a lot more happened outside the office than inside the agency. But there was still a little agency drama and office politics to make it interesting.
An LA State Of Mind
The episode opened with Harry Crane, head of TV programming, asking Don to meet with a TV executive at the Brown Derby in Los Angeles (Don was headed off to Acapulco for some R&R with a very important stop in LA to see Anna and get more depressing news.) Lane joined the conversation and made a remark about Harry’s “fiddling about” in Los Angeles…a not so subtle reference to his West Coast expense accounts. Back then, trips to LA were viewed as one of the perks of the job.
In the 1960s the major agencies were expanding with branch offices and just about all of them had an outpost in LA. Initially these offices were set up as satellites to handle the production of television commercials, work with independent commercial production companies and directors, and liaise with the 
studios and television network executives. In addition to the agency’s TV programming executives jetting out to LA, the creative teams and account people welcomed the decision to produce the next TV campaign on the “coast.” This usually meant that the creative team, agency producer, and the account person (and sometimes the client) would spend a week in LA overseeing the production. It involved, casting, pre-production, shooting, editing, and, of course, nights on the town. A welcomed week out of the office with most of the expense built into the production estimate and the rest covered by the agency’s 17.65% mark-up on outside production costs.
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