How to produce enterprise video across the Americas

Americas enterprise video runs across four US time zones, three working languages and a regulator overlay spanning SEC, FDA, FERC, CFTC, EPA, OSHA and FINRA in the US plus per-country regimes in Canada and LATAM. The follow-the-sun production model anchored on the West Coast, the multilingual pipeline for English-Spanish-Portuguese, and the Section 508 baseline that holds across customer-facing and federal content.

Why Americas video runs differently from a single-time-zone model

Americas enterprise video runs against three structural realities most regional models do not address. Time-zone spread: four US time zones from Eastern to Pacific, plus Atlantic Canada to Hawaii. Language load: English as the primary working language, Spanish for US Hispanic and LATAM markets, Brazilian Portuguese for Brazil. Regulator overlay: SEC, FDA, FERC, CFTC, EPA, OSHA, FINRA at federal level in the US, state regulators including CCPA in California, plus per-country regimes across Canada and LATAM.

Most enterprise programs underestimate the operating complexity. They concentrate production in a single time-zone hub, accept the friction this creates with the other coast and with LATAM, and ship Spanish-language content from generic translation pipelines rather than market-adapted production. The structural shift: a follow-the-sun production model with hubs on the US East Coast, US West Coast and in LATAM. English-Spanish-Portuguese pipeline operating in parallel rather than sequentially. Federal accessibility baselines (Section 508) baked into the standard delivery. This post is a guide to that model.

The Americas regional coverage

US East Coast

NYC, Boston, DC, Atlanta, Miami as primary production markets. Federal regulator workflows: SEC and FINRA out of NYC, FDA out of Maryland, FERC out of DC. State regulators including NY DFS, MA Division of Banks, Florida OFR. Eastern Standard Time gives the East Coast a natural overlap with EMEA partial workdays. Most multinationals with EMEA exposure anchor their US regulator workflows on the East Coast.

US Central and Midwest

Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Detroit as primary production markets. Regulator workflows: CFTC out of Chicago, EPA regional offices, OSHA enforcement, industrial regulatory frameworks across the manufacturing belt. Central Time as the operating standard. Many enterprise programs run Central US production as a satellite of either East or West Coast hubs rather than as a primary hub.

US West Coast

San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland as primary production markets. Pacific Time gives the West Coast a natural overlap with both APAC partial workdays in the morning and East Coast partial workdays in the afternoon. Most tech, life sciences and defence enterprise programs anchor on the West Coast. CCPA and California-specific data privacy adds a layer of compliance not present in the rest of the US.

Canada

Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal as primary production markets. Working languages: English (primary), French for Quebec and federal bilingual content. Regulator workflows: OSC for finance in Ontario, AMF in Quebec, CRTC for media, PIPEDA for privacy. Canada often operates as part of a North American production pipeline with separate Quebec-specific French-language production.

LATAM

Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Bogota, Buenos Aires as primary production markets. Working languages: Spanish (Mexican variant for Mexico, regional variants for Spanish-speaking South America), Brazilian Portuguese for Brazil. Regulator workflows: CNBV in Mexico, ANPD and LGPD in Brazil, SFC in Colombia, CNV in Argentina. Each country operates a distinct regulatory framework; most multinationals route LATAM video through per-country production capacity rather than centralising in a single hub.

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The follow-the-sun production model

How the model works

East Coast brief in the morning Eastern Time. West Coast edit and creative work through the West Coast morning and afternoon. East Coast review and feedback at the start of the next Eastern Time business day. Total cycle: 24 to 36 hours for routine content versus 72+ hours for single-hub production. The follow-the-sun model is the structural advantage of running Americas production across two coasts.

Adding the LATAM dimension

With LATAM as the third hub, the follow-the-sun pattern extends further. Sao Paulo and Mexico City sit between East Coast and West Coast in operational hours. LATAM hubs handle Spanish and Portuguese-language production with native-speaker editorial. The follow-the-sun model extends to support both US East-to-West and Americas-North-to-South handoffs.

San Diego as the West Coast hub

San Diego sits on the Pacific time zone with direct proximity to LATAM markets (Tijuana 30 minutes south) and a natural cultural-language overlap. Tech enterprise sectors (Qualcomm, biotech, defence), life sciences and LATAM-facing brands all benefit from San Diego production capacity. The Pacific time-zone advantage applies for both APAC overlap and West Coast Americas operations.

Brand consistency across hubs

Central brand template library shared across hubs. Editorial standards function (often centralised at HQ wherever HQ sits) sets the tone, voice and visual standard. Each hub operates as fully capable production for its geographic responsibility while maintaining brand consistency through the central templates and standards.

The three working languages

English

Primary working language across the US, Canada (outside Quebec) and English-speaking LATAM markets including the Caribbean. Master content typically produced in English with localisation to Spanish and Portuguese for the regional markets. Production scale in English is the largest of the three.

Spanish

Mexican Spanish for Mexico and the US Hispanic market. Regional variants for South American Spanish-speaking markets (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru). Iberian Spanish typically not cross-used for Americas content because the regional editorial standards and idiomatic usage differ. Many multinationals run Mexican Spanish as their Americas-Spanish primary with regional adaptation as needed.

Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese is distinct from European Portuguese and should never be cross-used. Brazil-specific market with regional editorial standards, idiomatic usage, casting preferences and cultural adaptation. Sao Paulo as primary production hub.

The federal accessibility baseline

Section 508 for federal content

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act applies to federal agency content and to federal contractor content. The baseline includes captions, audio description for non-text content where required, transcript, accessible player embed. Most US enterprises selling to federal agencies maintain Section 508 compliance across their video portfolio rather than per-asset.

ADA for customer-facing content

ADA Title III enforcement against inaccessible websites and digital content includes video. Most enterprise legal teams have settled on WCAG 2.1 AA as the de facto compliance standard. Plaintiff bar activity in the US around web accessibility has elevated the priority for customer-facing content.

CCPA and state privacy

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the related CPRA add data-subject rights similar to GDPR for California residents. Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, plus a growing list of other states have followed with their own privacy laws. For video, this means consent capture for identifiable individuals, retention windows, and per-state data subject request handling.

Industry-specific federal regulators

SEC, FINRA, CFTC for financial services. FDA for healthcare and pharma. FCC for media. FERC for energy. EPA for environment. OSHA for workplace safety. Each operates distinct compliance frameworks for video produced under their oversight. Most enterprise programs maintain per-regulator workflow capacity for the regulators that apply to their business.

What changes for the production team working on Americas content

Three practical shifts.

Shift 1: Cross-coast production fluency

Producers operating across East Coast and West Coast hubs with smooth handoffs. Project management discipline that respects time-zone differences rather than forcing one coast to attend the other coast's hours. The team that operates fluently across coasts ships 24 to 36 hours faster than the team forcing single-hub workflows.

Shift 2: Multi-language editorial in English-Spanish-Portuguese

Native-speaker editorial in each language with proper cultural adaptation. Mexican Spanish editorial different from Argentine Spanish editorial different from Brazilian Portuguese editorial. Most successful Americas programs maintain dedicated per-language editorial leads rather than relying on translation pipelines.

Shift 3: Federal compliance navigation

Producers fluent in Section 508 baseline delivery, ADA accessibility, CCPA consent capture and per-regulator workflow for industry-specific content. The teams that treat federal compliance as a finishing step ship content with silent exposure; the teams that bake compliance into the brief ship cleanly.

Practical questions enterprise Americas teams ask

Should the primary hub be East Coast or West Coast?

Depends on the business. Financial services, federal-facing and EMEA-overlap programs benefit from East Coast anchoring. Tech, life sciences, defence and APAC-overlap programs benefit from West Coast anchoring. Most large enterprises operate both with the headquarters location often determining the primary anchor.

How do we handle the US Hispanic market versus LATAM markets?

Different audiences with different content needs. US Hispanic content typically uses Mexican Spanish but with US cultural framing (US sports references, US holidays, US lifestyle). LATAM content uses regional Spanish variants with country-specific cultural framing. Most successful programs maintain separate production capacity for US Hispanic and LATAM-targeted Spanish content.

What about Canada French versus France French?

Canadian French (Quebec French specifically) is distinct from France French and should not be cross-used. Quebec audiences reject France-French content. Most multinationals operating in Quebec maintain dedicated Quebec French production capacity in Montreal.

How do we handle LGPD in Brazil?

Brazil's General Data Protection Law (LGPD) is substantively similar to GDPR. For video, this means consent capture for identifiable individuals, data subject rights including erasure, retention windows. Most multinational Brazil video programs operate LGPD-compliant pipelines that mirror the GDPR-compliant pipelines used in EMEA. We covered the broader GDPR pattern in how to produce enterprise video across EMEA; LGPD applies similar discipline in Brazil.

What about AI in Americas video production?

AI is widely used in Americas video workflows: AI-assisted dubbing for non-launch Spanish and Portuguese content, transcript editing, social cutdown selection, distribution scheduling. The US has lighter AI regulation than the EU AI Act creates in EMEA. State-level AI regulation is emerging (California, Colorado, New York). Most enterprise Americas programs use AI inside the workflow but maintain caution for customer-facing branded content where the trust signal is the named human voice. The framing in how AI fits inside enterprise video workflows applies broadly.

Where to go next

For the APAC equivalent of the regional production model, read how to produce enterprise video across APAC. For the EMEA equivalent, read how to produce enterprise video across EMEA. For the global multi-site pattern, read how to scale video across global offices.

To scope an Americas enterprise video program with East Coast, West Coast and LATAM hubs and the follow-the-sun production model, book a free consultation.