Efforts Fizzle to Bring More Filming to O.C.

A state-mandated effort to make California communities more accessible to movie production has been a flop so far in Orange County, despite the weeklong filming of NBC’s “Blind Faith” miniseries scheduled to end here today.

Upbeat assessments by state and county officials notwithstanding, the California Film Commission guidelines to ease the granting of film permits has had no visible impact on any of the county’s 27 cities.

Last week, County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, a member of the commission, cited the presence of “Blind Faith” at the Old County Courthouse as proof that “Orange County has thrown out its welcome mat to the motion-picture industry.”

But none of the cities have yet adopted the commission’s “model process” for film permits or said why they can’t. State law requires one or the other by Dec. 31. Newport Beach, which gets the most filming requests, has flatly rejected it.

Even the county government, which has been the most vocal advocate of attracting movie productions to the area, has performed ineptly in its attempt to simplify procedures, according to observers in and out of the movie industry. And Vasquez himself is accused of grandstanding rather than providing effective leadership on the issue.

“Nothing has really happened with Gaddi,” said Joe Cleary, a Hollywood location manager who lives in Newport Beach and was appointed two weeks ago by that city to expedite film permits as a private consultant.

“Gaddi talks a good game,” Cleary said, “but I think he lost interest. The fact is it’s cheaper to go to Montana than to come to Orange County. Nobody has addressed that question.”

Vasquez could not be reached for comment.

Until the arrival of “Blind Faith” on Oct. 16, only four productions accounting for a total of eight days of filming had been made on unincorporated county property during the previous 12 months. They brought the county $19,332 in combined fees. (See box.) “Blind Faith” has paid $23,000 for its seven-day shoot.

More than 18 months ago, Vasquez urged that a county staff member be appointed to work as a liaison with the film industry. He asserted that the county might someday establish a full-time film office to encourage movie production here.

What has happened since then, however, has not inspired much confidence among industry professionals.

“They brought the paper work down from about eight stages to six,” said David Zuckerman, a Hollywood location scout who arranged the filming of a huge Miller Brewing Co. “tastes great, less filling” beer commercial at the city-owned Santa Ana Stadium for five days in August.

Zuckerman, who lives in Huntington Beach, acknowledged that the county government has tried to be helpful, but he noted that the county liaison lacked both information and experience in dealing with film productions.

“When we shot the commercial, city officials in Santa Ana were absolutely great,” he said. “They did everything we needed. There was a lot at stake because we were making the commercial for the Super Bowl broadcast. But the county couldn’t do a thing for me every time I asked.”

Said Cleary: “What you’ve basically got at the county is somebody who is learning on the job.”

Laura McDaniel, the county staffer named as the original film liaison, stayed on the job less than a year. In April, she became an executive aide to Vasquez, according to county spokeswoman Helen Lotos. The liaison job remained vacant for four months, until county staff writer Lolly Powell took over in September.”I’m just working my way into the position now,” Powell said last week.

Glenn Everroad, who supervises business licenses in Newport Beach, has also found the county’s effort frustrating.

“It looked for a little while like the county was finally going to have a plan,” he said, “but when I refer people over there they don’t meet with a lot of success. I know that companies frequently couldn’t reach the right person to deal with.”

Nevertheless, Lisa Rawlins, the executive director of the film commission, declared Friday after meeting with county staffers that she was satisfied with their procedures. “They’ve made enormous strides,” she said.

Rawlins reluctantly acknowledged that the county government could do more.

The county has, for example, failed to join a statewide program run by the commission that trains film liaisons as to needs of the movie industry. “At one time the county put in an application,” Rawlins said, “but it was never completed.”

Mission Viejo film maker John O’Callaghan said making movies in Orange County can be “a bureaucratic nightmare” because of the morass of jurisdictional requirements. If his agent arranges the financing for his $3-million “Warriors of the Wasteland” movie, he plans to take the production to Arizona.

“I thought it would be cheap and convenient to shoot in the county,” said O’Callaghan, who began making his movie last spring on a ranch in Mission Viejo. “But there are so many hurdles, you can kiss whole days goodby. It took three weeks just to get people to return calls from places like a fire department.”

In one of its mandates, the state film commission set out guidelines in June for issuing local film permits. All city and county governments must adopt a 13-step “model process” or notify the commission why they cannot, but there are no penalties for failure to comply.

If the commission’s mandate lacks teeth, its campaign to attract film production to the county appears to lack enterprise. Anaheim treasury manager William Sell, who runs that city’s business-license division, said nobody from the commission--or from the county government, for that matter--has ever contacted him on how to promote film production.

“I can think of two movies that have come here this year,” Sell said. “One was a Disney-type thing, and another was a commercial. Other than that I can’t think of any.”

Film professionals noted further that if the industry was really serious about fostering production in Orange County and other places in the state, it would extend what is known as “the zone,” the area within a 30-mile radius from a spot in Hollywood; outside that zone, union rates for per-diem pay, travel time and gas mileage increase sharply, raising the cost of filming.

“The rest of this commission stuff is just nice camouflage,” Cleary said.

Newport Beach’s decision to reject the commission’s model permit process and to appoint a private consultant stems from the belief that it knows its own needs better than the commission could.

“The Legislature originally wanted one-stop film shopping with the state providing access to any city or county,” Everroad said. “That legislative effort failed, and they got a watered-down version--with good reason. Why should we be subject to the whim of a commission in Hollywood or a production company that wants to shoot here?”

Companies hoping to film in Newport Beach can still apply directly to the city for a permit, but they will get one faster if they go through Cleary, Everroad said, because “he will screen the problems and streamline the process. Otherwise you have to wait in line for a city employee to get around to it.”

The number of permits issued in Newport Beach for still photography, commercials, television productions and motion pictures more than doubled from 23 in 1986 to 54 in 1988, and the number will be higher this year, Everroad said.

Cleary, who has worked for directors Clint Eastwood and Francis Coppola as well as rock stars Paul McCartney and INXS, said he plans to offer his services as a film liaison to other cities in the county.

Rawlins disapproves of Newport Beach’s arrangement. “I think it’s somewhat unethical for a city to hire a private company to represent them,” she said.

But, she maintains, it is worth a city’s effort to accommodate major productions because movie companies spend more than $30,000 a day in the communities where they film.

Everroad, however, disputes that figure. “I’d love to see her prove it,” he said. “We haven’t experienced anything remotely close to that. The commission and Vasquez both like to represent film production and their own efforts in the most attractive light.”

Rawlins said she plans to get an economic-impact statement for “Blind Faith” that would show definitively how much money local businesses earned from the seven-day shoot.

BACKGROUND

California has continued to lose the shooting of Hollywood feature films, television shows and commercials to other states. In 1988, California lost $3 billion to production in other states, according to the Department of Commerce. The California Film Commission was created in 1985 to halt the slide.