Santa Clarita Official Named to Film Commission

Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy, who 10 years ago helped create a monument to Western film stars in Newhall, has been named to the California Film Commission.

Darcy will represent northern Los Angeles County on the 26-member commission, which advises the governor on issues affecting the movie industry. Darcy, who originally applied for a spot on the commission four years ago, learned last week that Gov. Pete Wilson had named her to the panel. Commissioners meet every other month and receive no salary.

With its rolling hills, country roads and secluded canyons 30 miles from Hollywood’s studios, the Santa Clarita Valley has long been a popular location for film and television producers. Darcy said Monday that she hopes to lure more entertainment companies to the area and neighboring Antelope Valley.

The commission was created in 1985 partly to halt the exodus of filmmakers from California, who were soured by local and state bureaucracies that made it difficult to film in public areas. The film and television industry generates more than $5 billion in California each year, said Michael Walbrecht, commission spokesman. The state loses an estimated $3 billion each year from companies that reject California as a film location, Walbrecht said.

The commission tries to make it easier for filmmakers to work in the state by providing information on locations and offering advice to cities and filmmakers on working together.

Darcy, a field deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, has long been interested in the local movie industry. She helped launch the Newhall Western Walk of Stars, a takeoff on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Newhall walk salutes actors and stuntmen and women who generally made their mark as gunslingers or riders on the silver screen.

Darcy’s appointment comes at a good time, said Cheryl Adams, a member of the Santa Clarita Valley Film Development Committee. The committee was created two years ago by the Santa Clarita Valley and Canyon Country chambers of commerce to promote filming in the valley.

In a report on the local film industry presented to the City Council last week, the committee estimated that filmmakers poured more than $9.5 million into the Santa Clarita Valley’s economy last year.

Film and television companies obtained 323 permits to shoot on hillsides, streets and various locations in the valley in 1990, Adams said. Those figures do include movie work performed on private property or in three valley film studios, she said.

The committee also estimated that 5,000 Santa Clarita Valley residents, from writers and producers to carpenters and caterers, derive most of their income from the movie and television industry.

The committee estimated that it will need $30,000 to continue its promotional campaign this year and asked the City Council to contribute to the effort. Although council members did not pledge a specific amount, they agreed to consider a contribution.