Communities Audition for Hollywood’s Action

At the American Film Market convention in Santa Monica this week, the North Texas Film Commission euphorically announced that “Oliver Is Back in Dallas.”

Never mind that director Oliver Stone is there to re-create Dallas’ darkest moment, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Civic pride often fades in the face of Hollywood largess.

A location shoot by a major filmmaker such as Stone can pump as much as $3 million into a local economy. Illinois attracted $65 million worth of film, television and commercials last year by selling producers on its gritty landscape and its vast work force. So it is understandable that communities eagerly court anyone with access to a production budget.

Representatives from 168 film commissions squeezed into the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for this year’s Location Expo. While California still controls the lion’s share of production activity, with about $5 billion of the $8 billion spent annually, competition for the remaining revenue is fierce. Exhibitors behind elaborate displays offered passers-by everything from gourmet chocolates and alcohol to tropical vacations.

The Israelis, still reeling from a series of Scud attacks, touted the ready availability of war movie backdrops. “We have the desert and the military,” Yossi Ginsberg said. “A lot of our people even look like Arabs.” The Mississippi Film Commission offered up lush slide-projector images of antebellum mansions and Delta shacks. Ward Emling, the manager of the state’s film office, said movies based on the blues or the Civil War are “hot” now.

Jerry Jones of the Kansas Film Commission said Midwesterners are at something of a disadvantage, since Hollywood executives often have a hard time distinguishing Kansas from Iowa or Ohio. That may explain why Indiana tried to set itself apart with a big, flood-lighted sign that said “Hoosierwood.”

“Our problem is convincing film executives that what we look like and what the ‘Wizard of Oz’ looks like are not necessarily the same,” Jones said.

Jones recalled that the crew from “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” spent two days filming in his state last year. Another crew shot entirely in Kansas City. Unfortunately, it was on the Missouri side of the state line, Jones’ aide noted.

Standing in a cramped booth near the center of the action was Francy Ford, the lone film commissioner for rural Lawton, Okla., “Gateway to the Witchitas.”

Lawton, home to wide open plains, roaming buffalo, scenic mountains, a historic military base and the “World Famous Meers Burger,” has yet to attract a major film, but Ford scored one coup. Television’s “America’s Funniest People” recently taped a segment there.

In small towns such as Lawton, film commissions are usually the domain of chambers of commerce or tourism offices. But in larger cities and states, promoting film activity is big business. Budget constraints aside, most states find ways to fund sizable film-office operations.

The Illinois Film Office employs eight people and has an annual budget of $650,000. One commission member said business is booming because of film industry labor strife in New York City, which has traditionally attracted about $2 billion worth of production activity annually. The Alaska Film Office’s allocation has quadrupled in recent years, to $225,000. The state’s latest marketing ploy is a three-dimensional billboard on the Sunset Strip.

The Massachusetts Film Office, budgeted at $300,000, claims to have increased production activity in the state by 900% in 10 years. Fifteen films and television shows were shot in Massachusetts last year. Further north, Canada has also been successful in attracting production.

On the truly exotic front, the American Film Market also attracted representatives from Soyuzkinoservice/USSR Film Service, which is devoted to promoting film making and production activity in Russia, and Cine Austria, which has a full-time representative in Los Angeles.

Jean Drummond, the executive editor of Location Update magazine, said the competition for Hollywood’s export dollars has gotten much stiffer in the past five years. Her publication, which started as a newsletter, is now a glossy semi-monthly devoted to documenting what happens when Hollywood hits the road. “Practically every state has a film commission now,” she said.

So do many cities, towns and truck stops, judging from the Location Expo. Consider, for instance, the selling job facing the Rochester/Finger Lakes Film Office.

Florida was represented by 15 separate commissions, including a Manatee County group that boasted a 35-member advisory council. Florida is one of the top filming sites, attracting $294 million in production money last year. Others include New York state, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois, Nevada, Hawaii, Utah and Arizona.

But Hollywood’s spotlight still shines brightest on California. More than two-thirds of all Hollywood features and more than half of all entertainment productions are shot within the state.

Despite the competition from outsiders, Michael Walbrecht, associate director of the California Film Commission, said the state has gained some ground in recent years by bolstering its staff and cutting some of the bureaucratic red tape confronting producers.

While other states offer cheap labor and even free lodging as inducements, California is still the most accessible and best equipped to meet film makers’ needs, Walbrecht maintained.

“Staying home is cheaper in most cases,” Walbrecht said. “Our big push is to reawaken people to California. They don’t have to go to the Midwest for cornfields. Central California has huge cornfields.”