COUNTYWIDE : Films Give County a Shot in the Arm

Orange County, the movie-making capital of the world?

Not exactly, but the county does get a share of profits from the Hollywood film industry when its locations are used in movies and TV instead of the streets of Los Angeles County.

When producers choose the sights of Orange County for their projects, it can result in big bucks to the local economy, according to Christi Silverberg, the county’s film liaison.

“When ‘Defending Your Life’ was filmed here in 1991, it brought $250,000 into the economy during two weeks of filming,” Silverberg said.

The task of helping TV and movie people arrange filming throughout the county now rests with the county’s Environmental Management Agency, the same agency that grants filming permits.

A special effects sequence gone wrong in Upper Newport Bay in 1987 prompted the county to monitor film activity more closely.

A production company rigged a 46-foot yacht to explode in the ecological reserve in Upper Newport Bay without acquiring a city permit. When silt clogged the water lines on the fire-suppression boats, the fire, scheduled to burn for 30 seconds, raged in the Back Bay for 40 minutes.

“We would never allow anyone to film in there,” Silverberg said. “That’s why it’s important for us to have control over where a production company is filming.”

Occasionally, production companies forgo formalities and try to film without getting permission from the county but are quickly shut down as soon as the county is alerted, usually by complaining residents, Silverberg said.

Silverberg said the county follows the guidelines set by the California Film Commission, established in 1985 to assist filmmaking in the state. Statewide, the industry spends about $5.25 billion a year and employs 118,000 people directly and 115,000 indirectly, according to commission officials.

In 1991, Orange County was paid $38,000 in permit fees, and Newport Beach garnered $27,000. In 1990, the county received nearly $60,000 in fees.

Coastal Orange County is the most popular location with production companies. The Newport Beach piers, the Balboa Fun Zone and Crystal Cove, where portions of the movie “Beaches” were filmed, are favorite sites.

The television show “Tequila & Bonetti” uses Seal Beach as its main location. A lifeguard station that was brightly painted by the film crew was at first scoffed at by residents, Silverberg said. Now it has become a bit of a tourist attraction, and residents view it more favorably, she added.

The most expensive place to film in the county is at the Old Courthouse in Santa Ana. Because it is a historical monument, the county charges $2,000 a day for filming. But the courthouse is still one of the most popular sites among production companies.

Average filming fees run about $400 per day for film and $150 per day for still photography. “We get a lot of fashion catalogues being shot at the beach, and MTV holds their beach show at Laguna every year,” Silverberg said.

Orange County, Silver Screen

Here is a partial list of the more famous movies filmed in Orange County and the sites:

“The Two Brothers,” D.W. Griffith’s 1910 silent movie; San Juan Capistrano

“Topper,” starring Cary Grant; Irvine Regional Park in Orange

“Lassie Come Home”; Irvine Regional Park

“Defending Your Life,” starring Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep; Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley and the Irvine Spectrum

“Taking Care of Business,” starring Charles Grodin and James Belushi; Anaheim Stadium

“Beaches,” starring Bette Midler; the Balboa Fun Zone and other Newport Beach locales

“Rain Man,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise; the Transportation Center in Santa Ana

“Memoirs of an Invisible Man,” starring Chevy Chase and Darryl Hannah; Santa Ana train station

Source: Orange County Film Liaison, Environmental Management Agency