Did Fox Stay for Pete’s Sake?

A campaign ad for Gov. Pete Wilson touts such job-saving efforts as tax incentives, a cut in regulations and forming “strike teams” of officials to keep business in the state.

Then the ad makes this claim: “That’s why Fox studios stayed in L.A. instead of moving to Nevada.”

How true is the claim? Privately, sources at Fox insist that realistically the odds were virtually nil that the studio would end up in Nevada.

A Fox spokesman declined to comment on the claim, as did Fox Executive Vice President George Vradenburg, whom a Wilson campaign “factual substantiation” lists as a contact to verify the claim.

But officials with the Wilson Administration insist Fox seriously considered Nevada, and that the claim that the studio stayed due to Wilson’s efforts is no exaggeration.

Privately, Fox executives say they were grateful for Wilson’s support during their lengthy battle in gaining approval to upgrade their aging Century City lot.

But they add that suggesting they were on the verge of moving to Nevada is stretching it. Fox did consider leaving the city of Los Angeles during the marathon fight to win approval, they say, but the most serious alternative site was Burbank.

The cost of relocating the entire studio, the disruption to employees and the need to be near Hollywood’s creative community pretty much precluded moving out of state, even though the threat to leave was raised as a negotiating tactic, sources said.

Fox did recently say it will build an animation studio in Arizona, but because its creative team wanted to live there.

David Handelman, Fox’s former general counsel, says that some preliminary discussions on Nevada occurred, but adds that “in fairness there were not active negotiations to move. We weren’t on the curb with our suitcases packed.”

Had Fox employees and their families moved to Nevada, the course of the election might well have been changed.

One of its top officials at the time was news executive Van Gordon Sauter, now a consultant to the company.

He also happens to be Kathleen Brown’s husband.

Movie With a Bite

If the anxiety over killer bees isn’t enough, now we have giant mosquitoes.

Hemdale Communications recently announced plans for “Mosquito,” a film about “a swarm of deadly six-foot mosquitoes out for blood.”

The plot involves a meteor crashing in a forest, unleashing a swarm of the mosquitoes “ten thousand times their normal size.”

The film’s heroes, Hemdale says, “fight with chain saws, shotguns and anything they can get their hands on to so these giant mosquitoes in an explosive battle for the fate of mankind.”

What Financial Future?

First, baseball players lost an estimated $150 million out of pocket because of the season-ending strike.

Now, hockey players are faced with the threat that their season won’t start due to labor turmoil.

So what is one of the topics at a seminar Friday at the Beverly Hilton sponsored by the Beverly Hills Sports Council? “Planning the Athlete’s Financial Future.”