L.A. Could Get a Big Boost in TV, Movie Production Work

The threat of war and being stranded far from family has made Hollywood stars and executives reluctant to travel to make movies and television series.

The new premium on working close to home could be a boon for Los Angeles, increasing production here by as much as 10% in the coming months, according to interviews with executives at the major studios. The initial economic impact could add up to hundreds of millions of dollars.

“I’m sure I will be asked to have more things shot in Los Angeles,” said Nina Jacobson, president of the Buena Vista Motion Picture Group. “Everyone wants to be home.”

The entertainment industry, more than most, lives on planes, traveling across the country for dinner as easily as driving to Malibu for a barbecue.

So many movies and television shows are produced in Canada and other international locations that a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate in July to try to reverse the trend by granting wage credits to producers who film in the U.S. Angelenos have taken billions of dollars of production work overseas in a relentless search for the right location, which, most often, has been the cheaper deal.

But that appears to be changing.

“My wife wants me to stay home,” said Brian Robbins, director of the just-released film “Hardball.” “A lot of my friends feel the same way. People don’t want to be away from their families.”

It’s not that working in Los Angeles is without risk. Last week, the FBI notified the Hollywood studios of a terrorist threat aimed specifically at them.

Still, “Men in Black” producer Barry Josephson said, “The days when people jumped on and off planes are over. No more.”

Many in Hollywood are reassessing their production plans, intent on finding ways to work in Los Angeles.

Steve Reuther, producer of “Collateral Damage,” reviewed his upcoming film projects. In one stack, he put the scripts that could be filmed near Los Angeles. In another stack, he put everything else--and moved it off his desk.

“We’re going to do everything we can to keep it close to home,” Reuther said.

Studios are taking a fresh look at the wisdom of filming in less secure, exotic locations. Morocco and Guatemala are out. Canada and Australia are likely to benefit along with Los Angeles from the current state of fear.

“I have a movie that has to shoot in Africa,” Reuther said. “I don’t think I have a chance of putting it together now. I wouldn’t be able to get an actor to go.”

Two weeks ago, CBS was considering a Middle Eastern country as the location for “Survivor 4.” A network executive says he has “dropped that place to the bottom of the list.”

Marc Abraham, who recently produced Robert Redford’s “Spy Game” in Morocco, said, “I don’t know that you would want to take movie stars there now.

“We don’t know what’s dangerous. We just know what’s user-friendly. The logistics, how much time it takes, the inconvenience of traveling, no one wants it.”

Less than two weeks after the attack, Hollywood is mostly just talking about changing its way of doing business. But the talk is all about hearth, home and safe havens.

When terrorists simultaneously attacked New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman John Calley was on a commercial flight to company meetings in Europe. Forced to land when the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all air traffic, Calley was stranded in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for four days, unable to get a flight home.

It’s a saga that scores of Hollywood executives, actors, producers and agents experienced in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and one that none wants to repeat.

“It’s not about feeling safe in a place,” Calley said. “It’s the travel that’s scary.”

Responding to those fears will not come cheaply. Making films and television programs in Los Angeles is significantly more expensive than in most other locations.

Shooting a movie in Canada or Australia typically saves the studios 5% to 8% of the cost of production. For series television, the savings can be greater.

Said Steve Tisch, producer of “American History X,” “If it costs more to stay in Los Angeles, someone will pay for it or face a mutiny.”

That possibility, said some executives, could result in the studios reducing the number of films and scripted television series they make.

Agents, never eager to talk about marking down their clients’ price, declined to be identified but agreed that the situation is grave.

“Coming off of the [Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild] strike threats, the end of the dot-coms, media companies being hit by the advertising slowdown, fewer films and television shows being made, it’s going to be a bad time,” one prominent agent said. “The anxiety level is insane.”

Put another way, “people are in a realistic frame of mind,” producer Reuther said. “Unions, actors, everyone may have to make adjustments in their price.”

“I personally believe that anything we can shoot in the United States we should shoot here for reasons of self-interest,” Sony’s Calley said. “And we should do as much of that in Los Angeles as we can.

“But it’s going to be project-specific,” Calley said. “We don’t want to do a TV show in Canada called ‘Pasadena,’ but we can’t justify to our parent company the extra $200,000 per episode it costs to shoot here. . . . There will have to be cooperation between the communities, the studios and the unions. Compromises will be made that we haven’t been willing to make before.”

The cost benefits of shooting television in Canada remain overwhelming, said Gail Berman, president of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting. “I don’t think Canada is any less attractive. . . . [The crisis] will mean additional travel time is all.”

Canada, Australia and Britain are expected to remain the top three non-U.S. locations for production, according to studio and television network executives.

“If it costs less to make something elsewhere, some of the emotional considerations will have to be set aside,” Jacobson said. “Our profit margins are so tough.”

One network executive put it more bluntly. “If they want to work, actors won’t have any choice. They will fly to Vancouver.”

Still, a shift of production back to close-in locations could escalate if tensions continue to rise.

Said John Davis, producer of the “Dr. Doolittle” and “Predator” series: “We’re all overreacting, waiting for the other shoe to drop following the attack.”