A Capital Location for Studios

Forget District of Columbia. In some circles the initials D.C. might as well stand for Documentary Central.

Washington’s monuments and historic buildings have long been backdrops for films and TV shows. Now a thriving documentary business that has spawned the nickname “Docuwood” is helping fuel a bustling production business in the nation’s capital and its suburbs.

Although far behind Los Angeles and New York, the Washington area now ranks as the nation’s third-largest production region, according to Rita McClenny, vice president of film and industry relations at the Virginia Film Office in Richmond. At Washington’s Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, director Crystal Palmer increased her staff during the last few years to five from three to assist filmmakers on the 275 projects shot within the city last year.

“Everyone is after entertainment now,” Palmer said. “It is a revenue generator and certainly creates jobs.”

Much of the area’s production growth has been driven by three prolific documentary channels: Public Broadcasting Service in Alexandria, Va.; National Geographic Channel in Washington; and Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Md. Through aggressive marketing -- and with the help, in some cases, of local government subsidies -- the companies have expanded beyond TV to radio, publishing and retail.

“The producers we’re in business with -- documentarians -- live all over the world, so Silver Spring is just as accessible as New York or Los Angeles,” said William M. Campbell III, Discovery’s U.S. network chief.

Shows such as PBS’ “MotorWeek” are shot locally. Also helping Washington develop its production chops is the growing commercial success of documentaries, such as Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” and Ken Burns’ televised series “The Civil War.”

Russell Williams III, a two-time Oscar winner for sound production and artist-in-residence at American University, said the commercial success of those undertakings “helped rejuvenate documentary filmmaking and focus industry attention on the Washington area.”

Washington provides documentarians with a rich source of history and issues. Producers working out of National Geographic’s 4,000-square-foot production facility in Washington often consult nearby government scientists.

“The attraction for us is the subject matter,” filmmaker Burns said. As the center of government, he said, Washington “has the repositories of our history. It’s just a wonderful resource for someone like me.”

Apart from the documentary channels, Washington also is the base for such media companies as XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Viacom Inc.’s Black Entertainment Television. Actor Tim Reid has a production facility, New Millennium Studios, 125 miles south of Washington in Petersburg, Va., that was home to the acclaimed former Showtime series “Linc’s.” The studio will help produce shows for TV One, a new cable channel aimed at African Americans with backing from cable giant Comcast Corp.

Washington has long provided settings for popular films, such as “All the President’s Men” and “The Exorcist,” and TV shows, such as “The West Wing.” Walt Disney Co.’s hit thriller “National Treasure” included scenes shot at the Lincoln Memorial and the Library of Congress.

“Washington and Hollywood are fascinated with one another,” said Vans Stevenson, executive vice president of industry affairs at the Motion Picture Assn. of America. “They are both always in search of a constituency to support their ideas, whether it’s at the ballot box or box office. And they both embrace publicity -- the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Both Virginia and Washington offer economic incentives to lure entertainment projects, but the enticements have been richest in Maryland. Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan has promoted a $400-million redevelopment plan to get entertainment companies to join retailers in revitalizing a once-bustling Silver Spring shopping area that had fallen on hard times.

The 20-acre site is anchored by Discovery Communications Inc., which is receiving $18 million in county and state tax breaks over 10 years. The company, formerly based in nearby Landover, occupies a 10-story headquarters and another facility in the city that together house nearly 2,000 employees. Discovery is 80%-owned by Liberty Media Corp. and cable operator Cox Communications Inc.

The county also pulled together significant financial incentives for TV One, which moved to Silver Spring last year. It received $150,000 in training and economic development grants from Maryland. Discovery could get an additional $100,000 grant from Montgomery County at the end of next year if the company employs at least 50 people in the county.

Maryland also poured an additional $25 million into restoring Silver Spring’s historic Silver Theater, a 1938 movie house now operated by the American Film Institute. The three-screen complex features state-of-the-art high-definition video projection, seats 675 people and hosts a documentary movie festival each year that attracts filmmakers from around the world.

Critics, however, warn that local officials may be getting too star-struck by entertainment companies land so may be prone to taxpayer giveaways.

“We don’t have enough money in the treasury -- state or federal -- to start subsidizing the location of businesses,” said Maryland state Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Democrat from Bethesda.

“We paid Discovery millions to move 3 miles. To me that’s crazy.”

But county chief Duncan said the international acclaim and the success of the development in improving a blighted area undercut criticism that the county is too generous.

“It changed everything overnight,” Duncan said. “We now have a group of entertainment companies who are going to create the critical mass.”