One-stop shopping for locations
Ken Wales, a producer of the film “Amazing Grace,” passed by Idaho, Washington state and the Kingdom of Jordan before stopping at Iceland.
He was at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, looking for a place to film a World War II movie called “Sea of Glory,” when a giant poster of Clint Eastwood on the black-sand Icelandic beach where “Flags of Our Fathers” was shot caught his attention.
“It’s all about the choices,” said Wales, grabbing a bottle of Icelandic spring water and some brochures touting the country’s 14% movie and TV production rebate. “In three days you can literally cover the world right here.”
A lot of the world, at least. About 300 film commissions and industry exhibitors from more than 30 countries were represented at the auditorium, where the Assn. of Film Commissioners International held its 22nd annual locations show.
The three-day event, which ends today, drew an audience of nearly 4,000 producers, scouts and other industry professionals, marking the biggest turnout ever -- and underscoring the mounting competition Southern California faces to keep film and TV jobs here.
“It’s like a feeding frenzy,” said Suzy Kellett, director of the Washington State Film Office, who was standing behind a poster of the Cascade mountains emblazoned with orange letters: “Need Cash?”
In Sacramento, legislation that would offer producers incentives to stay in California hasn’t made it off the ground. Industry executives and local economists say Southern California has lost millions of dollars and thousands of jobs over the years to what’s known as runaway production.
“Because this industry has been globalized, new competitors have entered the ring,” said Robin James, president of the film commissioners’ association. The locations show “has become a shop window for production companies to compare things such as incentives and locations, and do it all in one place.”
At one booth, George David, production services manager with the Royal Film Commission of Jordan, was handing out baklava and talking up the kingdom’s filming assets.
Apart from boasting 10 types of desert, the country, whose most famous production was “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” offers rebates on production spending of as much as 35% and something few other locales can match.
“If you want to film in Jordan, you have the support of the royal court,” David said.
Among the countries newly represented at the show was Ukraine, where a sprawling film studio with 12 stages is sprouting near Kiev, the nation’s capital. “Everything you can shoot in the Czech Republic, Hungary or Romania, you can shoot in Ukraine -- but a lot cheaper,” said Elena Baranova of Twinjoint International Film Services, which has offices in Kiev and Los Angeles and is part of the group developing the 12-stage studio.
Turkey, meanwhile, was selling its past.
“Our tag line is ‘Come shoot where the original story happened,” said Skye Tuncer of the Turkish Film Council, standing behind a picture of the ruins of Ephesus. “We like to say we have sets designed by history.”
The exposition drew two government ministers from Kenya, part of a 10-person delegation on hand to promote that country’s emerging film business. Kenya has hosted the film “The Constant Gardener” and productions of the CBS hit “Survivor.”
“From savannas to beaches to equatorial forests -- we have it all,” said Nyatichi Sitati of the Kenya Film Commission. “We like to say you haven’t experienced filming paradise until you’ve been to Kenya.”
Strolling among the exhibits was Constable Catherine Pescolla of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in full regalia and looking, in fact, as if she had just walked off a movie set.
At the Washington state booth, Kellett acknowledged that Washington couldn’t match the rich incentives offered by the likes of New Mexico and Louisiana, which have had increasing success luring productions away from California. The show in Santa Monica attracted film commissioners from more than 90 state and local governments.
To compete, Washington targets lower-budget films -- in the $1-million-to-$10-million range -- as well as TV commercials.
“For car commercials, we can double for anywhere in America,” said Kellett, a former Illinois film commissioner, “except swamps.”
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