Officials frame their turf as film-friendly

Norman Thaddeus Vane was just four minutes into his speed-dating matchup when he fell in love . . . with Palmdale.

“I’m going to use an old gas station and cafe there that I just found out about,” the veteran filmmaker said. “Eighty percent of the movie can be shot at that location.”

Vane and 75 other studio and TV production executives, independent producers and location scouts were learning Thursday about movie-making opportunities in cities and counties across California.

In a scene reminiscent of the mass introduction ritual depicted in “Sex in the City,” two dozen regional and local film commission leaders hopped between tables of filmmakers. They each were hoping to lure film crews home with them.

Pauline East, Antelope Valley film liaison, told Vane’s table about her area’s picturesque ranches, its vast, Joshua tree-studded deserts and its rock ruins. Then she mentioned the old-fashioned roadside cafe and service station.

Vane quickly decided it could be the perfect backdrop for his upcoming independent feature, “Gas Station Blues.”

That was music to the ears of California Film Commission administrators, who are struggling to divert the flow of production crews to out-of-state locations.

The breakfast session at the Beverly Hills Hotel was also a bit of counter-programming. The state’s film promoters were hoping to deflect attention from a larger movie location trade show that got underway Thursday afternoon. As many as 4,000 people are anticipated at the three-day Assn. of Film Commissioners International gathering at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

California officials call that annual event “the poaching convention,” because representatives of states across the nation offer filmmakers rich incentives to desert Hollywood.

On Monday, Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm signed legislation offering filmmakers a 40% tax credit for movies made there. About 40 states provide similar incentives.

“Here it’s difficult to get legislators to understand there’s a problem and that incentives don’t line the pockets of movie executives,” said Amy Lemisch, director of the California Film Commission. “Incentives are needed here to keep below-the-line workers employed.”

So the local film commissioners were selling their cities and counties as movie settings based on their locales’ unique looks -- and the convenience each offered to Hollywood film crews.

Fresno County Film Commissioner Gigi Gibbs bragged of “our very film-friendly High Sierra areas” and the county’s wealth of old-fashioned-looking downtown areas.

Sandra Saldana of ABC Studios asked about recent films shot in the Fresno area, and Gibbs reeled off a list: “Addams Family Values,” “Click,” “Indiana Jones 4,” “MouseHunt” and “Puppet Masters.”

At the next table, Kern County’s Dave Hook was wearing a shirt embroidered with “Kern County -- where the action is so hot it’s cool!” and joking that his area “can give you everything but the ocean.”

“We have the closest white-water river to Los Angeles. We have great agricultural backgrounds,” he told 20th Century Fox’s Mike Heard. “We love Fox. We’ve done several things with you guys.”

Mary Cruse, Humboldt County film and digital media commissioner, said her Northern California area had become a favorite site for car commercials.

“We have big redwood trees, the ocean and scenic coastal roads. In the distance you can see snow-capped mountains,” she said. “There are rustic and funky houses scattered everywhere.”

She assured Andy Fraser of Morgan Creek Productions that Humboldt County was home to many skilled production designers, makeup artists and other film professionals who have second residences in the area or are semi-retired.

Two tables away, San Mateo County Film Commissioner Brena Bailey bragged of her area’s 52 miles of beaches, its two working lighthouses and 13 cities in whose downtowns “you find any place in America.”

She explained to Hollywood location manager Matt De Loach that her county works closely with other nearby film offices to help production companies find the setting they need, be it fields of flowers or big-city high-rises.

A few steps away, Stefanie Coyote, San Francisco Film Commission executive director, told filmmakers that her city could be affordable. One major movie shot five days in City Hall, “and the only thing they had to pay is where they scratched the floor,” she said.

Chris Donahue, executive vice president of Shephard/Robin Co., producer of such shows as “The Closer” and “Nip/Tuck,” said he had been unaware of San Francisco’s filming incentives, which include a 100% rebate of fees paid for police and traffic control and use of city property. “Incentives are always a good thing,” he acknowledged.

Jim Reikowsky, Solano County film liaison, told of the Vallejo area’s shipyards, its working railway and street cars, and a naval chapel with 107-year-old Tiffany windows. “You want old industrial, the grimy? I’ve got it,” he bragged.

Before the two-hour session came to an end, Sacramento Film Commissioner Lucy Steffens had touted her turf’s Victorian mansions, fall foliage, paddle-wheel riverboats and historic railroad rolling stock. She had large color photos to prove it.

Randy Turrow, a unit production manager and assistant director who will soon be involved in a sequel to “Chariots of Fire,” listened intently. The film will be set in Tianjin, China, in the 1930s. These days, that city has been modernized.

One of Steffens’ photos depicted an area of Sacramento “with a street that looks exactly like Tianjin did,” Turrow marveled. “This street looks more like China than China does.”

Turrow left the speed- dating room smitten.

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bob.pool@latimes.com