One of the red tape issues with filmmakers working in Los Angeles is the challenge that so many jurisdictions present when trying to film throughout the County of Los Angeles. Filmmakers spend valuable time coordinating different fire departments, law enforcement, permits, parking and other problematic issues that come up when working with different jurisdictions. This costs time, which translates to money. Filming can span many jurisdictions even in one day.
An advantage to filming in San Diego is the filmmaker can speak to one agency about locations that match the needs of the script. When evaluating a script for locations, if our beaches match the script, then having the ability to also lock down other locations in the same script such as Borrego Springs for the desert location, or Julian for the logging community, creates peace of mind to the location manager. This gives us the ability to solve many problems under one roof and saves time, energy and money. This is an attractive incentive to any customer.
For example, the feature film "Bring It On," starring Kirsten Dunst, needed many school campus locations for their cheerleading story. With one agency, the San Diego Film Commission, we were able to lock down all the schools in the county in a timely manner, which basically sold our region to the film. Thus we were able to secure the entire film for the San Diego region.
When jurisdictions are fragmented, producers see locations as individual concerns and they may consider Santa Monica for a beach location and go to San Francisco for hills. SDFC can present Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Imperial Beach, Oceanside and Mission Beach for the beach request. For the hills, we could present areas in San Diego and the various county locations. This would appeal to the filmmaker because he can solve his needs in close proximity. Film commissions that represent a city can only offer those limited locations within their city, and there the cooperation ends. Regional film commissions, like the SDFC, can offer a diverse list of locations to meet the needs of a story that might otherwise have to travel to many cities. With too many cities in close proximity, all boasting of having film commissions, they find themselves in competition for the same work and thus lose the ability to work together. Additionally, they compete for the same funding dollars from government, which fragments their efforts.
"Top Gun," starring Tom Cruise, was interested in Miramar as the main location for their feature film. In order to save time and money, Paramount was prepared to shoot the rest of the locations in Los Angeles. The locations were fairly generic. They included a locker room, a restaurant, beach house, street scene, volleyball beach scene, nightclub scene, jukebox scene as well as another house scene. However, the SDFC offered many options for those locations and convinced Paramount to film everything here in the San Diego region. The locker scene was filmed at the Plunge in Mission Beach, the beach house in Oceanside, the street scene with Cruise on his motorcycle was filmed on Laurel Street and the Kansas City Barbecue got their big break with the jukebox scene. Representing the entire region brought filming opportunities to many and created a cohesive set of locations within close proximity for the filmmaker.
In recognizing that our region must be cooperative as a single unit to attract this kind of business, the SDFC continues to promote all the unincorporated and incorporated areas by marketing them individually, as well as an entire region, faxing and e-mailing them regularly with requests for locations. We ask them for assistance in finding bizarre requests and we speak to their community groups about the importance of working together on film projects and sharing knowledge. By overseeing one project for the region we also have the advantage of seeing if there are problems with the production company's performance, or if there are any unpleasant concerns that we need to address to prevent more issues. There might be a pattern of behavior that starts to show up that we have an opportunity to correct or address.
The television series "Renegade," starring Lorenzo Lamas, was located in Everywhere USA. Each episode had Lorenzo moving around the country because he was "on the move." The show worked here because we could move the show all over the county with relative ease. The permit process was handled efficiently through our office. Episodic television preps for six days and films the episode in six working days. There is no time to stumble around red tape from too many jurisdictions. The incorporated cities that charge too much and are strangled with red tape are eliminated. Finding the best "look" for the project, as well as the most cost-effective locations, is always the choice that brings the most appreciation from our customer. Also, it would be too expensive to physically travel to so many different places in one week, but our county can double for many other places and be economically better for it in the end.
There is a business advantage for the commission in representing the San Diego region in its entirety for filming. Our credibility soars with our customers. San Diego in "The Chronicle," Palm Beach in "Silk Stalkings," San Francisco in "Nightman" and Hawaii in "Pearl Harbor."
Anderson has spent much of her life in theatre, writing and film production, as well as her role as film commissioner and CEO with the San Diego Film Commission.
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