Conquest of the Planet of the Film Commission Subsidy

When a government agency is on the chopping block, you can almost count on a MSM story outlining the supposed consequences - almost uniformly negative -- of pulling one more leech off the taxpayer corpus.

Yesterday, the OC Register ran a story about the impending end of $60,000 subsidy from Orange County taxpayers.

The article includes a laundry list of movies that have been filmed in OC -- albeit with the glaring omission of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, which was filmed almost entirely in OC -- on the UC Irvine campus and the now-vanished Fashion Square shopping center in Santa Ana. 

But I digress.

According to OC Film Commission proponents, there's an urgent need for an organization or individual to match locations scouts with locations in OC and assist them with the permitting process in different cities.

To me, that sounds like a business opportunity rather than a government subsidy opportunity.

If location scout really are in dire need of such assistance, might I suggest Janice Arrington, the "county's sole film commissioner" according to the OCR article, negotiate some kind of business arrangement with these location scouts to provide this assistance for a fee. If the demand is really there, surely these locations scouts will collectively pay $60,000 a year for a service that would simplify their jobs.

And if such demand doesn't exist -- and unless the OC Film Commission can land a Conquest re-make filmed on the UCI campus --  all the more reason to end this subsidy and remove government from an area it has absolutely no business being in.

Comments

[Seven Kinds of Smoke]

There is already a business model for it. The Nikkon Building on the 133 between the 5 and the 405 pimps out their digs regularly. It has been featured in View from the Top ( Very B movie featuring Gwenyth Patrow and Mike Meyers)and more recently, it had a leading role in You, Me and Dupree as the HQ for Thompson Land Development.

[Dan Chmielewski]

It was in Dodgeball too, as Globalgym. Matt, do you like movies? Do you like them made here? There are film commissions in other parts of the country playing an active role in getting Hollywood to film in their cities. What about the jobs these productions creat and services rendered to studios by local businesses. You aren't seeing the big picture here at all.

[Seven Kinds of Smoke]

I am going to have to watch Dodgeball again.

I would bet my right pinky toe that the studios use LA based labor for the production that is done here in OC. Perhaps some caterers get some extra work but I doubt seriously that there is a lot of job creation from the handful of movies shot here. You would also have to off set the cost to public safety a shoot may cause (streets blocked off, etc.) I say pull the plug.

[on the inside]

third individual from the left on the second photo,,,isnt that mike schroeder

[Rifleshot]

Union rules were a major factor in nixing the Tustin blimp hangers use as a movie studio. Something about the maximum distance a production facility can be located from the L.A. area.

[Jim]

I've seen great behind-the-scenes photos from the filming of Conquest - like the actors eating in a UCI cafeteria in full ape costume.

What is it about liberals thinking the free market can't accomplish anything without government involvement?

[Pat]

That's right, Rifleshot. Actors, extras, and other crew are unionized, and if they have to drive over so-many miles outside the studio area, they get a bump (extra pay), so that's a consideration. Also, it's too expensive for TV to come here because they are on such a title schedule as it is that they would never get the show shot if they had to drive down here.

[Chip Ahlswede]

It is called the thirty mile zone, and it is from the cross streets of Beverly and La Cienega

http://www.filmlainc.com/html/interactive_30-mile_zone_map.html

however more interesting is to see the original map as agreed to in 1976 -

http://www.film.ca.gov/ttca/pdfs/link_overview/cfc/30MileMap.pdf

There are several freeways absent from this map, the map includes several properties that are "outside the zone" that are considered to be included in the zone, and it has never really been updated.

I would be willing to bet that had the hangars been sold directly to a studio, or if a studio were to open in Orange County, this map, or the agreement could be amended.

A reasonable argument could be made that the consideration that led to the creation of this agreement (travel to remote locations and the expenses involved with such a production), has changed, and that the map should be amedned to allow further distances.

[Dan Chmielewski]

Other movies left out of the Register story include "Defending Your Life," "Small Soliders," and "Brick"

Was the movie "Orange County" even filmed here?

[Allan Bartlett]

They also filmed "Demolition Man" in Irvine. The movie was shot over by the Taco Bell Headquarters and the old Flour Daniel complex.