Come film in my town! What do you need
by Brett Frame
on
Jun 25, 2009 at 7:48:16 pm
Hello All,
Not sure where to post this so I will start here. I live in Yuma, Arizona. Sunny all year. Winters are perfect. Summer it's HOT! Yuma has a long history with Hollywood. From the 20's-50's tons of movies were shot here for desert location stuff. The sand dunes for Star Wars IV and Return of the Jedi were here. As the years have gone by the filming has sloooowed down. The last major filming here was the movie Jar Head.
I would like to make Yuma a better destination for filmmakers, small budgets on up. What would encourage you to shoot in a certain location? We have deserts... but a number of places do. Is cheap help and tax breaks what you need? More resources once your here? i.e. soundstage and location areas? Close to L.A., 4 hours by car. Phoenix or San Diego only 180 miles away. 10 miles from Mexico. I know each script is different and needs different things but we would like to put our best foot forward as a resource for film makers. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Also, if you were looking for desert locations or western type prison sets, etc. How would you look for it? The internet, maybe a magazine ad? Where would be good places to get this info out to so that you can find it easily?
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by Noah Kadner on Jun 25, 2009 at 10:10:00 pm
Tax incentives/investment programs that meet or exceed what already exists out there from other states. Movies go where it's cheapest and most advantageous to make films. New Mexico happens to be cleaning up at this right now- best their best offer and you'll get folks lining up. Well maybe not for the ski movies....
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by David Jones on Jun 26, 2009 at 4:33:17 am
You may want to check out what Michigan is doing; major tax incentives, Michigan State University/Lansing Community College just starting a program to develop/train PA's (local hires) for Hollywood films shot in the state. It seems Michigan is getting more and more films made there.
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by Mark Suszko on Jun 26, 2009 at 1:56:42 pm
If all you ever promote is the desert, don't be surprised you don't get many films shot, unless they need that kind of location.
For Indie film makers, heck, for ANY film maker, good, cheap locations and varied locations are important; they reduce travel time and expense. You need to get people thinking about more than the sand. Look over your city architecture and interiors of buildings for locations that could work for many different kinds of stories. Offices. Hospitals. Jails. Factories. Restaurants. Hotels. Bus and train stations. Airports. Labs. Clubs and dance halls. Bowling alleys. Pools. Gardens. Old Military bases. Grocery stores. Vehicle collections of contemporary and period vehicles. And contacts for things like props and costumes.
Toronto has always done well because they have such a variety of architecture, you can pull off suggesting almost any location, so any script could theoretically be shot there. If you can compile a web site with a large variety of sets/locations and make it easy to do more kinds of stories, you're increasing your chances for success. This is what city and state film offices do.
Once you get all that compiled, run a small contest to produce a short using any of the locations you've found. Post the entries online. Now you have screen writers and producers looking at your locations in a new way.
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by Todd Terry on Jun 26, 2009 at 2:19:17 pm
Sadly, as others have mentioned, the big part of it comes down to money.... and there's probably not a whole heckuva lot you can do about that part.
My home state, Alabama, has some stunning film locations. Some things you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else (and I realize almost everyone else can truthfully say that about the places they live, too).
However, we have no tax or other monetary incentives for filmmakers. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Our state's "film commission" is virtually non-existent. I'm pretty sure it's just one guy in a folding chair at a card table in an unused utility closet in the statehouse. They might give him a telephone, not even sure about that.
Ergo, it's only once in a blue moon that we ever have a movie made here... even rarer for a major motion picture. I can practically count on one hand the legit big films that have done any shooting here in the last recent memory. Even films that are made about the stories, people, places, or things here are usually shot somewhere else. Money.
Our little company produces mostly broadcast commercials, and we handle a lot of political advertising. Each and every time we handle a candidate (or incumbent) that might be able to do something about it (governer, lieutenant gov, state representatives, senators) we always find some time during a shoot to quietly take him or her aside, explain the situation and the huge opportunities the state is missing, and beg them to do something about it.
They always seem enthusiastic, nod in agreement, and promise to "look into it."
Invariably, they never do.
Sigh.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by Brett Frame on Jun 26, 2009 at 3:36:07 pm
Thank you for the input. I have looked over Michigan and New Mexico's film commission sites and as you have all said... huge tax breaks or price breaks on labor, etc. The input here about looking past the desert is great advice. I plan to take a step back and see what other features may be a plus. I also found some great input on looking at other not shooting type resources that would be needed like where to go to for short-term lease office space, homes for living in, etc.
I keep getting stuff advertising shooting in Buenes Aires. That looks like a great place if you're looking for non-USA locations... you have Italian architecture, european... it's pretty wild.
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by David Jones on Jun 26, 2009 at 4:24:31 pm
Hey Brett-
I just wanted to ecco what Mark said about finding good selling points in your city other than the desert; here's an example: in Michigan there's a state prison (in Jackson, MI) that was closed last year (because of budget cuts to the state). Since then, I believe THREE Hollywood movies have been shot there! See if there's anything like that that only you have and get your states film office to "sell it" so to speak.
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by Eric Peterson on Jun 26, 2009 at 8:48:54 pm
Like Noah said, they go where it is the cheapest. North Carolina has a 15% tax incentive for films right now. Wilmington just lost a Disney movie last month to Georgia because their incentive was 30%. Wilmington has better facilities with Screen Gems studios and many local people to fill any position on a crew. The Legislature is looking to increase the incentive to 25% now.
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by Brett Frame on Jun 26, 2009 at 9:13:55 pm
Thanks for the input. Great information here. From this we have come up with a pretty creepy, older hotel here that would be great for a horror film. Someone could pretty much doing anything they wanted to it... short of blowing it up or burning it down. This has got us re-looking at building, locations etc. that we have walked past for years with out putting much thought into it.
As a note... I just saw a post that Arizona may cut back even further on Film Maker incentives. I guess every State can't be a film makers state? Anybody need any hot, dry summer air for their sound stage set? It is environmentally friendly, all organic. ship anywhere in the continental U.S. Minimum order of $10,000. :-)
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by Noah Kadner on Jun 29, 2009 at 4:51:49 pm
yeah thing is- location location location only works for renting an apartment. For movie makers- they could care less. It's all about the incentives- i.e. $$$.
Re: Come film in my town! What do you need by William Mims on Sep 24, 2009 at 1:54:09 pm
Brett: This is an old post so I doubt if you will see this, but I'll put in my two cents since my dad was the chaplain at YRMC for 17 years and I lived there as well for some time.
No one mentioned the L.A.411. That is where art departments and directors and producers go when considering locations. No one can top Texas' aggressive incentives for filmmakers. What Yuma has that you did not mention is ghost towns (Chocolate mts.) the proving grounds, Marine base, orange groves, etc. What film companies want are cheap motels rates at nice hotels (Stardust) and local savvy work force and most of all no charge police and fire help. Phil Clark used to be the mayor. Whoever it is now-start there.
