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June 10, 2008
Hot Button - Run Run Run A Runaway...
I am always frustrated by feeling an issue is crystal clear… yet talking about it makes me sound like a bad guy.
But such is the nature of arguing that runaway production is, to a great extent, a non-issue when you look at the big picture.
Southern California is The Home Team… The Prohibitive Favorite… The Standard Bearer. It’s hard to maintain that position when the world wants to compete with you. There is no question that there is a benefit to other cities when the Hollywood circus comes to town. A movie is, in principle, a retail buyer.
Yes, they will make a deal with a hotel to pay less than the rack rate and get a discount at the hotel restaurant. But they will spend in ways that tourists and business travelers do not. And, obviously, when a movie shoots in a non-industry town, the entire cast & crew is renting housing for week after week, eating and drinking out for week after week, and spending on life’s needs for week after week. That is a lot difference in how a town is helped by a movie spending as opposed to the crew driving home to their houses in the Valley to have dinner with the wife and kids. A movie cast & crew out of town works its ass off… and is, in some ways, on a very long vacation.
Posted by dpoland at June 10, 2008 11:52 AM
Comments
I would agree on "the big picture" view to a certain extent. However, I would ask who is decrying runaway production? The studios don't really care. It's the unions and associated businesses that care. All the below the line people that aren't going to be transported to location care.
The problem with your asssesment of location shooting is that it seems focused on the principles (i never can remember right spelling). North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, New York, Boston all have good (and experienced) crews that can be hired locally.
So, is it in California's best interest to see that a craft services company in Los Angeles gets paid or a location craft services company gets paid?
Posted by: hendhogan ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 10, 2008 12:21 PM
I don't think the general concern is 'all production will leave California' as much as it is 'that one production that'll pay my bills this year will leave California'. From the macro to the micro.
Posted by: jeffmcm at June 10, 2008 01:02 PM
there's a lot of work on the east coast, and as a guy who makes his money off of 'runaway' production, let me say 'let them run'.
it's america. competition is fair game. we pass incentivies, get them to bring over smaller productions. It's been working great for the carolinas and louisianna who can barely seem to fill the positions sometimes. to be fair, this area rarely gets massive productions. we get small to midsize films looking for a break.
The Strangers, Nights in Rodanthe, HBO's forthcoming Little Britain U.S., Good Old Fashion Orgy, The Mark Pease Experience, Feast 2 and 3, Pulse 2 and 3...
You rarely see huge films come out this way. The Patriot is the one that pops to mind, and that was almost 10 years ago. There's enough for everyone, though i see the trend continuing with productions in L.A. still costing so much.
Posted by: anghus at June 10, 2008 03:00 PM
Pulse 2 and 3? Jesus.
Posted by: jeffmcm at June 10, 2008 03:22 PM
Shooting cheap Sci-Fi and comedies in BC means some productions get made that wouldn't otherwise. Canadian productions seem to be more edgy as well. I don't think Battlestar Galactica would have gone as close to the Iraq occupation or the "Coming Home" episode of Masters of Horror have been as edgy had they been shot in the U.S.
And don't forget X-files!
Posted by: doug r at June 10, 2008 09:05 PM
i haven't read the piece yet (gotta go to work in a sec), but I've always found it a bit rich when people from LA cry foul about losing their jobs to runaway productions. Don't the people who are getting jobs in the cities they're "running away" to deserve jobs, too? Like the Ugly Betty situation. Especially considering the show is set in NYC, why shouldn't NYC crews get the jobs?
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at June 10, 2008 09:21 PM
Kami:
I don't think it's a matter of "crying foul." Nobody is saying runaway production is unfair. But considering the budget crisis in California, you'd think the people in charge (in both the Executive and Legislative branches) would be interested in keeping the money in California.
Posted by: hendhogan at June 11, 2008 11:28 AM
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