City wants screen test

Get ready, Surf City. This could be your big break.

City officials, hoping to put Huntington Beach on the big screen,

are launching a marketing campaign to lure in more Hollywood

producers

On Monday, the council approved a contract with the Huntington

Beach Conference and Visitor’s Bureau that includes a 60% funding

increase from last year.

The contract sets aside $25,000 for the creation of a film

location database, intended to encourage film producers and location

scouts to shoot more movies in Huntington Beach.

Bureau boss Doug Traub said his agency will create a website

compiling all the potential film production sites in the city and

then market the site to film scouts, movie producers, television

executives and advertising agents.

The site will include pictures of places such as the Huntington

Beach Pier, downtown Huntington Beach, Central Park and possibly the

Bolsa Chica wetlands. The site would also include downloadable film

permits and city department contacts.

There are several hidden gems Hollywood producers could find

useful, said film location manager and Huntington Beach resident John

Robinson of LBLocations.com.

“Around Lake Street and around the park, there are neighborhoods

without palm trees that capture that Anytown, U.S.A., atmosphere,” he

said.

The city’s municipal gym and swimming pool are also good

locations, capturing the all-American feel popular in sports movies,

Community Services Director Jim Engle said.

“We were historically sensitive in the renovation of those

buildings,” Engle said. “It creates a very unique environment to film

in.”

The city collects about $500 a day in permits for film production

in Huntington Beach, as well as fees for police and fire support and

other services. In 2003 the city brought in about $18,000 in film

permits, Engle said. After a year of more aggressive marketing, the

figure rose to $34,000 in 2004.

The city argues the bigger benefit to filming in town is the money

spent locally. In 2002, the most recent year for which figures were

available, Hollywood film and television producers spent $11 million

in Huntington Beach, according to Orange County Film Commissioner

Janice Arrington. The industry also generated about $22 million in

payroll for residents living in the city and commuting to Hollywood

or Burbank.

Over the past 12 months, shows such as “Nanny 911” and HBO’s “Curb

Your Enthusiasm” have filmed on location in Huntington Beach. “CSI:

Miami” once taped an episode in Huntington Beach, and in its heyday

“Baywatch” filmed scenes in Surf City, Engle said.

Huntington Beach’s proximity to Hollywood makes it a perfect

location for film production, Traub said.

“If you don’t hear about it word-of-mouth or live in Huntington

Beach, you don’t know about it,” he said.

“We don’t even exist on the horizon for Hollywood producers

looking to film.”

But location is the main reason Huntington Beach gets snubbed,

Robinson said.

Huntington Beach exists outside of “the zone,” an

insider-designated radius around Hollywood that dictates where movies

get shot.

The center of the ring is the headquarters for the Director’s

Guild of America in Hollywood.

From there it stretches in a 30-mile radius in all directions,

ending near Long Beach in the south, just short of Huntington Beach.

Most union movies and television shows must add big labor and

transportation costs for movies filmed outside of the zone, Robinson

said.

“It’s a significant increase in costs,” Robinson said.

“Most of these people are in Burbank. They would rather go to

Camarillo or Santa Clarita rather than drive all the way out to

Huntington Beach. The stigma is that it’s a long way to drive out to

Long Beach. It’s just the culture,” he said.

Huntington Beach needs to market unique film locations that are

accessible and can accommodate a film production team, he said.

“If the location calls for it, and they need it, they’ll go for

it,” Robinson said. “But they’ll look at everything nearby first.”

The city also needs to streamline its film permitting process,

Robinson said, so that it can turn around permit requests in less

than three days.

“They also need a film liaison,” Robinson said. “Someone who knows

film. Someone that knows enough about the industry and the city to

tell directors, ‘A good location would be here.’”

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