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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| L.A. Mayor Declares State of 'Emergency' As Movie, TV Production Flees Hollywood |
| 2013-08-27 |
| These days studio chiefs insist that filmmakers they work with take advantage of out-of-state incentives to lower production costs, which on a single major motion picture can amount to savings of tens of millions. Those savings are crucial in a franchise-obsessed era when big-budget movies commonly cost north of $200 million to produce, while on the revenue side the DVD market has largely collapsed and cinema attendance has been generally flat over the past decade. In the current climate, most independent projects would not even be produced without incentives. Heh Hollywood, California is broke, how about paying your fair share. Hey look! Someone killed the golden goose! It is no longer a given that Hollywood is the place where movies and TV shows are produced. The California Film Commission recently released a sobering report concluding that the state "continues to experience a pronounced erosion of this signature industry." Although the state's incentive program has recaptured lower-budgeted features, TV movies and basic cable dramas, California is losing out big on network TV dramas and feature films. Many local businesses that support production have closed or been forced to lay off workers, and the trade unions report high levels of unemployment among their California members, according to the study. When a truck driver working at a Hollywood studio makes well into six figures it shouldn't be a surprise production costs are high and unemployment is on the rise. Here's an example of Hollywood Union Rules: You have a set with a couch and at each side is a end table. On the left end table is a lamp which is plugged into a extension cord at the center rear of the couch. The Director decides he wants the lamp moved to the right end table. Here are the steps: 1. A Gaffer comes onto the set and unplugs the lamp from the extension cord and leaves. 2. A Grip comes onto the set and moves the lamp to the other end of the couch and leaves. 3. The Gaffer returns to the set and plugs the lamp back into the extension cord. Makes sense to me! |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #20 The thing is California has brilliant weather for exteriors and all that. To really replace Hollywood you need something similar. If you take Mexico Highway 1 south from the border( I-5 runs right into it) about 30 miles Fox has a big studio complex right on the beach. there is a pirate ship and Hornet sitting there, and several town main street kind of sets are visible. and costs are way less there...... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2013-08-27 23:51 |
| #19 Whyte action guys are too 70's Richard, too lame. The authority figures and action heroes of today must be harvested from a more diverse gene pool. Let the old Hollywood codgers sell gold coins or reverse mortgages. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-08-27 15:01 |
| #18 The thing is California has brilliant weather for exteriors and all that. To really replace Hollywood you need something similar. Australia should be giving major incentives. Half the action parts these days go to Aussies because so many of our own action guys are old or pansys here. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2013-08-27 14:44 |
| #17 I'm just waiting for all the entertainment industry is driven from CA. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2013-08-27 13:59 |
| #16 It is much more expensive to do business in CA due to the high cost of everything, but the State has made the hoops and expenses to coordinate a production in CA so high and extensive that it is a well known state to avoid unless the location demands it |
| Posted by: 746 2013-08-27 13:19 |
| #15 Hey, how about a remake of "Singin' in the Rain" with Miley Cyrus twerking her heart out and Lady GaGa as the entrenched Silent Movie queen? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-08-27 13:14 |
| #14 Avatard was a remake of Fern Gulley, except with worse acting and less plot suspense. I know people painted themselves as the bastard children of Azrael and Smurfette but the film was easier to call than 411. Your product sucks when the Butler is winning weekends, and that I already know what the movie is without anything other than half attention previews. And the kids, they'll have their next-gen hi-def surround-sound virtual-teammate zombie-apocolypse madness to play. The industry, their goal is What Movie do we Remake to get the fans back? There have been movies I thought were ok after seeing them - not $50 ok, but you know loading the dishwasher ok, the last one I had to see was Act of Valor. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-08-27 12:28 |
| #13 Gone - flitted away, Taken the stars from the night and the sun From the day! Gone, and a cloud in my heart. ~Alfred Tennyson |
| Posted by: Flamble and Tenille1305 2013-08-27 11:45 |
| #12 Avatard was horrible. H-Wood just could not provide entertainment, they also had to provide an environmentalist and anti-military message. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-08-27 11:36 |
| #11 Blame Jar Jar. With the trend of virtual movie sets the only thing holding back film makers from other locations is capital and talent. Seriously, any video game company could have made this upcoming space thriller staring miss congeniality and the nippled batman. Put in a talented ju-co pair without the typecasting baggage and we have a thiller instead of two rich has-beens yelling at each other for two hours. Shit, Bruce Cambell would have been a better choice. Its no wonder the FAG wants dues paid for virtual actors. If the establishment in hollywood thinks that people would rather spend $50 and three hours to see batman just because its batman instead of playing the latest video game system, or actually socializing or reading, they are doomed. BTW, Avatard is horrible. Every critter on that planet breathes through its chest or something except the knobby. What are they, the platapus people or something? The sole outlier of that planet's evolution? Aliens was better, and its so campy Allan West was embarassed to watch it. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-08-27 10:48 |
| #10 Most of Anchorman 2 was filmed in the lovely ATL Local hoodlums stealing the wiring for the set probably won't be on any Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau publications, though |
| Posted by: Beavis 2013-08-27 10:21 |
| #9 What is a lower budget feature; Sydney Leathers? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-08-27 09:57 |
| #8 The California Film Commission recently released a sobering report concluding that the state "continues to experience a pronounced erosion of this signature industry." High costs and goofy politics? Hollywood largely makes movies for lefty consumption. Others boycott much of this trash. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-08-27 09:46 |
| #7 Sounds like a good place to retire. Good fields of fire, etc. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-08-27 09:40 |
| #6 Albuquerque is bordered on the north and south by the Sandia and Isleta reservations. Have to drive through them to get to non-res land. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-08-27 09:38 |
| #5 ...off the Res ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-08-27 09:30 |
| #4 ...south of Albuquerque, beyond the Res |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-08-27 09:28 |
| #3 P2k, does that imply that you live in NM? My eldest son & family live in Santa Fe, hence the query. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-08-27 09:09 |
| #2 What the heck, I don't have to shave and it gets me out of the house. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-08-27 08:47 |
| #1 Just trying to do our part. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-08-27 08:41 |