• The Downtown Hard Rock Hotel hosted the biggest local film industry event of the year in November when it collaborated with the San Diego Film Commission (SDFFC) to premiere the new “San Diego Film & Video Resource Guide.” More than 350 industry professionals networked and celebrated the new 2011 guide that promotes our local film industry to global film production. Last year, more than 51 million direct dollars were spent in our economy by the film industry. There are more than 5,000 different types of jobs associated with the film, video and print business. Thousands of local jobs are created by this industry. • Our new TV series titled “Terriers” was unexpectedly canceled after one season by the FX Network. Ocean Beach and downtown were featured as locations in this very edgy show that starred Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James. Twentieth Century Fox loved working in our city and plans to work here again. We are waiting for the next scout! • Lifetime Network finished filming a portion of a pilot that “reads” San Diego. Although they filmed primarily in Atlanta due to the cost-saving film incentives they were offered, we do hope to have the series filmed here if they get picked up. • December tends to be a slower month for production since so many people start making plans for the holidays. However, business was steady this year with several travel films being shot to promote our city for tourism. Saigon TV spent three days capturing sights downtown in the Gaslamp Quarter, Balboa Park and the Embarcadero. The San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau had a big project filming in downtown areas, as well as Balboa Park, and Port areas to promote San Diego as a tourist destination, as well as to have it viewed by the Professional Convention Management Association members throughout the coming year. • We have had several reality shows working throughout San Diego. “Home Made Simple” shot some downtown areas for its TLC show that promotes the expertise of its handyman and designer. As the holidays neared, projects were on hold until after the first of January. Scouts are being planned and we are busy reading scripts. The SDFC receives scripts (on-going) from TV projects as well as feature film projects. We are asked to read them and let the filmmaker know if San Diego can accommodate their project. We will break down the scripts by days of filming, locations needed, evaluate stunts, pyrotechnical stunts, use of weapons and community impact. Sometimes we will scout some locations to see if we, in fact, have what they are looking for and we may check with law enforcement and fire officials to see if any of the storyline could be problematic. Next, we try to lure the location manager or scout to San Diego for a look. We will try to create a workable budget for them so that San Diego works within their budget needs. The script becomes a road map of what the production wants to film and their goals in achieving their end result. Stephen, a SDFC staff person, is presently reading a murder mystery that takes place in a remote forest location. He is trying to decide if we have locations that work for this project, as well as determining what needs to be done to lessen risk during the murder scene. For example, what kind of weapon are they using, what action takes place, are stunt professionals needed, is a weapons master needed and how we collaborate with law enforcement and fire to make this scene safe? It is our careful oversight of each project that continues to keep production safe and our community safe. — Cathy Anderson is the president and CEO of the San Diego Film Commission, and film commissioner of San Diego. Anderson has earned a national reputation for developing programs to foster the growth of the production industry in the region and for making San Diego “Hollywood South.”
