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FeedInterview with Janice Arrington
Read our in-depth Q&A with the Orange County Film Commissioner, who talks about long days, troubled nights and big business in Hollywood South.
By Terence Loose
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Photo By Ralph Palumbo |
N
eed a hangar to build a fleet of space ships? Or how about a historic courthouse for a good old fashioned criminal trial? Or a pristine beach for a vacation? Janice Arrington will hook you up. That is, if you’re a location scout for anything from a small commercial to a studio blockbuster. As OC’s first and only film commissioner – she opened the station in 1999 – she has helped bring Hollywood south, which also brings money to local coffers.It isn’t always easy, however. She competes with other states and countries that offer major tax incentives and Orange County’s location outside the “studio zone.” The one thing she has going for her (besides a former career in the industry) is OC’s diversity and beauty. And that has kept the cameras rolling.
How did you get involved in the movie business?
I love storytelling, which is why I majored in English and literature in college. For the same reason, I loved to watch movies and television shows.
What was your way into the industry?
I became a Directors Guild trainee. A program hosts you for two years, which allows you to work under different directors on films and TV productions for every major Hollywood studio. So I worked on TV shows such as “L.A. Law” and “Cheers,” “Columbo,” “The Wonder Years,” and movies like Menace II Society, Honey I Blew Up the Kid, and For Richer, for Poorer with Jack Lemmon. It was an exciting time, especially since I also did distant location shooting. So, for instance, for a month I lived in the Golden Nugget Hotel.
Was it tough to get in to the program?
Location, Location, LocationThanks to its great weather and proximity to Hollywood, Orange County has been a star in many studio movies. Here’s a partial list:Star Trek (not yet released) |
There were 18 picked out of more than 1,000 applications.
So then what?
When I completed the program I was invited into the Directors Guild as an assistant director, so my work for six years was as an assistant director. But that’s when the film commissioner job came along in 1999, and it was too good an opportunity to turn down.
It wasn’t very glamorous when it started, though.
No. I was a one-person office and had a $50,000 budget.
Why is a film commission so important?
Basically for economic development, which is why every county in California and every state has a film commission. It’s the first call location scouts make because it saves time and money. And when a film production comes to your area, they spend a lot of money on everything from hotel rooms and food to off-duty police and firemen to the location and permit fees. On top of that, you get that wonderful promotion that comes with a film and is so good for tourism, which of course brings even more money.
What city is used most?
Newport Beach. There’s a very high amount of TV commercials and interviews for, say, the BBC. They’ll often shoot it on the beach in Newport.
But those aren’t the biggest moneymakers.
No. Our biggest moneymakers are the studio feature films. When you have, say, a Semi-Pro, which shot in Anaheim for a few days, or Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon, which shot in San Clemente’s Western White House and the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda so they could use the mockup of the East Room as the White House, it means a lot of money. Especially since feature film production companies usually stay for at least a few days.
How much are we talking?
The range is estimated as $125,000 to over $200,000 per day deposited into the local economy. For instance, when Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can filmed in the Santa Ana courthouse, they didn’t want to ship down a bunch of lumber from L.A., so they bought it locally. Rush Hour 3 also bought a lot of supplies, and Jackie Chan bought a lot of souvenirs from Home Depot of all places to bring back to China.
What makes Orange County so attractive to film companies?
One of the best things is its variety of locations. We’ve got beaches, harbors, parks, rural hillsides, cityscapes, small Anywhere USA locations, Spanish historic districts, bright modern buildings, an airport, the convention center, college campuses – almost everything. And then there are places to build sets. For instance, the upcoming Star Trek built their Star Fleet in the Tustin blimp hangars.
Film production is notoriously challenging. How do you help?
Film directors have said shooting a movie is like going to war. You have massive supply lines and you start before dawn and go until well after sunset. There are always unexpected problems and a lot of people have to work as a team. So, part of my job is to help troubleshoot.
For example?
Recently, Eagle Eye, a huge summer blockbuster from DreamWorks and starring Shia LaBeouf, needed to do some major stunts that involved huge explosions, cars rolling and gunfire, all of which had to take place at night. We directed them to Irvine’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater since it’s not near homes and has a huge parking lot for the stunts. But then we found that sound carries over the local hills more than originally thought and there was also a sound limit. So we had to quickly find a new location or lose the production. We had the city manager, the head of police, fire, and others all involved and finally worked it out so they moved to the El Toro Air Base.
But then, ironically, “The OC” was shot mostly in L.A.
Yes, mainly for budget reasons. They did come down to get some beauty shots and also used the [Sea Cliff Country Club] in Huntington Beach.
Why is Orange County more expensive than L.A.?
There is a 30-mile studio zone that’s been in place for more than 50 years. It’s a union protection zone and was formed so that people who were working long hours and were sent far distances would get transportation costs, lodging and a per diem. But we do have eight-and-a-half cities in the zone, so that helps.
Are TV shows or feature films more trouble-prone?
Personally, there was nothing as grueling as working on an hourly episodic television show. The days are long in feature films, but even longer on a television episodic. You’re shooting pages and pages every day as opposed to a feature film where you may only shoot a page in a day. And that’s why we have to be so prepared when TV shows come to town. They don’t have time for plan B if plan A falls apart. Plus, film crews have months to scout whereas the TV crews might only have a lead time of a week to find locations.
You’ve been involved with the Newport Beach Film Festival since its start. How and why?
Dana Point Harbor was used as the calm seas port in The Perfect Storm. And when that was going on, Gregg Schwenk was creating the Newport Film Festival [with publicist Todd Quartararo]. At the same time, I was creating the new film commission and there was also a media alliance beginning. We all wanted to promote Orange County as either a filming location or tourism location, so I joined the film festival board. Plus, I love discovering new movies and unknown filmmakers.
Why did the festival become so popular so quickly?
One thing is the fact that it’s so close to Hollywood. We’re also renowned for our incredible resorts and as a great place to vacation. It’s like going to Cannes in terms of the weather and the harbor and amenities. In fact, many of the films that premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival went on to Cannes.
What are you most proud of representing Orange County to Hollywood?
Every one of our 34 cities has had some production expenditures. I’m very proud of that.
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