SDCVB Working with Motion Picture Industry to Prom
By Joanne DiBona
Movie making has been the source of fantasy and dreams for the past 100 years. The glamour and aura of Hollywood weave a powerful spell. For San Diego in particular, some two hundred miles to Hollywood's south, it is one that works its own brand of economic magic on the region's visitor industry.
Hosting film crews is nothing new to the San Diego region. Back in 1911, the first soundstage in California was built in the city of La Mesa (known then as the "Film Capital of the West"), located in the rolling foothills a few miles east of downtown San Diego.
In 1976, San Diego became the first city in the world to create a film commission. The San Diego Film Commission, a nonprofit economic development program funded in large part by San Diego's transient occupancy tax, has been highly successful in enticing film makers to the region, which now ranks as the third largest film capital in the nation behind Los Angeles and New York City.
Three movies filmed in San Diego--Traffic, Almost Famous and The Cell--recently achieved Academy Award status. San Diego's plethora of sights, attractions and natural wonders, ranging from 70 miles of beaches to alpine mountains to rugged desert, provided the backdrop for feature films such as Top Gun, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, True Lies, K-9 and The Hunt for Red October. Currently, there are also three television series shot in San Diego, as well as numerous television movies and independent features filmed annually throughout the county.
The exposure San Diego receives from setting the stage for feature films and television series is worth its weight in gold, according to the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau.
In addition to the $67 million in economic impact generated by the motion picture industry locally, having the eyes of the world on San Diego--larger than life on the silver screen--is invaluable publicity for the region.
"There's no question that our visitor industry benefits whenever scenes of San Diego's natural beauty are incorporated in major films and in television shows," said Reint Reinders, president and CEO of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau. "For example, after the popular movie Top Gun was released a few years ago, we noted a surge in visitor inquiries from moviegoers who were inspired to take a trip to San Diego after viewing the film. Interest in touring military bases also increased dramatically as a result." Reinders added.
The Travel Industry Association (TIA) confirms this fact. In 1999, 5.1 million U.S. adults selected a vacation destination because of a movie or TV show they saw, according to TIA statistics. These travelers are also younger (37 years) and more affluent ($81,000 average annual household income) than the national average. They also tend to be married, male, completed college, have children in the household and work in a professional or managerial occupation. They are, in short, the ideal affluent vacationer.
According to Reinders, there is also an appreciable amount of tourism business generated by the film industry itself. "Countless out-of-town production professionals here on assignment have returned to San Diego to vacation, bringing their families with them, staying in our hotels, dining in our restaurants, visiting our attractions, and shopping at local businesses."
In one recent example, a whole community in San Diego got an unprecedented economic shot in the arm thanks to the motion picture industry. The San Diego Film Commission successfully wooed the poducers of the "X-files" to film their opening season episode at the end of the summer in Borrego Springs (a resort community located in the Anza-Borrego desert, an hour east of downtown San Diego). This kept five hotels and countless numbers of businesses open during what is usually a very hot--and "off"--period for this desert community.
Owing to its natural beauty, popular attractions, and cultural offerings, the San Diego region is also a popular subject for travel media from around the world. The San Diego CVB's national public relations department works closely with the San Diego Film Commission to streamline the process of producing travel programs about the region. This includes the Commission's help in arranging permits and coordinating logistics at various city and public locations.
The subject matter for these films is as varied as San Diego's landscape. Some recent travel programs shot in San Diego include Food Nation on the Food Network, Atmospheres on the Weather Channel and Scottish Passport, a travel program broadcast in Scotland.
National convention and meeting planners have also discovered that the glamour of the movie industry makes for a unique and exciting special events venue. Stu Segall Productions, producer of popular television shows such as Silk Stalkings, Renegade and Pensacola, boasts six sound stages on 11 acres and is the major working television and film studio in San Diego County.
In an effort to tap San Diego's lucrative convention market, Stu Segall Productions has launched its "Backlot San Diego" division, designed to offer convention planners a unique and personalized party venue. Planners are invited to work with the company's creative and technical staff to utilize in-house production services (props, wardrobe, stunt, art, special effects and pyro-tech, to name a few) to create an unforgettable "Hollywood" experience for their clients. They have also designed special group tours of the facility, where participants can get a close-up look at how films are made.
Another "Hollywood" experience awaits those visitors who venture a few miles south of San Diego's border to Rosarito in Baja California. Home to the historic Rosarito Beach Hotel, favorite vacation spot for countless numbers of Hollywood stars in the '20s and '30s, this seaside town will open its movie studio attraction, "Foxploration," to the public this summer.
Best known for the production of the epic film Titanic, Fox Studios Baja will offer visitors the opportunity to go behind the scenes at a real working movie studio to learn firsthand about the production process in an entertaining and interactive way. The tour features a Titanic exhibit that displays the actual props, sets and costumes from the film. Visitors can also walk down "Canal Street" New York, an actual movie set depicting a typical lower Manhattan street. The movie studio is also available to convention planners for tours and special events.
The San Diego region has definitely reached "star status," thanks to the synergy created through cooperative efforts between the San Diego CVB and the region's dynamic Film Commission and its member affiliates.
