Kern making it in movies ? if record-breaking 2008 is an indication

Feb 20, 2009 (The Bakersfield Californian - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TRC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- It's a tad too early to speculate whether the "Star Trek" prequel will get anywhere near the awards shows next year, but Kern County doesn't need the red carpet to strut its stuff.

After all, we've got the insider gossip: Spock's home world of Vulcan is actually Tejon Ranch.

The buzzworthy "Trek" movie set for a May release pumped cash into the local economy when crews came to Kern last year to shoot major scenes.

"Trek" was just one Hollywood production that helped smash an economic record last year, says Kern County assistant film commissioner Dave Hook. He's charged with the task of attracting productions to the county's varied landscapes.

In turn, that gives local businesses such as hotels and caterers the chance to make some cash by offering services to the cast and crew.

The local economic impact of "Star Trek" was estimated at a little more than $2 million, but Will Ferrell's "Land of the Lost," due in June, injected $6.5 million into the economy.

Thanks to those films, plus an upcoming TV miniseries called "Meteor: Path to Destruction" starring Stacy Keach and the film "Fast & Furious," revenue generated by film production in Kern County hit $23.7 million last year, a 45 percent increase from 2007 and a record-breaker despite the recession and the threat of union work stoppage in Hollywood.

The "Land of the Lost" crew built sets in the Trona Pinnacles in San Bernardino County but rented hotel rooms in eastern Kern. They stayed a total of 39 days, which brought in more money than the eight days logged in Kern by the "Trek" crew.

The film commission saw 218 productions head to Kern County last year, including TV shows, documentaries, educational videos, commercials, industrial projects and music videos -- one by pop artist Pink.

In 2007, 214 projects were shot here, most of them small fish. That year's big catch was "Iron Man," starring Robert Downey Jr.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

So how exactly do film commissions come up with a number that estimates how much location shooting contributes to the economy?

Hook says the Association of Film Commissioners International created a formula based on industry standards that takes into account the size of a cast and crew and independent versus studio production, among other factors.

For example, a feature film with a union cast and crew of 21 to 60 people will spend an estimated $125,000 per day, Hook says. A high-budget movie could easily spend a quarter million a day.

Property rentals, lodging and food are the first local services that come to mind, but small incidentals add up.

For example, on "Star Trek," a sequence shot at Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area called for a car to burn rubber. The studio hired a Bakersfield company to steam clean the tire marks off the road between takes.

The commission often provides the studios a list of local businesses, which are contacted directly by the studio.

"Trek" production staff were in the county on and off for four months. A portion of Spock's boyhood home was built in Tejon Ranch. When we first meet Captain Kirk as a young man, he's riding a classic car out by Buena Vista. The cliff he comes across is a CGI effect.

"Fast & Furious" spent a day filming a stunt sequence of a rolling bus on Edmonston Pumping Plant Road in Lebec. Over the course of 36 hours they spent a quarter of a million dollars, Hook says.

REELING THEM IN

Most of the time Hook doesn't get to rub elbows with the stars. His job involves phone work, coordinating with property owners and studio location managers. His office is the cinematic version of a dating Web site, he jokes.

The office markets itself through its Web site, participates in industry events and trade shows, and works closely with the California Film Commission to get Kern's name out to location managers.

Several states, including New York, Virginia, and New Mexico, and countries such as Canada offer incentives to attract productions, such as rebates for hiring crew members from the area.

To compete, the Kern commission advertises the county as 8,200 square miles of geographically diverse landscapes, all within a three-hour drive from Los Angeles.

Kern County doesn't charge for filming permits or the use of its roads. And Hook says local services are cheaper than those in Los Angeles.

"We have to convince L.A.-based people that our locations are unique enough to make it worth the trip up here, and the relatively low cost of doing business makes up for incentives elsewhere," he says.

Sometimes movie buffs call his office to find out where their favorite movie scenes were shot. Fans of "Erin Brockovich" visit Boron Park to sit on Julia Roberts' bench. The town meeting scene was filmed in Boron's community center.

The Twenty Mule Team Museum created an exhibit with photos from the shoot. The staff didn't plan to keep it up more than two or three years after the shoot, says docent Jean Hollopeter, but it became a permanent display.

"People are still interested when they come in," she says.

Sometimes fans are out of luck because their favorite scene was filmed on private property, Hook says.

Reputation and familiarity breed business. When crews become familiar with the area, they're more likely to return.

"Brockovich" director Steven Soderbergh and his location manager returned to eastern Kern to shoot scenes for "Ocean's Thirteen." A Mexican factory in the film is actually an old graphite plant in Rosamond.

"That's always the crack-up for me, to watch a scene that's in this area and they're telling me this factory is in Mexico," he says. "No, it's not."

So has he lost the all-important suspension of disbelief when he goes to the movies?

"It doesn't spoil it, but it could be a film that isn't shot here," he says. "I go to the movies religiously. In the back of my mind, (I think), 'Where did they film that and, oh, why didn't they film here?'"

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