Santa Clarita maps bigscreen 'Fun'

Santa Clarita garners most of its production revenue from television, holding location shots for skeins such as this one for 'CSI.'

Santa Clarita, Calif., looms large on the bigscreen. Columbia Pictures found the location ideal for many of its scenes during the remake of the 1977 feature pic "Fun With Dick and Jane."

Santa Clarita provided locations not found in L.A. proper just to the south as well as affording cast and crew the luxury of returning to their own beds at night.

"Fun With Dick and Jane" was one of more than 45 features shot in the Santa Clarita Valley. Others included "The Dukes of Hazzard," "War of the Worlds," "X-Men 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" Nos. 2 and 3.

Reporting more than 1,200 days of location filming to date in 2005, Santa Clarita's Film Office reports a 23% increase in the number of film permits issued for the first quarter of the 2005-06 fiscal year vs. last year.

Santa Clarita Valley, located in a 30-mile zone, reaps most of its production revenue from TV. HBO's "Deadwood," "NCIS," "The Unit," "Windfall" and "Big Love" are keeping the soundstages rolling, while "CSI" relocated but continues to shoot on location in the area, and "JAG" folded its production tent.

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Oregon's Production Investment Fund (OPIF) is paying filming dividends. Created by the state's governor, productions spending $1 million minimum receive a 10% rebate on expenditures.

"My first priority is to grow Oregon's economy, and that includes expanding the film industry in Oregon," Gov. Ted Kulongoski said.

Hallmark Hall of Fame, in addition to several other productions, is taking advantage of the program to lense its next telepic, "The Valley of Light," skedded to air in 2006 on CBS.

Pic, based on Terry Kay's novel, is exec produced by Richard Welsh ("Back When We Were Grownups"). Andrew Gottlieb will produce with Brent Shields, who will also direct. Scribe is Camille Thomasson ("The Magic of Ordinary Days"). Chris Klein and Gretchen Mol star.

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Film Liaisons in California (Flics) has stepped up its efforts to promote and retain film production in the state and further the common interests of all statewide local film offices.

With that goal in mind, Flics reorganized to form a nonprofit corporation in June. The collaboration, encompassing nearly 60 local film offices throughout California, will help promote various regions of the state, assist filmmakers and create a marketing strategy to attract productions to the state.

Amy Lemisch, director of the California Film Commission (CFC), and Ray Arthur, Flics Corp. chairman, solidified efforts with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Flics' nonprofit arm and the CFC at the latter org's quarterly board meeting in Beverly Hills.

"These two organizations have always had a positive and productive relationship," said Arthur, who also heads the Ridgecrest Regional Film Commission. "With increased competition from other states and countries, the diverse regions of the state must work together to help fight the flow of production out of the state."