OCR Text |
Show & & Filmmakers love our state & n (nil i i I " JALjrJUlJ i ' ILA. Vv JLA.A2LJ1. By TOM HARALDSEN Filmmaking has come a long way in the state of Utah, from the 1914 productions of "Big Heart" and "Bond Makes Good," to the start of filming next week of "Halloween IV" in Salt Lake City. In between, the Beehive State, and almost every part of it, has been the scene of numerous numer-ous westerns, airplane disasters, disas-ters, nature films, Biblical epics and television variety shows. It seems that in recent years, producers have selected Utah largely because of true events that did happen here i.e., the Gary Gilmore and Francis Schroeder stories. But as in the heyday of the Westerns, when southern Utah was used almost year round, the art of filmmaking filmmak-ing is alive and well today. In 1975, the state of Utah formed its own film development develop-ment office, and Utah Film Development De-velopment is a leader in its field nationwide. In fact, it was in Moab in the 1950's that the nation's na-tion's first such office was cre ated. Today, the Moab Film Commission still functions and solicits producers of everything from magazine ads to commercial commer-cial television productions. Lawrence Smith, executive in charge of Producer Services for the UFD, stated that last year, over $22 million poured into the state's economy thanks to filmmaking in Utah. Half of that amouht, he added, was the result of work done by local production pro-duction companies who often are hired by producers filming here. "Moab was the first to really see the potential of such development de-velopment offices," he stated. "The industry has grown to rely on our office to act as the liaison for them." UFD does much of the preliminary pre-liminary work for producers, scouting locations and often preparing four or five packets a day of pictures of possible locations loca-tions for shoots. It's not uncommon, uncom-mon, he said, for a studio to work with VFD on a production for two or three years before actually starting filming. Currently UFD operates with a four-member crew and a budget of about $200,000 a year. When a $22 million return results, re-sults, the investment seems pretty small, and worthwhile. UFD is part of the state's Community Com-munity and Economic Development Develop-ment program, and is reaching new successes each year. "We have a lot of production . companies coming back every year," Smith stated. "They like what they see in Utah, and not all film commission offices enjoy en-joy the kind of relationship we have with filmmakers." In a highly competitive business busi-ness like filmmaking, Smith said Utah offers several advantages. "We have a good reputation for our talent pool, both in terms of actors and actresses and in production crews. There's also a tremendous diversity of scenery scen-ery here, from deserts to mountains. moun-tains. And our close proximity to Los Angeles helps a lot. An hour on a plane and you can be here," he stated. If the state has any limitations, limita-tions, it's in convincing filmmakers film-makers who've never been here that "we aren't over-hyping what we've got. They often find it hard to believe that we can offer so many different locations loca-tions and a strong local work force to get the job done." Since its inception, UFD has helped create almost $150 million mil-lion in income from film produc-" produc-" iiort. The number of local-actors -and extras being hired is ever-increasing. ever-increasing. When "At Mother's Request" was filmed here in 1987, over 55 speaking parts were cast locally, along with hundreds of extras. Perhaps the state's most famous production was "Footloose," "Foot-loose," the 1984 film that was shot entirely in Utah. Originally, Original-ly, the producers were only planning on shooting some exterior ex-terior shots in the state, but once they arrived, they found everything they needed to complete com-plete the film. Only the opening dance sequence beneath the credits was filmed in Hollywood. Holly-wood. "Footloose" was the story of so-called radical teenagers in a conservative town who wanted to hold a dance. It was hardly controversial in content. Yet UFD is sometimes confronted with scripts from producers wishing to make films that might upset local residents. Smith said the UFD office has to walk a fine line in those cases. "We aren't censors, and we can't very well tell a filmmaker what to shoot and what not to sboot. We do try to work with them, however, and while encouraging en-couraging them, we strive to protect the state's values as well." Hand-in-hand with UFD's success, and the increased visibility visi-bility of Utah to the film industry, indus-try, has been the Utah Film Festival. Fes-tival. Started originally as a small Salt Lake City-based event, it has grown, thanks largely to the film industry's support, into the envy of many other such festivals. Now housed mainly in Park City, organizers are making a profit, and actually turning away requests re-quests from both filmmakers and attendees each year. The festival has helped the UFD cause as well. "Promised Land," a theatrical release last year, debuted at the festival after af-ter producers filmed it in Utah. They were attracted to Utah by a previous film festival. In Davis County, actress Lindsey Wagner and several local actors visited the Bountiful Bounti-ful Recreation Center ice arena last fall for filming of "Hate on Trial," an ABC-TV movie that aired last winter. It isn't the first time the county has had a film shot within its boundaries. Actor Mark Harmon spent two days filming part of the Ted Bundy story in Farmington two years ago. Director Dwight Little and producer Paul Freeman, who will begin the filming of "Halloween "Hallo-ween IV" in Salt Lake City next Tuesday, are not strangers to Utah either. They were here last May, filming "Hobo's Christmas," Christ-mas," a CBS movie starring Gerald Raney of "Simon and Simon" fame. Like many before be-fore them, they've come back to Utah again, realizing that what we have here is truly something special. |