Tourism is a product of filming. When this temporary business impacts a community, visiting crews, talent and producers have to eat, sleep and relax somewhere -- and they do, when they finish filming every day. The Film Commission becomes the concierge to this business giving filmmakers brochures, lists of restaurants, hotels listed on our Web site and other information about entertainment.
Several years ago when "Sideways" was filming in San Diego with their feature film about the wine culture, the crew, producer and some of the talent went to the Blue Point restaurant owned by the Cohns in the Gaslamp with the San Diego Film Commission's director of features, Kathy McCurdy. They ordered oysters, wine, desserts, hors d'oeuvres and of course dinner. Hours later they had spent an excess of $2,600. This is not unusual. Crews like to go to a happening place and unwind.
Keifer Sutherland, while filming an episode of the hit television show "24," came back to the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay after filming to find the restaurant getting ready to close. Keifer paid the help $500 cash to keep the restaurant open and serve the crew and talent for several more hours. This didn't hurt the hotel and it certainly was a unique surprise when some of the hotel guests wandered in.
When the CBS television series "The Ex List" was filming in Ocean Beach, the crews and talent enjoyed the local restaurants and shops. When the show premiered in September 2008, all the restaurants and bars along Newport aired the first episode to crowds of people. Even the crews were there to enjoy the celebration.
The Kansas City Barbecue has benefited from the feature film "Top Gun" ever since it filmed there over 20 years ago. Tourists flocked there just to stand where Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis did and to check out the piano and jukebox used in the filming.
A restaurant called Fios in the Gaslamp, now a Cohn restaurant, was used as a location in the feature film "Traffic" starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. The talent in the scene stayed and ate there following the filming. They later said that the wonderful smells of the food was pure torture to them while they were working. What better advertisement or marketing than that?
The producer of the new television series for 20th Century Fox called "Terriers" said that wherever they are filming in San Diego, they frequent the local restaurants and cafes after filming. They want to do business in the same neighborhood that has been their host for the production.
Universal Pictures was in San Diego this month filming a feature film entitled "Paul." They recreated Comic-Con with hundreds of extras in costume so that they could control the scenes for filming. As the Film Commission's Kathy McCurdy gave oversight to the Harbor Drive complex scene, she was privy to a discussion the producer was having. He was planning dinner at the Prado Restaurant for himself and 12 of the line crew people prior to going to a Padres game that night following filming.
Restaurants benefit from productions being here. Local restaurants often wonder why production companies fail to use their catering services while they are here working. Production companies are mandated by labor to offer three entrees such as beef, chicken and fish every day. The food must be ready at a certain time of the day to satisfy labor issues and, when that designated time rolls around, the production may be at the first or second location of the day. Since there is no way to know for sure where the crew will be when it's lunchtime, a hot food truck is needed. The food must be ready to feed 100-300 people within a half hour of when the director yells "cut" and "break for lunch." The food is served within 15-30 minutes and then the cast and crew have half an hour to eat. This is a specialized business and requires a fast chef and unique service.
Our restaurants and food services do benefit on the second meal. This happens when the workday runs long and another unplanned meal must be served. A pizza parlor could get an order for 30 pizzas, or a sandwich shop could get an order for 100 sandwiches without much notice. It happens often during filming.
For the San Diego Film Commission this is secondary spending, but no less important. There is no way to track this spending, but it benefits our businesses just the same. The Film Commission surveys each production personally, asking each producer where they stayed and how many locals they hired. Two years ago we reported over $100 million pumped directly into the local economy by this industry. This does not take into account the restaurants they visit, the T-shirts and gifts they buy or the return trips they make with their families. Their business generates spending and we all need that in San Diego.
Anderson serves as film commissioner and CEO with the San Diego Film Commission.
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