LOS ANGELES-The Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) has broadened the global scope of its upcoming Locations ’99 trade show, not only in terms of exhibitors but also on the seminar front. At press time, the 14th annual AFCI event had lined up in excess of 330 exhibitors representing locations and/or services in some 33 countries. Organizers anticipate an industry attendance of 5,000-plus for the three-day show (Feb. 19-21) at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
And two of the three scheduled seminars will focus on filming abroad: a Friday (2/19) afternoon session (noon to 1 p.m.) on production prospects in Hun-gary; and then a Saturday presentation (2-3 p.m.) on shooting in Hong Kong. Featured speakers at the former will include Hungary Secretary of State Judit Kormendy-Ekes who also serves as a member of that country’s Radio & Television Board, and independent producer Laszlo Sipos. They will present an overview of what filmmakers can expect to find in Hungary in terms of filming opportunities, locations, craftspeople and infrastructure.
As SHOOT went to press, speakers had not yet been finalized for the Hong Kong panel discussion; expected are a representative from the Hong Kong Film Services Office-TV & Entertainment Licensing Authority, and a managing director from one of Hong Kong’s leading production service houses.
Also on tap for Saturday is a seminar/workshop on location libraries and the location age entitled "Locations.com-To Be or Net To Be"-which will be moderated by Pat Swinney Kaufman, director of the New York State Governor’s Office for Motion Pictures and Television Development. The discussion part (1-2 p.m.) of the two-pronged session will examine the electronic search for locations, be it on CD-ROM or via the net. Hardware, software, format and resolution issues will be explored.
This will be followed by a hands-on workshop (2-3:30 p.m.) that will be led by Suzy Kellett, director of the Washington State Film Office. Participants will get a demonstration of what can be accessed, and are free to bring laptops to facilitate a proactive search for locations and filming info.
Scheduled panelists for the Kaufman-moderated discussion will include: Michael Walbrecht of Warner Bros; Kelly Heikkila of the Minnesota Film Board; Louisa Coppel of the Melbourne Film Office; and location managers Ken Haber, Marino Pascal and Bill Bowling. The latter two are founding members of the Association of Commercial Location Professionals (ACLP), a fledgling yet growing industry association of location scouts and managers launched last August. Appropriately given the seminar topic, the ACLP was virtually born and continues to live on the Internet and via e-mail, the group’s primary means for sharing information. Spot scout Pascal developed ACLP’s Web site and e-mail network.
According to commercial location scout Dennis Thomann, an ALCP founding father, scouts and managers have been helping solve each others’ work problems via the Internet and e-mail, suggesting location alternatives whenever someone is stumped. And there have been numerous instances in which scouts have made their colleagues aware of jobs they’ve had to turn down due to scheduling conflicts. Job referrals have become increasingly common.
This pooling of information has proven invaluable and strengthens the sense of community, observed Thomann who adds that a location scout looking for ideas on the Internet invariably gets five or six suggestions from his or her ACLP colleagues. "So much of this has been made possible by the Internet," he said. "It enables people to come together, something that would have been hard for us to do otherwise, with our tight schedules and the logistics involved."
United Nations
Represented on the exhibit side will be film commissions and/or filming services from all 50 U.S. states (including assorted American cities) as well as Australia, Austria, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, the Czech Republic, Fiji, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa and Spain. Among first-time exhibitors will be Barbados, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland and Sonora, Mexico.
For the first 10 years of its existence, the annual Locations trade show was organized by the AFCI in conjunction with the American Film Market Association. The Locations confab was held in close proximity to the annual American Film Market, tapping into international attendance at that film sales and distribution event.
But in 1995, the AFCI decided to make Locations a stand-alone event, and it has since proven to be capable of generating its own global turnout. Since ’95, Locations’ attendance has steadily grown and the number of exhibitors has increased some 70%.
While they peacefully co-exist on the exhibit floor, competition among film commissioners has heightened over the past several years, particularly with growing American film commissioner concern over runaway production to foreign locales, particularly Canada. The strength of the U.S. dollar in Canada and Canadian tax breaks have spurred significant defections-particularly production of TV movies, for example-from California to Canada.
As earlier reported, members of a California State Assembly’s show business committee are considering the formulation of legislation that would make the state more competitive with foreign countries in attracting and keeping film shoots. California Assemblywoman and speaker pro tempore Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) said proposed incentives could come in the form of financial or regulatory relief, but added she was not yet in a position to discuss specifics until the Assembly Select Committee on Entertainment and the Arts could fully assess information gathered during a daylong public hearing on runaway production last December (SHOOT, 12/18/98, p. 7).
Hierarchy
AFCI first VP Lonie Stimac, director of the Montana Film Office, is Locations ’99 chairperson. Maggie Christie serves as Locations’ 99 event manager while Barbara Shore of Shore Management, Los Angeles, is AFCI managing director. Ward Emling, director of the Mississippi Film Office, is president of the AFCI, having been elected last October during the group’s Cineposium ’98 conference in Denver.
In addition to Emling and Stimac, the AFCI elected to its board during Cineposium second VP Dana Theveneau, a liaison with the South of France Film Commission, secretary Debi Hausdorfer, director of marketing for the Orange County (Calif.) Film Commission; and treasurer Leigh von der Esch, a past AFCI president who is director of the Utah Film Commission.
AFCI’s worldwide membership now consists of 268 film commissions from 24 countries, and the assistance they provide producers is free (i.e.-location research for screenwriters, location scouting assistance, gaining access, securing permission and streamlining permits in their jurisdictions).
The AFCI is a non-profit, educational organization founded in 1975 to facilitate on-location production. Film commissioners act as a liaison between the production industry and local governments as well as economic development entities to stimulate direct and indirect economic benefits to their communities. Film commissioners also help troubleshoot problems such as finding and suggesting alternate filming sites to address resident concerns that overused locations can be disruptive to a given neighborhood.
Admission to Locations ’99 is free to industry professionals. For info and registration details, contact the Locations ’99 hotline at (323) 883-1655.
Here’s a sampling of Locations ’99 exhibitors:
AFCI Members, USA
Alabama
Booth 322
Alaska
Booths 100, 102
Arizona, Apache Junction,
City of Phoenix
Booth 1201
Cochise County, Flagstaff
Booth 1203
City of Tucson, Globe/Miami
Booth 1205
Graham County/Safford,
Kingman, Wickenburg
Booth 1207
Navajo Nation, Page/Lake Powell, Yuma
Booth 1209
Prescott, Sedona/Oak Creek
Booth 1211
Arkansas
Booths 424, 426
California
Booth 1023
Amador Counties, El Dorado
Booth 1025
Berkeley
Booth 929
Big Bear
Booth 915
Butte County
Booth 1124
Catalina Island
Booth 1122
Eureka! Humbolt County
Booth 1029
Fresno County
Booth 913
Imperial County
Booth 1012
Inland Empire
Booths 917, 919, 1016, 1018
Kern County
Booth 1019
Lancaster, Palmdale
Booth 1116
Lassen County
Booth 1126
Monterey County
Booth 1028
Oakland
Booth 925
Orange County
Booth 1022
Placer County
Booth 1027
Pleasanton & Livermore
Booth 927
Redding/Shasta County
Booth 1133
Ridgecrest
Booths 1112, 1114
Sacramento
Booth 1024
San Benito County
Booth 1034
San Diego County
Booth 1013
San Francisco, Sonoma County
Booth 923
San Jose
Booth 933
San Luis Obispo County
Booth 1026
Santa Barbara County
Booth 1128
Santa Clarita Valley
Booth 1118
Santa Cruz County
Booth 1032
Santa Monica Mountains
Booth 1014
Tri-Valley
Booth 927
Tuolumne County
Booth 1015
Vellejo/Solano County
Booth 1033
Ventura County
Booth 1132
Yosemite Regional
Booth 1017
Colorado, Boulder County
Booth 415
Colorado Springs, Fremont-
Custer
Booth 417
Larimer, Trinidad
Booth 419
Connecticut, Southeastern Connecticut
Booth 1104
Florida, Broward County,
Southwest Florida
Booth 432
Jacksonville, Key West,
Miami Beach
Booth 334
Miami Dade, Orlando
Booth 332
Palm Beach, Polk County
Booth 333
Tampa/Hillsborough
Booth 333
Georgia
Booth 328
Savannah
Booth 326
Hawaii, Honolulu,
Kauai
Booth 323
Big Island, Maui
Booth 325
Idaho
Booth 416
Illinois
Booth 618
Chicago
Booth 616
Indiana
Booths 206, 208
Iowa
Booths 106, 108
Kansas
Booths 312, 314
Kentucky
Booth 123
Louisiana
Booths 200, 202
Maine
Booth 1102
Maryland
Booths 306, 308
Massachusetts
Booth 1105
Michigan
Booths 613, 615
Minnesota
Booths 617, 619
Mississippi
Booth 422
Missouri, Kansa City, St. Louis
Booth 223
Montana
Booths 412, 414
Nebraska
Booth 318
Omaha
Booth 316
Nevada
Booth 428
New Hampshire
Booth 1106
New Mexico
Booth 718
Las Cruces
Booth 714
Santa Fe
Booth 716
Taos
Booth 712
New York
Booth 612
North Carolina
Booths 517, 519
Charlotte
Booth 512
Durham
Booth 413
Western
Northern Carolina
Booths 514, 516
Wilmington
Booth 518
Winston-Salem
Booth 513
North Dakota
Booth 313
Ohio
Booth 209
Cincinnati
Booth 207
Oklahoma
Booths 226, 228
Oregon
Booth 918
Pennsylvania
Booth 914
Philadelphia
Booth 916
Pittsburgh
Booth 912
Rhode Island
Booth 1103
Providence
Booth 1101
South Carolina
Booth 812
South Dakota
Booth 317
Tennessee
Booth 225
Shelby
Booth 227
Nashville
Booth 229
Texas, Austin, San Antonio
Booth 222
Dallas/Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston
Booth 224
Utah, Northeast Territory,
Southwest Utah
Booth 819
Central Utah
Booth 815
Kanab/Kane
Booth 817
Moab
Booth 818
Northern Utah
Booth 814
Park City
Booth 816
Vermont
Booth 1100
Virginia
Booths 300, 302, 304
Washington, D.C.
Booth 217
Washington State
Booth 813
West Virginia
Booths 127, 129
Wisconsin
Booth 614
Wyoming
Booths 315, 319
AFCI Members, International
Australia, AusFilm
Booth 408
Melbourne
Booth 307, 309
NSW Film & TV
Booths 303, 305
Pacific Film & TV
Booth 402
South Australia
Booth 400
Austria, Cine Tirol
Booth 508
Bahamas
Booth 234
British Virgin Islands
Booth 1000
Canada
Booth 907
Alberta
Booth 805
British Columbia
Booths 701, 703
Calgary, Alberta
Booth 807
Durham Region, Ontario
Booth 908
Edmonton, Alberta
Booth 803
Manitoba
Booth 801
Montreal, Quebec
Booth 900
New Brunswick, Newfoundland
& Labrador
Booth 707
Northwest Territories
Booth 808
Nova Scotia
Booth 705
Okanagan, B.C.
Booth 806
Ontario
Booth 906
Prince George, B.C.
Booth 802
Prince Edward Island
Booth 705
Quebec
Booth 902
Saskatchewan
Booth 809
Thompson Nicola, B.C.
Booth 800
Toronto
Booth 904
Victoria/Vancouver Island, B.C.
Booth 804
France
Booth 700
Provence-Alpes Cote D’Azur
Booth 601
South of France-Var
Booth 603
Germany, North Rhine, Westphalia
Booth 608
Berlin-Brandenburg
Booth 606
Stuttgart
Booth 604
Hong Kong
Booth 407
Hungary
Booth 607
Italy
Booths 505, 507
Genova
Booth 509
Jamaica
Booths 1001, 1003
Mexico
Booths 1006, 1008
New Zealand
Booth 401
Spain, Barcelona
Booth 506
Additional locations, USA
California
Amazing Film Locations,
San Fernando Valley
Booth 1216
Borrego Springs
Booth 1009
Death Valley
Booth 1129
Fillmore
Booth 1127
Los Angeles Theatre
Booth 1217
Marina del Rey
Booth 1113
Southern California Edison
Booth 1123
Tejon Ranch
Booth 1119
Additional locations, international
Barbados
Booth 1005
Czech Republic, Stillking Films
Booth 706
Fiji
Booth 403
Japan, Film People’s Network
Booth 502
Hong Kong Tourist Board
Booth 407
Hungary, Pioneer Productions
Booth 706
Transatlantic Media Associates
Booth 609
Iceland
Booth 605
India, Ramoji Film City Studios
Booth 500
Ireland Screen
Booth 504
Italy, Emilia Romagna
Booth 501
Lombardia
Booth 503
Umbria
Booth 600
Kenya
Booths 113, 115
Malta, Mediterranean Studios
Booth 708
Mexico, Sonora
Booths 1002, 1004
Philippines
Booth 409
Romania, Media Pro Studios
Booth 602
South Africa
Booth 214
Media Services, Cape Town
Booth 212
AFCI Information
AFCI Administration
Booths 1226, 1228
AFCI Service Desk
Booth 1224
Airlines & Aviation
Air France
Booth 702
Delta Air Lines
Booth 101
Location Services
Alaskan Film Group
Booth 104
American Humane Association
Booth 109
Bearcom Wireless, Worldwide
Booths 116, 118
Board Stiff, Gardena, Calif.
Booth 1007
Flight Time
Location equipment (LE)-D
Interactive Pictures Corp., Tennessee
Booth 103
SET Security
Booth 1218
ShowBiz Expo
Booths 110, 112
TVD, British Columbia, Canada
Booth 901
Location Vehicles
Bendetti Mobile Screening Theater
LE C
El Monte TV
LE E/F/G
Studios & Production Facilities
EUE/Screen Gems, Wilmington, N.C.
Booth 515
Garson Studios, New Mexico
Booth 719
Manex Studios, Alameda, Calif.
Booth 1125
Media Pro Studios, Romania
Booth 602
Mediterranean Studios, Malta
Booth 708
Pioneer Productions, Hungary
Booth 706
Ramoji Film City Studios, India
Booth 500
Sasani Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
Booth 212
Stillking Films, Czech Republic
Booth 706
Universal Studios
Booth 1215
Unions & Guilds
Atlanta Production Partnership
Booth 324
Directors Guild of Canada, ODC
Booth 909
IATSE, Local 665, Hawaii
Booth 329
Revenue Canada
Booth 905
Screen Actors Guild, Hawaii
Booth 329
Teamsters, Local 399, Hawaii
Booth 329
