Shelli Hall and Peter Catalanotte are united in their mission - "To position Tucson as a film-friendly community."
And after a decade on the job, neither Hall, director of the Tucson Film Office, nor Catalanotte, production coordinator, is fazed by the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd.
 Director of the Tucson Film Office Shelli Hall markets to bring more film, television, and commercials to help the Tucson economy. Stuart L. Mattingly photo |
Hall worked in the film world in Los Angeles casting and producing independent films. Catalanotte was a musician, "so the jump to long working hours and crazy working conditions was an easy transition," he says.
"Our fiscal year ends this month," says Hall, "While we didn’t have a standout ‘biggie’ production this year, we backfilled with increases in commercials and independent films and are satisfied with our 2007-2008 results in this volatile business."
In the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Tucson had more than 400 days worth of film production, booked more than 11,000 nights of hotel rooms, and the equivalent of 7,650 days of work by local talent, according to Film Office Newsletter.
"All without a single big budget, mega-watt, studio motion picture," Hall said.
While net numbers may be down a bit over previous efforts, Hall says her five-year comparison average still rings an impressive cash register.
"We’re down somewhat from last year because we didn’t have a series shooting schedule or a movie of the week," she said. "The bulk of our economic impact this year came from pieces of bigger films, smaller independent feature films, and TV commercials which really saved the bottom line. So we’re satisfied, even though we’re always striving to attract more business."
The average production this year was about $7 million.
The Arizona Motion Picture Tax Incentive, approved by the Legislature and instituted three years ago, is a marketing tool intended to make filming in Arizona less taxing by returning 30 percent of expenditures to producers. The incentive started at 20 percent and was raised to 30 percent on expenditures in excess of $1 million. It has a cap of $50 million.
"While we have tax credits and incentives, states like New Mexico (and Louisiana and Connecticut) have no cap at all on how much they will give as an inducement to film in their state, so they’re winning in the race to get the plum contracts," Hall says. "We’re going back to our legislature to see if we can improve on our incentive package to be more competitive with New Mexico. We already have some competitive advantages with our neighboring state, particularly our close proximity to the Los Angeles film industry. We’re not asking for more money, just trying to make access to what we have easier. We can work within the mandated cap, we just need to change the way the current clunky and bureaucratic procedures are administered."
Despite the lack of the single large golden nugget, the picture payback this year increases in TV commercials, still photography, and fashion shoots.
"We also get a few calls for TV series," says Catalanotte, citing an Italian reality TV series that is similar to "Survivor," featuring people who live in a city put on a western ranch and forced to live off the land. "This was a huge surprise because we had no real idea of how the bottom line would grow when we first met with them. They were here, low- key, for 10 weeks, and spent several million dollars throughout Tucson and Southern Arizona."
About $6 million came from a recently-wrapped film called "Farlanders." It was directed by Sam Mendes, of "American Beauty" fame. The crew spent about a week filming around various locations in Tucson.
"Half the things we scouted for ended up getting cut, but they hired a lot of locals as actors, makeup artists, hair stylists, costume and prop personnel, grips - probably over a hundred extras," says Catalanotte.
Adds Hall, "We estimate at least $100,000 a day in direct spending which translates to an overall economic impact of about a million dollars into the general economy."
TV commercials have become a bread-and-butter production item locally with about 10 shoots this year. Lots of them used car and sports themes.
"While we welcome a full or partial shoot of a major film, TV commercials are also lucrative," says Hall. "As a comparison, Volvo spent half a million dollars on a recent TV commercial. We know companies from New York and Los Angeles love Arizona, especially our roads for their car commercials, so we’ve been increasing our concentration on that specific market segment. From an economic impact standpoint, we could say we did about $2 million in commercials this fiscal year, up from last fiscal year’s numbers."
Another source of steady income, if not major money, is episodic filming.
"These are things like the Discovery Channel coming here to cover the Mars landing, special subject coverage by A&E or the History Channel, or Animal Planet when they do a focus shoot on desert creatures," said Catalanotte.
Despite costs continuing to increase and discretionary budgets continuing to shrink, Hall remains optimistic about the future of the film industry and the part the Tucson Film Office will play.
"Even in the Depression, movies did well because people like the big screen and they need to escape," she said.
Lee Allen is a Tucson-based freelance writer.
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