A.V. JOINS IN WOOING STUDIO; LANCASTER OFFERS DREAMWORKS FREE DESERT LAND.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

The Antelope Valley has high-tech airplanes and California poppies, but now the region is looking to add America's most high-profile film studio, offering free land to get DreamWorks SKG to come to the High Desert.

Lancaster is offering 47 acres of free land near Fox Field to get DreamWorks SKG - a partnership of entertainment moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen - to build its $250 million studio in the High Desert.

DreamWorks announced July 1 that it was ending its five-year effort to get the studio built in Playa Vista, opening a floodgate of offers from other communities.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich wrote letters to Katzenberg and Spielberg supporting Lancaster's offer.

``Unlike the city of Los Angeles, Lancaster is business-friendly and would work to help you locate your studio in its jurisdiction,'' Antonovich wrote in the letters, dated Wednesday.

``Along the 14 Freeway, close to the San Fernando Valley, there are acres and acres of undeveloped land available for building. After all the time, resources and effort you've committed, it's a shame to let your dream go unfulfilled.''

DreamWorks spokesman Andy Spahn said he had not seen the Antonovich letters and had not heard of the Lancaster offer. Spahn said DreamWorks is receiving calls from a variety of communities offering sites.

``We're not looking at anything at this point,'' Spahn said. ``We've been getting calls, but we hadn't had discussions with anyone yet.''

The area Lancaster is offering is in the Fox Field Corridor, which stretches from the Los Angeles County-owned Fox Field airport to the Antelope Valley Freeway. Lancaster earmarked the land for commercial and light industrial development.

The city of Palmdale is also interested. Palmdale officials have had discussions with developers, including those with ties to DreamWorks, about the idea of establishing studios, said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford.

``We've talked to developers in direct communication with DreamWorks about sites,'' Ledford said. ``Our philosophy is not to direct them to a particular site. We let them tell us what sites they are interested in and work with them to make that happen.''

The Antelope Valley is a viable location for a studio, offering abundant land and an easier regulatory path for businesses wanting to come to the High Desert. However, in this case the Antelope Valley will be competing with areas that already have a DreamWorks presences, such as Glendale and Universal City, Ledford said.

``They have growth capability in the facilities they have now,'' Ledford said. ``They are in no hurry to make a decision.''

DreamWorks SKG, founded in 1994 by Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, has been vague about expansion plans since the company killed the Playa Vista option.

For the short term, DreamWorks will bulk up slightly at its three major locations - headquarters, film and TV operations on the Universal Studios lot; a year-old animation campus in Glendale; and music operations in Beverly Hills - by closing smaller offices.