ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE; FILM COMMISSIONS CONVERGE ON LOCATIONS '99 TRADE SHOW.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

If you're a Hollywood producer wondering if you need a 200-pound grizzly bear in your next movie, you'll be able to take a meeting with Teton Totem this week courtesy of the Idaho State Film Commission.

And he won't bite. Probably.

``He's very tame and just a teen-ager in bear years,'' said Peg Owens, head of the commission.

The 1-year-old bear is just one of hundreds of attractions that'll fill the Los Angeles Convention Center this weekend for the Locations '99 trade show. It runs Friday through Sunday.

The show is expected to draw 4,500 key players in the world's entertainment business, such as producers, location scouts and more than 200 different film commissions from Barbados to Fiji, Iceland to Kenya.

The bear will be in a cage on loan from Idaho's Wild Bunch Ranch, which specializes in supplying trained animals. His purpose is to tout the virtues of filming in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

And there's plenty of competition among exhibitors: Last year, for example, the city of Memphis and Shelby County, Tenn., staffed their booth with an Elvis Presley impersonator; several years ago, the state of Washington and Starbucks operated a Seattle-style coffeehouse on the convention floor.

So the High Plains states decided the bear might lead to more movies like ``The Horse Whisperer'' (Montana) and ``The Wild Wild West'' (Idaho). ``We're often asked for lists of animal handlers, so Teton Totem is our way of letting people know we do have this expertise,'' said Lonie Stimac, head of Montana's commission.

Teton Totem's owner, who has overseen the bear from being a bottle-fed baby to a roly-poly adolescent who stands 4-1/2 feet tall, believes the trip to Tinseltown will be routine.

``We'll bring him in a day in advance to give him a chance to feel comfortable about his surroundings,'' said Jean Simpson, owner of the Wild Bunch Ranch in Driggs, Idaho. ``He really is a very good bear. He's used to being on a chain, but we also go on a lot of walks and go swimming together because he should still have time to play.''

The ranch's 35 animals include Storm Cloud, the 9-year-old wolf who starred in the ``White Fang'' movies and who can snarl and mock-attack on cue. Simpson is a veteran of two decades of supplying animals to Hollywood and has yet to have one of his charges escape or harm anyone. He also trained Bart, the Kodiak bear who starred in ``The Edge,'' ``The Bear'' and ``The Great Outdoors.''

Despite his cuteness, however, Teton Totem has a serious purpose - trying to help the five states keep their paws on movies, TV shows and commercials. ``Everyone has become much more savvy about marketing their locations,'' admitted Stimac, who saw her state's production activity plunge from $16 million in 1997 to $4.2 million last year. ``This business is capricious at best.''

Southern California gets the lion's share of production work, estimated at as much as 75 percent of the $30 billion pie. But the success of the Canadian market, attractive due to low labor costs and big tax breaks, has set off alarms throughout the entertainment world.

Suzy Kellett, head of Washington's state film commission, has watched her state lose business to Vancouver due to its reputation as the original home of ``The X-Files'' TV show.

``We have felt the impact of Vancouver probably as strongly as anyone,'' Kellett said. ``Seattle and Vancouver are very similar in people's minds, so Canada's success has led to us kind of losing our sense of uniqueness.''

Kellett credits British Columbia officials with making sensible long-range plans to replace lost jobs in forestry and fishing. But the answer, according to British Columbia film commissioner Peter Mitchell is much simpler: the favorable exchange rate, which significantly lowers costs for producers.

``The exchange rate has been the driving force and, as a result, has created the critical mass,'' Mitchell said. ``Without it, `X-Files' would have been shot in Seattle.''

The province's economic activity from entertainment production jumped 28 percent last year to $808 million in Canadian dollars. Two major features - ``White Out'' with Sylvester Stallone and ``Duet'' with Gwyneth Paltrow - were being shot last week in British Columbia along with 23 other shows.

The province is home to 45 soundstages, with more coming. ``We're seeing the private sector jump into what was previously seen as a pretty foot-loose industry,'' said Mitchell, who promised an announcement of a major project in April.

Canada will staff two dozen booths at Locations '99, operated for the 14th straight year by the Association of Film Commissioners International. The exhibits will include plenty of pitching beyond film commissions, including production service specialists such as Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, N.C., headed by veteran producer Frank Capra Jr.

``I do have a lot of contacts and relationships that help because they know there's someone at Screen Gems who knows what producers want,'' said Capra, son of the legendary director.

Capra admitted his name is an advantage, noting, ``Not a day goes by that someone doesn't talk with me about my dad's work.''

But he isn't selling memories; Capra markets the largest lot outside Los Angeles - 114,000 square feet - and it is the home of ``Dawson's Creek.''

``It really does feel like an L.A. lot,'' Capra said. ``We have an extraordinary crew base of 1,000 people in Wilmington.''

Many of the booths will be fairly simple, such as that operated by Brian Ziegler, film commissioner for Fresno County. Since 1992, the county has generated $2.5 million in activity with its most notable scores being ``Mouse Hunt'' and ``Addams Family Values.''

``I tell people we're just up the road from Los Angeles and that permits are only $25,'' Ziegler said. ``You're not required to have police or fire department representatives on the set so that will save you some money, and the hotel bill won't be as expensive. I know there's some burnout from using the same locations over and over in Los Angeles, so I tell them locations that are fairly virgin. And I'm going to give out raisins.''

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Photo

PHOTO (Color) Teton Totem and his owner, Jean Simpson, are appearing at the Locations '99 trade show for the Idaho State Film Commission.

Courtesy of Jean Simpson