AND WE'RE ROLLING ... L.A.'S FILM PRODUCTION ON THE RISE, ENDING A LONG SLUMP.Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer Los Angeles' filming slump ended a year-long slide in July as productions days rose by a combined 38.3 percent for feature film, television, commercial and music video production, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. figures released Thursday by the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. Most significantly, feature film production days were up by 283 days from the same month a year ago and climbed by 34 days from June. Television production days were up even more dramatically as networks began filming episodes for the upcoming fall season. ``It's encouraging, and we hope we continue to see these numbers the next few months,'' said Morrie Goldman, the EIDC's vice president of communications and government affairs. Among the high-profile films that began production in July were a pair of Warner Bros' films: ``The Matchstick Men,'' starring Nicolas Cage, and the sci-fi drama ``A Sound of Thunder,'' with Ben Kingsley and Edward Burns
Other new studio productions were Paramount's ``Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star,'' featuring David Spade David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an Emmy-Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actor, comedian, television personality who gained fame in the 1990s as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. , Jon Lovitz, Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 191972) is an American actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Samantha Micelli in the sitcom Who's the Boss? and Phoebe Halliwell on the supernatural series Charmed. and Doris Roberts Doris May Roberts (b. November 4 1930, St. Louis, Missouri) is a five-time Emmy Award-winning American actress, best known for playing Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond. Biography Early life Doris Roberts was born in St. ; and ``Papi Chulo,'' a romantic comedy from Fox 2000 Pictures. Independent movies in production include ``Bad Santa,'' starring Billy Bob Thornton Robert George (Bob) Thornton (born July 10 1962, in Los Angeles, California) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA whose career lasted from 1985 to 1996. He was a 6'10" 225 forward. He holds career averages of 3.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 283 total games. and Bernie Mac <noinclude> Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (born October 5, 1957[1]), better known as Bernie Mac, is a two time Emmy Award-nominated American actor and comedian. . Local filming took a major dive after June 2001 because studios had compressed production of their film slates to the first six months of the year in anticipation of writers and actors strikes. The strikes did not materialize but left the studios with a glut of product and resulted in a major slowdown in production in the second half of 2001. Since then, it has been a slow climb back. ``The is the first real indication that we are making our way back from last year,'' Goldman said. ``We have said it was going to take awhile for projects to work their way through.'' Despite the improved July numbers, overall filming days still lagged by 14.5 percent when compared with 2001 figures. The situation has been further exacerbated by the large number of big- budget movies that have been filmed this year in places like Canada, Australia and other foreign countries to which producers have been lured to save costs. This growing trend of so-called ``runaway production'' has increasingly plagued the U.S. in recent years. But there has been some encouragement during the months of July and August with a host of high-profile feature film projects shooting in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and television shows going into production at local studios. Just last week, a number of new movies went into production, led by the Ben Stiller comedy ``Envy'' from DreamWorks and Castle Rock Entertainment. Filming of the project caused a slowdown last Thursday on the Ventura Freeway The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California running from Ventura to Pasadena. It is the principal east-west route through Ventura County and in the southern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. during the morning commute as director Barry Levinson called for action just a short distance from traffic. Other projects that launched production last week were the Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . comedy ``Malibu's Most Wanted Most Wanted may refer to:
James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American comedian and actor. , Taye Diggs and Blair Underwood, and the Warner Bros. action-adventure film ``Torque,'' as well as a couple of independents: the drama ``The Beat'' and the comedy ``Rice Girl.'' In addition, a number of major studio films began shooting in Los Angeles this week, which should bode well for August figures. On Monday alone, production began on a trio of high-profile comedies: Universal's ``Bruce Almighty,'' featuring Jim Carrey “James Carrey” redirects here. For the murder conspirator, see James Carey. James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian actor and comedian. , Jennifer Aniston and Morgan Freeman; Sony's ``Daddy Day Care,'' starring Eddie Murphy; and Paramount's ``The Fighting Temptations,'' starring Cuba Gooding Jr. Several independent films also began filming in the city this week, including the dramas ``Orange Country'' and ``Fantasy World.'' ``We're looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a good fall,'' Goldman said. ``We've got some good projects starting up this month and next month.'' Those projects include ``Charlie's Angels 2,'' which reunites Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Lui in the title roles and which will also star Demi Moore in a comeback role as a fallen Angel. Also, many television series went into production in July, which resulted in a major leap in the months' production days. The 962 days of television production was a whopping increase of 334 days from the month before and a 285-day improvement over July 2001 figures. ``Television is back, and we've always done very well with episodic television,'' Goldman said. ``If we can get commercials back up, we'll be in good shape for fall. We continue to be real concerned about commercials.'' Filming days for commercials, which are most impacted by the state of the struggling economy, dropped to 406 days in July, a 28-day decrease from the previous month. ``As the economy goes, so goes advertising,'' said Steve Caplan, senior vice president of external relations for the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. ``But we are also feeling the effects in Los Angeles of the acceleration of global production. The economic squeeze means smaller budgets, and it's more competitive to shoot abroad. We have to be competitive here in Los Angeles.'' CAPTION(S): chart Chart: A BRIGHTER PICTURE SOURCE: The Entertainment Industry Development Corp. Jon Gerung/Daily News |
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