CAMPUS STARS LAUSD SCHOOLS ARE FILM-FRIENDLY.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - The producer of the television comedy ``My Name is Earl'' needed to film a high-school football game for a flashback sequence on the NBC show that premieres this month.

Not only did he get the perfect backdrop at Grant High in North Hollywood, he decided to use the school's football team for the game - and in exchange gave a ``large'' donation to the football program.

That's exactly the kind of partnership the Los Angeles Unified School District would like to foster with Hollywood. By becoming more accommodating to television, movie and commercial film crews, the district hopes to raise additional money at a time of tighter budgets.

Heavily marketing itself as film-friendly, the LAUSD is on target to increase its annual film revenues from about $1 million to at least $1.5 million.

``We've learned to be more accommodating to production companies, like allowing them to shoot at night, and we're really working and bending over backward to work with production companies to allow them to use our facilities,'' said Ruben Rojas, director of revenue enhancement for the district.

``It's a win-win because the money goes directly back to the schools and to the students. Given the current state of affairs in the state, every little bit helps.''

The variety in architecture at LAUSD schools has made it a popular filming choice for decades, including such movies as ``Grease'' (John Marshall and Venice highs) starring John Travolta and ``Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (Canoga Park and Van Nuys highs) with Sean Penn.

``John Marshall was the classic high school with the red brick, the bell tower and limestone archways,'' said Henry Lange, producer of ``My Name is Earl,'' which premieres Sept. 20. ``Whenever we need a school, LAUSD is perfect because there are an awful lot of different looks.''

Burroughs Middle School was used on such recent TV shows as HBO's ``Six Feet Under'' and CBS' ``Cold Case.'' University High also is popular, providing the backdrop for Fox's ``Arrested Development,'' the WB's ``7th Heaven'' and ``Fat Albert: The Movie.''

But these days, productions are seeking the district sites for more than school scenes and are growing to appreciate the school district's flexibility in accommodating their shoots.

Location manager John Johnston said they recently needed a location to shoot a scene involving bad guys hiding out and they filmed at the Fort MacArthur site in San Pedro, where the LAUSD has a series of storage bunkers. Coordinating with the district and the Federal Aviation Administration, they were able to stage a gunfight scene with a helicopter rescue.

``They were willing to work with us. They're always available for meetings to walk the site and they're very interested in working with us as long as all the safety requirements can be met and addressed,'' he said.

Revenues from filming have steadily increased the past several years, last year generating about $1 million. But this year, the district expanded its offerings from just the traditional school sites to include its construction sites, parking lots, warehouses and garages where they park school buses.

Even if they're not actually filming at a local school, studios use the nonschool sites as base camps for catering trucks and talent trailers.

Johnston has been choosing L.A. Unified sites for 12 years, including for the movie ``Pulp Fiction,'' and most recently for the Fox action-drama TV series ``24.''

``Whenever we find a (filming) location, the first thing I do for parking is look on a Thomas Guide to see what school lots are nearby, because I know that LAUSD would be willing to let us park there,'' Johnston said. ``My philosophy is I'd much rather give my film money to a school, a church or a nonprofit in return for something that can help us out.''

The LAUSD's filming business became more consistent, organized and user-friendly when, in 2002, it entered into a contract with the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. to administer film permits.

What started out as a list of 19 school sites available for filming less than five years ago has turned into more than 200 - and nearly a third of the schools are in the San Fernando Valley, mainly because of its proximity to studios in Burbank.

Both LAUSD and EIDC officials said in addition to bringing much-needed revenue to the district, part of their push to attract filming is to keep productions in Los Angeles.

``This is a logical, no-brainer program - with school budgets being particularly tight, this provides some badly needed discretionary revenues that will help the school district and kids,'' said Steve MacDonald, president of the EIDC. ``From an economic development standpoint, it keeps people working and it keeps them in town.''

MacDonald believes the revenues will grow as the LAUSD promotes its lesser-known schools and continues to build more schools - which will provide location managers with more options.

As the district increases its efforts to draw the industry to its locations, schools are reaping the benefits.

The schools use the money for extracurricular activities including art and sports programs, and field trips.

Seventy-five percent of the revenues go to the individual school where filming occurred, and the rest gets pooled.

Two of the most popular schools for filming in the San Fernando Valley are Grant High School in North Hollywood and Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, both of which have seen first-hand what a difference the additional funds can make in difficult budget times.

Grant's new principal, Linda Ibach, surveyed what used to be her office, before she handed it over to ``My Name is Earl'' production Monday.

Her framed family pictures were gone, replaced with a nameplate that reads ``Principal Richard Pulley,'' a bust of Shakespeare, a bunch of formal-looking files, a plant, pens and even a shiny new stapler in place of her black one.

``Other schools have yard sales or basketball-athons, and this is our fundraising. What the school's striving for is a happy medium point that helps us financially, but doesn't interfere with the daily operations of the school,'' she said. ``I believe our open door to the film industry has in turn helped out the school climate as a whole.''

And Grant students said they were glad their campus was being portrayed as the ideal school on television and in the movies, especially after having developed a reputation as a school that suffers from ethnic tensions and fights.

``We have a lot of fights at this school,'' said Omar Salazar, 17, of Sun Valley. ``But when people see it on these shows and in movies, they don't think it's a bad school at all.''

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) In a sign of the LAUSD's increasing accommodation to TV and film productions, a scene from the new NBC television show ``My Name is Earl'' is filmed on the Grant High School campus in June.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) Sean Penn starred as Jeff Spicoli in ``Fast Times at Ridgemont High,'' filmed at two Valley high schools.

Universal Studios