Film Bazaar.

CELEBRITY BIOGRAPHY SHOWS AND OTHER CABLE SERIES HAVE FUELED GROWTH FOR PRODUCERS LIBRARY SERVICE, WHICH PROVIDES STOCK FOOTAGE

STOCK film footage from Hollywood's past is showing up on TV screens and multiplexes with increasing frequency, and that's fueling the fortunes of Producers Library Service Inc.

The North Hollywood company's library is chock full of moments in movie history - everything from premieres to parties to out takes that are in heavy demand for those celebrity biography shows cropping up on cable.

"America is so nostalgia driven, vintage film is outselling the new stuff," said Jeff Goodman, president and owner of Producers Library Service. "We've provided film-for every single major documentary about Hollywood that's been done in the past 10 years."

About 100 requests for stock footage are received every day.

Producers from E! fax over at least one request a day for everything from outtakes of Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman at movie premieres to anything to do with Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione.

"We did a show on the Sunset Strip and we used them extensively for the footage," said E! Executive Producer Betsy Rott. The company also provides footage used in feature films to set the scene of action. An $800 aerial shot of Rome to open a movie is a lot cheaper than flying an entire production to Italy to film, Goodman pointed out - and in most cases, the audience won't know the difference.

Stock footage also is used to create a particular atmosphere. The montage of 1940s Los Angeles used in the opening of the film "L.A. Confidential" came from Producers Library Service and set the film noir tone for the rest of the film.

Goodman bought the library that has since become Producers Library Service in 1986 from a "mom-and-pop setup" for $125,000. The older couple who previously owned the library just wanted to retire, he said.

The library consisted of 6 million feet of film in 1986. Since then, Goodman has added another 4 million feet through either outright purchase or consignment.

On consignment footage, Goodman splits licensing fees 50/50 with the owners. For the footage he purchases outright, he is supplied by a number of sources, whether it's people who just happened to come across old reels in their attics, or regulars who scout out old clips.

Goodman keeps his inventory in two large, refrigerated, humidity-controlled storage vaults in North Hollywood. The reels date back to the '20s, though Goodman said the company still hasn't catalogued everything.

"I like playing archaeologist and digging into the old cans," Goodman said. "We're still finding gems in the vault."

The company receives all its orders via phone or fax, although it does maintain a Web site (www.filmfootage.com) with extensive text descriptions of all its catalogued films. The site also has a search function, enabling visitors to quickly scan to footage that features a particular place, event, or person.

Want to see what the premiere of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" looked like? Search for Audrey Hepburn and you'll get a text description of the scene at Grauman's Chinese Theatre that night in 1962 when Jayne Mansfield, Groucho Marx and Nat King Cole turned out.

Goodman eventually wants to provide streaming video on the site, so customers can see the actual clip they've downloaded before they place the order. He also would like to have an e-commerce function, so customers can order clips directly from the Web.

"Some day e-commerce will have been honed to one-stop shopping of images on the desktop," Goodman said. "We want people to use our Web site as a storefront."

Licensing fees vary based on what the cuts will be used for, but the rates are identical for all clips. There is a 6.66-second minimum per cut of film.

Commercials are the most expensive, about $270 per second. Footage that will be used in feature films costs $120, for public television it's $52.50 and for educational videos it's $45.

"We're very compassionate to documentaries," said Goodman, who started out as documentarian. (He was a researcher for "Zelig," the Woody Allen film in which a human chameleon blends into newsreel footage from the 1920s.)

Spotlight

Producers Library Service Inc.

Year Founded: 1957, current ownership since 1986

Core Business: Providing stock footage to the entertainment industry

Employees in 1986: 2

Employees in 1999: 9

Revenue in 1908: $705,000

Revenue in 1999: (projected) $1 million

Goal: To expand into video streaming on the Internet and into e-commerce

Driving Force: Increasing need for stock footage with growth in cable channels and Internet content