HOMEOWNERS GET THE PICTURE.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

So you want to be in pictures, but you have absolutely no talent? Take heart, because the film industry may have a role for you - well, actually, for your house or property.

Dozens of local residents make their home sweet home available to film crews to use for location shoots of movies, TV shows and commercials, an arrangement that can be lucrative for the owners and convenient to the producers.

The program, called ``Your Property in a Starring Role,'' is a service of the Santa Clarita Valley Film & Entertainment Bureau. In 1996, 18 residential locations were added to the bureau's registry database.

Joyce Rodgers said she enjoyed a recent Oldsmobile shoot at her Newhall home. ``I got James Garner for St. Patrick's Day,'' said Rodgers, a former actress who, with her husband James, owns a local home-building and general contracting business.

The Rodgers' property, which includes a long driveway leading to their two-story, 7,000-square-foot home, also has been used by the ``Melrose Place'' cast and crew, she said.

The perks of loaning out one's property to film crews can range from the concrete - namely the fee the production company pays the homeowner - to the intangible, like seeing your house immortalized on celluloid. Or perhaps just rubbing shoulders with a Hollywood star, like Garner.

``He's a very gracious man. I got a picture with him,'' Rodgers said. ``He's a very warm, down-to-earth man. I was thrilled.''

Loaning out one's home can also be lucrative. Homeowners can earn more than $1,000 a day depending on the size and location of their property.

Most of the participating homeowners said they aren't worried about their house being damaged or their yard being trampled by crew members and their bulky equipment because production companies tend to be heavily insured and generally considerate about their borrowed surroundings.

Kelly and Andy Glover decided to loan out their two-story, 2,400-square-foot Valencia house. Their three young daughters work in the entertainment business, so the Glovers saw firsthand how crews behaved on location shoots at private homes, Kelly said.

She talked to several property owners about the pros and cons, and decided it would be a fun opportunity.

Crews ``put cardboard all over your floors so they're not even standing on your carpeting. They don't soil your carpet or damage your wood or linoleum floors,'' Kelly Glover said. ``They're very careful not to chip up the walls or bang things.''

The highlights? Her kids, ages 10, 7 and 2, think it's a great adventure when the production company puts the family up in ``a very nice hotel'' while their house is in use, Glover said. Sometimes her girls get to be extras in a scene.

And best of all, film crews apparently run on their stomachs - and they have been generous about feeding everybody in their midst. ``It's like having a big party, and the people who come to the party keep ordering more food, and they keep paying for it,'' Glover said.

Cast and crew of an as-yet unreleased film, ``Road To Ruin,'' were shuttled to Glover's neighborhood in buses from a vacant lot where their cars and equipment were kept during the three days of filming.

Most of her neighbors haven't minded the presence of film crews on their cul-de-sac; some set up lawn chairs and watched the action, Glover said. ``There was nothing to complain about because the crew was so responsible,'' she said.

Gary and Sherrie Arndt moved completely out of their distinctive two-story log house in Newhall during a television movie shoot a few years ago. ``Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story,'' starred Jaclyn Smith and was filmed in the family's 2,600-square-foot home, said Gary's mother, Jane Arndt, who lives next door with her husband, George.

The TV movie, filmed in November 1993, was about a police officer who beat up his wife.

Crews packed up all the Arndts' furnishings and belongings so the set decorators could create their own look for the movie. ``It was a real hassle,'' Jane Arndt recalled. ``They moved almost everything out of the house - took down the chandeliers and the drapes. ``They moved the refrigerator. They took dishes out of the cupboard.''

Still, when the movie aired, the Arndts tuned in and told all their Midwest relatives to do the same. ``We noticed how different it looks on TV. It looks bigger,'' she said.

Watching the filming, with repeated takes of the same scene, took a little of the magic away from the movie biz. ``You feel like, gee, if they retake something 15 times, then anybody could be an actor till they get it right,'' Arndt said. ``It's really not as glamorous a business as you might think.''

Glover said loaning out one's home isn't for everybody.

``People who are really meticulous about their house . . . would not want to do this, because this would be very nerve-racking,'' she said. ``You have to be a little easygoing. But they pay very well, so it's worth my time.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Ran in SAC edition only--Color) The Arndt family, Tim, 14, left, Sherrie, Gary and Jennifer, 15, moved out of their log house in Newhall for a TV movie starring Jaclyn Smith.

(2) Gary Arndt says crews packed up all of the family's furnishings and belongings for the shoot.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News