RUNAWAY FILM FIASCO L.A. AGENCY HELPED PITTSBURGH MOVIE BUREAU RAISE MONEY.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

A nonprofit corporation created by Los Angeles' elected officials to combat runaway film production helped sponsor the Pittsburgh Film Office's fund-raising effort to attract television and movie production to western Pennsylvania, the Daily News learned Wednesday.

The Entertainment Industry Development Corp., facing a criminal investigation by county prosecutors over exorbitant expenses and funneling thousands of dollars to the political campaigns of its board members, contributed at least $10,000 over the past two years to help sponsor the annual gala for the Pittsburgh Film Office.

The event this year netted a $120,000 profit and within months Pittsburgh was able to attract producers of TV's ``The West Wing'' to film there.

``Unbelievable ... It seems to be conflicting with the purpose behind the EIDC,'' said Vance Van Petten, executive director for the Producers Guild of America.

``I don't understand, I can't even comprehend the validity for that kind of contribution. Taking nothing away from the Pittsburgh Film Office, my understanding is that EIDC is to promote filming and taping in Los Angeles, that that is the objective.''

EIDC officials defended their action.

``Pittsburgh is not competition for us, and neither are a lot of smaller production centers across the country,'' said EIDC Vice President Morrie Goldman. ``Los Angeles has the best locations and the best crews.''

Mayor James Hahn, a member of the EIDC executive committee who received contributions from the agency for his campaign and for his anti-secession effort, was unaware of the agency's role in sponsoring the Pittsburgh events.

``If true, it would seem to fly in the face of EIDC's effort to bring production here,'' Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook said.

The EIDC was formed by the city and county to make it easier to get permits to film in the area and to work with the industry to stem the trend of production going elsewhere in the country or overseas where costs are lower.

The district attorney's investigation has focused on the EIDC's use of millions of dollars in film permits that previously went to government agencies.

EIDC President Cody Cluff's two homes were searched by Cooley's investigators earlier this month, as was EIDC's office.

The District Attorney's Office is reviewing political contributions to board members, including Hahn, City Council members and county supervisors, and more than $500,000 paid to cover Cluff's expenses.

EIDC officials have said all the contributions and expenses were justified and that the group is a private corporation, not a public agency.

Cluff and Pittsburgh Film Office director Dawn Keezer serve on the board of Film US, a national organization fighting runaway production to overseas destinations.

Neither Cluff nor Keezer returned phone calls. Pittsburgh Film Office officials said Keezer was the only person who could comment.

EIDC's Goldman said Pittsburgh's film office needed the help because government funding that previously supported it had gone instead to new sports stadiums, and that it was important to keep it ``viable.'' Cluff also told him that about $40,000 from the EIDC helped underwrite creation of Film US, he said.

About a dozen movies have been made in the Pittsburgh area since 1995, the year the EIDC was created.

``We want to keep every production in Los Angeles that we can,'' Goldman added. ``But, if for some reason a film company wants a look we can't offer, we'd rather they go to Pittsburgh than Toronto.''

``The West Wing,'' an L.A. show, filmed several episodes in western Pennsylvania this summer, the region Keezer's Pittsburgh Film Office promotes. EIDC's Goldman referred inquiries to ``West Wing'' producers, who could not be reached for comment.

An article published in Pittsburgh at the time said Keezer was visiting Los Angeles when she ``heard'' that the show was looking for a location. She was quickly able to get to the producers and persuade them to come to Pittsburgh.

It's the first major Hollywood production in that area of Pennsylvania since ``The Mothman Prophecies'' was filmed there in 2001.

Other cities' film offices - including Pittsburgh's - don't make reciprocal contributions to the EIDC, Goldman said. The EIDC discourages their participation in local events.

``This is our town,'' he said.

District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Jane Robison said prosecutors would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Sources said the EIDC expenditures benefiting the Pittsburgh Film Office could add another misuse of funds allegation to the growing list, assuming that the EIDC's revenues are determined to be public funds.

The source said it seemed difficult to construe the contributions as being consistent with the EIDC's mission to keep movie production in L.A.

``In the case of Pittsburgh, (it's hard to see) how that benefits L.A.,'' the source said.

Interviews and documents show the EIDC made the contributions to fund two years of the Pittsburgh gala, which this year was held on Oscar night in March and was called ``Lights! Glamour! Action!''

Jim Artzberger, director of engineering for Viewpoint Production Services in Pittsburgh, said his company videotaped the glamorous event so those inside the theater complex could watch as luminaries arrived by limo, entering the building under a canopy.

``Basically the event is to fund Pittsburgh's film office, to promote the city of Pittsburgh in the film industry, to solicit filmmakers to come to Pittsburgh to do films here,'' said Artzberger, whose company along with the EIDC was one of the ``nominee sponsors'' at the gala.

Local restaurants provided sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres, he said.

Artzberger said the Pittsburgh Film Office lost its major government funding sources after new football and baseball stadiums were built, causing them in the past couple of years to fund-raise more aggressively through bigger galas, which he said appeared successful.

``They closed half (the theaters) and it was hard to move around,'' he said.