Film commission gives away LA's Hollywood secrets

LOS ANGELES - Some are accusing the California Film Commission of being a traitor for teaching outside film commissioners how to bring movie and television productions to their communities.

The allegations are particularly stinging because the state film commission recently received $45 million in taxpayer money to stem the $10 billion tide of entertainment production that has run out of Hollywood.

The tips are being offered to about 200 film commissioners from across the nation and as far away as Japan and Venezuela who are attending the Cineposium 200 meetings this week in Manhattan Beach.

Cody Cluff, president of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., which is the nonprofit film office for Los Angeles city and county, is boycotting the event.

''We don't train people to take away our business,'' Cluff told The Daily News of Los Angeles in Friday's newspaper. ''In the end, you're undermining your own effectiveness. I don't think we need to be overly helpful.''

Cineposium 2000 includes seminars on a variety of topics on how to woo and profit from Hollywood production. They include: seminars on negotiating techniques; using the Internet to highlight locations and turning movie sites into tourist destinations.

There is no conflict between holding the event and the recent $45 million the state agency received to keep production in California, said Karen Constine, director of the California Film Commission.

''We acknowledge that California, as the birthplace of the film industry, is facing competition, but we're up for it,'' said Constine. ''There are certain standards of how film commissions should do business and this teaches those skills.''

The commission lent its name out of courtesy, she said. Other film offices have done the same when the Association of Film Commissioners International brought the annual events to London, Denver and Orange County in past years, Constine said.

Union leaders, however, disagree with the commission's stance. Some of those leaders represent crews that have lost work to Canada's aggressive courting of Hollywood production with tax breaks.

''This is a slap in the face,'' said Norm Glasser, business agent for the Studio Electrical and Lighting Technicians Local 728 in Panorama City. ''We're the people that live here and pay the taxes. It's an infringement on our jobs when they come into L.A. and solicit for jobs to go to other states that offer incentives.''

Movies-of-the-week and miniseries shot in California have been on the decline for the past 11 years in California. In 1999, 20 percent fewer of these productions were shot in California, while similar production in Canada rose 26 percent, according to a study by industry analyst Stephen Katz.

Hollywood could take a lesson from the way Canada and other locales aggressively pursue entertainment production, said Ward Emling, president of the Association of Film Commissioners.

''We're always trying to improve the access to locations around the world and would hope to make it easier to film in Los Angeles, too,'' Emling said. ''Essentially each film you recruit is a little industry. They come in and select a site, set up offices, create a product, downsize and go away. If you seek it and make the environment friendly, then it'll show up.''