A Race To The Oscar

As you’ve probably noticed by now, we are in the middle of Hollywood’s 2010 award season – Golden Globe, Directors Guild of America (DGA), Screen Actors Guild, People’s Choice, etc., have been gracing the stages and television screens, and making headlines continually for weeks now. But the most coveted trophy to bring home – the Oscar – is still up for grabs on March 7, 2010 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

This morning, Oscar finally made their announcement on who the 2010 nominees are. We are excited to share that four of the ten “Best Motion Picture of the Year” nominees were filmed in seven of our clients’ states.

Without further ado, the nominees for 2010 Best Motion Picture of The Year are:

• Avatar (filmed in California)
• The Blind Side (filmed in Georgia)
• District 9
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
• A Serious Man (filmed in Minnesota)
• Up
• Up in the Air (filmed in Missouri, Nevada, Florida, and Michigan)

And in case you haven’t seen the complete list of all 2010 Oscar nominees, it is here.

Congratulations to the nominees! Don’t forget to tune in to the Oscar on March 7.

10 Best Cities to Live, Work and Make Movies in 2010

Movie Maker Magazine recently publishes their list of Where to Live and Shoot in 2010.  As usual, iconic cities such as Los Angeles (No. 2) and New York (No. 4) sit prominently on the list. However, the No. 1 position might be a surprise — especially to those outside the industry. Have we peaked your interest yet?

Here’s the 10 Best Cities to Live, Work and Make Movies in 2010, according to Movie Maker Magazine:

1. Albuquerque, NM
2. Los Angeles, CA
3. Shreveport, LA
4. New York, NY
5. Austin, TX
6. Stamford, CT
7. Boston, MA
8. Detroit, MI
9. Philadelphia, PA
10. Seattle, WA

What makes Albuquerque such a hot spot to the film industry? New Mexico’s production tax credit is a generous one, “up to 25% tax rebate with a fully refundable tax credit on all eligible direct production costs against the filmmaker’s New Mexico income tax.” In addition, the 54-acre Albuquerque Studios are now open for business, fully equipped with eight state-of-the-art sound stages, production office space, mill and set-construction space, production support, post-production suites including a 25,000-square-foot prop/costume/wardrobe shop (courtesy of NBC/Universal), and a huge backlot.

Great facilities and tax incentive aside, there are still many other draws for making movies in Albuquerque. Producer Ryil Adamson (Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer) sums it up nicely for us:

I don’t think we could’ve made our movie in any other city in the world. We were able to find people who had worked on the biggest movies in the world. We also needed extra help from the city, and the whole community pitched in. The local SAG office even assisted us with casting.

For more details, check out the Movie Maker Magazine article here.  And, oh yes, of the 10 individual states that are home to the above-mentioned cities, seven of the ten are Reel-Scout clients.

Top 18 Landscape Film Locations in the American West

It’s hard to think of movies made in Hollywood without seeing images of the American West. Golden deserts and awe-inspiring canyons, majestic mountain tops, wide serene lakes, and vineyard hills are just a few of the unforgettable vistas often memorialized in many of our favorite movies. The diversity of the American West landscapes is definitely one of the biggest calling cards to the film industry. No wonder Hollywood quickly relocated to California in the early 20th century, after just a few short years stationed in New York.

So without further ado, we’d like to share with you a few of the top landscape film locations in the American West and the iconic movies that make them famous:

1. Glacier National Park, Montana: Cattle Queen of Montana, Heaven’s Gate
2. Paradise Valley, Montana: A River Runs Through It, The Horse Whisperer
3. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming: The Big Sky, Shane
4. Devil’s Tower, Wyoming: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
5. Badlands National Park, South Dakota: Dances With Wolves
6. Pyramid Lake, Nevada: The Misfits
7. Lake Tahoe and Truckee, California: A Place in the Sun, The Gold Rush
8. Monterey Peninsula and Point Lobos, California: Vertigo, The Sandpiper
9. Mount Whitney and Lone Pine, California: High Sierra
10. Santa Ynez Valley, California: Sideways
11. Death Valley, California: Zabriskie Point, Star Wars
12. Zion National Park, Utah: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jeremiah Johnson
13. Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona border: Stagecoach, The Searchers, Easy Rider
14. Moab, Utah and its surroundings: Rio Grande, Thelma & Louise, Geronimo
15. San Juan Mountains in Ouray County, Colorado: True Grit
16. Chama River Valley, New Mexico: All the Pretty Horses, City Slickers, Wyatt Earp
17. Zia Pueblo Reserve, New Mexico: All the Pretty Hourses, The Missing
18. Alamo Village in Bracketville, Texas: The Alamo

We’re sure you can also add a few more to this list based on some of your personal favorite movies. Feel free to include them in the comment section below.

3 Must-Have Books for Movie and Film Location Lovers

Have you ever watched a movie and fallen in love with its settings and locations so much you wish you could be there on your next vacation? We have! We find ourselves constantly wondering how we can get to that beautiful seaside town in The Proposal, or whether the eccentric inn-on-stilts in Nights in Rodanthe really exists. And so we set out to do a bit of online sleuthing, in search of the perfect reads that would give us some insights into the world of movie locations.

Here are the 3 best books on film locations – to date:

1. The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations by Tony Reeves

   

   If you want to know where Catch Me If You Can was filmed, the real location of that deserted island where Tom Hanks spent his Cast Away days, or which baseball field was used in A League of Their Own,  you will love this book. Locations of more than 1,500 films are featured in this one 6×9 volume. The Sunday Telegraph proclaims this book “essential reading for movie buffs.” We agree. It’s currently temporarily sold out on Amazon, but you can still put in your order and get the book as soon as it’s available. We actually bought our used copy online from an independent bookseller. It arrived the other day in mint condition. Having examined the book first hand, we wish the photographs were in color instead of black and white. The inside layout isn’t as visually appealing as we had expected, but it is packed with detailed information on film locations. For example, did you know that the setting of Beaumont-sur-Mer in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (one of our favorite ’80s flicks) is fictitious, and that the actual filming took place instead at the Grand Hotel de Cap-Ferrat in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, an elegant Edwardian resort east of Nice? Just another reason to get to the South of France this year for us.

2. On Location: Cities of the World in Film by Claudia Hellman and Claudine Weber-Hof

   

   A fun, worldly romp of famous movie locations worldwide, this book provides addresses and city maps for a tour of Notting Hill’s charming streets, When Harry Met Sally’s New York, as well as takes us to that quaint cottage in Snowshill, Cotswold, where Bridget Jones’s parents hosted their Christmas party. The book features 18 cities (including Los Angeles, Paris, Beijing, Sydney, Prague, Berlin, etc.) and some of the most famous movies filmed on location there. The photographs are gorgeous and the maps quite legible and useful. One of our favorite finds in the book is the exact location that served as the “homey backdrop for the royal runaway (Audrey Hepburn) and reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) to get better acquainted” in Roman Holiday: Via Margutta and the charming apartment Number 51 – both near the Spanish Steps and Via Condotti in Rome (p. 139).

3. On Location 2: Famous Landscapes in Film by Claudia Hellman and Claudine Weber-Hof

   

   Built on the success and popularity of the first On Location book (mentioned above), Volume 2 of the On Location series continues to showcase detailed information on the filming locations of approximately 400 movies in over 40 countries, complete with original photos, maps, and filmmaking anecdotes. Locations of internationally-acclaimed movies such as Lord of the Rings, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Lawrence of Arabia are among the ones featured. One of our favorite sections in the book is “Literary Landscapes.” It features all the exquisite locations of Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, The Remains of the Day, Howard’s End and many other romantic period films.

If you’re a movie lover, you will love these books, especially the beautiful, coffee-table On Location series. An hour reading one of these gorgeous books will make you feel as if you’re actually on a holiday by the Italian Lakes with … say … George Clooney (see p. 112 of On Location 2 for directions to Ocean’s Twelve’s Visconti villa). Bon voyage!

By the way, the Nights in Rodanthe house’s real name is “Serendipity.” Although it is not mentioned in any of these books, we did find a bit of information on it here. Perhaps we will write about it in another post. Stay tuned.

A Holiday Poem

It has become a beloved tradition at Reel-Scout for Ed, our writer-in-residence, to pen a Holiday poem to our clients. This year is no exception. Here it is, a heartfelt thanks from all of us at Reel-Scout.

Roses are red.
Violets are pink.
This holiday poem
Is perhaps not what you think.

Yes, Christmas is coming.
And the geese are getting fat.
But there’s more to this season,
Than a jolly red hat.

Yes, the time is approaching
We’ve long been told,
Of presents and gifts
Big, bright, and bold.

And while that’s true,
At least to a degree,
That’s definitely not all,
That should grace your tree.

Yes, Christmas is coming.
That’s certainly true.
But don’t forget Hanukkah, Kwanzaa,
And Thanksgiving, too.

You say Thanksgiving’s past?
Don’t be a bore.
Have another think,
And then think some more.

Thanksgiving’s the holiday
That this card’s about,
And we intend to show it
With a big “shout-out.”

A shout-out to whom?
Just sit and relax.
We’ve got your backs.

Oh, before we get going,
One more thing to announce:
When you see initials,
NC is “IN CEE.”
Saying “North Carolina” won’t click.
This is a poem, you know,
And we want it to stick.

So let’s get going,
We say with a smile.
But grab a seat:
This might take awhile.

There’s Philly and Maryland,
Georgia, Indiana,
Washington and NC,
Texas and Montana.
There’s Lafayette and Dallas,
Austin and PA,
San Fran and Sonoma,
Cleveland and VA.

There’s St. Pete and the Keys,
Pittsburgh and Jacksonville,
San Diego, Monterey,
Orlando and Martinsville.
There’s Florida and Kansas,
South Dakota and SC,
Missouri and New Hampshire,
Los Angeles and CT.
There’s Alabama and Arizona,
And Mississippi times two.
That’s MS Film and MS Tourism,
So there’s plenty to do.
There’s TN and CA,
Alaska and WY,
Oklahoma and NM,
Oregon and MI.
Memphis and Shelby County
That’s actually just one.
But the three offices in Miami
Means three times the fun.
There’s Baton Rouge and Minnesota,
Hampton Roads and NV,
Utah and Idaho,
Illinois and ME.
There’s Emerald Coast and Baltimore,

And, if we do say,
That’s a pretty good list
And there’s more on the way.
And, finally, our home state
Which has an earlier mention
But, given our locale,
Deserves a bit more attention.
There’s Western and Wilmington
NC Film and Tourism, too.
Throw in Durham and Reel-Scout
And it’s close to a zoo.

But that’s beside the point,
And we hope you agree.
There’s something deeper at work
Which we trust you see.

Yes, Christmas is coming.
That’s certainly true.
But this card’s about thanks giving,
From us to you.

Our gratitude is yours.
And, as we reflect,
Not only our thanks,
But our deepest respect
This shout-out’s to you.
It’s heartfelt beyond doubt.
The best to you and yours

From your friends at … Reel-Scout.

“Everybody’s Fine” in Connecticut

Being in the film business, we love movies. Rarely does a Friday roll around without us getting excited about a new film’s opening. This weekend, our hearts are set on catching the just-released holiday movie “Everybody’s Fine,” a remake of Oscar  winner Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Stanno Tutti Bene.” The movie follows a widower (Academy Award winner Robert De Niro) on his impromptu road trip to visit his grown children during the holidays. In addition to De Niro, the cast is an ensemble of many of our favorite actors including Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, and Sam Rockwell. Although it is a holiday movie, we have been duly warned that “Everybody’s Fine” is “a prickly, bittersweet weeper about a father’s attempts at reconnection and reconciliation with his … far-flung children.”

In addition to its intriguing trailer and heartwarming family holiday movie theme, we can’t wait to see “Everybody’s Fine” because of another good reason. This Miramax production was filmed for the most part in the beautiful, idyllic towns of Connecticut – and we are proud to say that the Connecticut Film Office is one of our very own clients.

It’s The Perfect Time To Say …

All of us at Reel-Scout thank you for your heartfelt support throughout the years. We are blessed to have such wonderful friends and clients.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Thor to be filmed in Los Angeles and New Mexico

Reel-Scout just heard from the grapevine that the much-anticipated movie Thor by Marvel Studios will be filmed in three of our clients’ backyards: California, Los Angeles and New Mexico. Production Weekly also confirmed the locations in its tweet last Friday. Congratulations to FilmLA, California Film Commission, and New Mexico Film Office! As we mentioned last week, you are definitely among the Top 5 Filming Locations in North America.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the principal photography for Thor will start filming in Los Angeles in mid-January, and in Santa Fe in March 2010.

Thor is scheduled for release in May 20, 2010, with a powerhouse cast including Chris Hemsworth (as Thor), Natalie Portman (as Jane Foster), Anthony Hopkins (as Odin), Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston (as Loki), Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore, and Stellan Skarsgard.

Marvel Studios have been producing a series of successful films, one of which is our very own favorite Iron Man. Much to our excitement, Iron Man 2 will also start its production in April 2010. We will keep an eye out for news on its filming locations.

California Filming Incentive Proven Successful

We have good news to report! It looks like California’s economy is picking up again in the film and television industries.

Ever since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced a new tax credit program for productions filmed in California last July, over 36 movies and television shows have already signed up to benefit from the state’s tax credit program. “Productions that were slated to film outside the state have shifted gears and are now shooting in California because of our film and television incentive,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. This influx of work will create about 150-200 jobs with each project filmed in the state.

No wonder California is now again heading the list of the Top 5 Filming Locations in North America!

Top Locations for Filmmaking in North America

Last month, Variety wrote an article listing the top places in the world that location managers, directors and other industry insiders voted as best locations for filmmaking. Reel-Scout is excited to share that our film office clients represent three of the Top 5 markets for filmmaking:  California (No. 1), New Mexico (No. 3), and Chicago (No. 4).

Some of the unique features that make California, New Mexico, and Chicago popular with the film and television production industries are:

California

• Deepest talent pool on/off camera.
• Largest, most technologically advanced production infrastructure and equipment globally.
• Varied outdoor filming locations: snowy mountains, beaches, vineyards, forests, deserts, hilly cities (San Francisco), palmy urban areas (Los Angeles), and of course the one and only Hollywood.
• 20-25% tax credits.

New Mexico

• Unusual sceneries and locations from white desert sands to woodsy mountains.
• 25% tax rebates.
• Rapid and steady growth of local studios such as Albuquerque Studios, Rio Grande Studios, and a new studio complex soon to be launched in Santa Fe.
• Large crew base.

Chicago

• Urban America: iconic downtown skyline, blend of traditional and modern architecture, Lake Michigan
• 30% tax credit
• Deep crew base
• Outstanding post facilities and equipment-rental companies

A few more of our clients receive Honorable Mentions:  for “Best Incentives” — Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina; for “Best Film-Office Support” — Connecticut and Utah; and for “Best Doubles for Locations” — Arizona.

Below is the complete list of “best places for filmmaking” according to industry pros:

Top 5 North American Locations

1. California
2. New York
3. New Mexico
4. Chicago
5. Louisiana

Top 5 International Locations

1. Morocco
2. France
3. Prague
4. Spain
5. United Kingdom

Honorable Mentions

• Best Visual Appeal – Croatia, Hawaii, Panama
• Best Incentives – Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina
• Best Film-Office Support – Connecticut, Utah, Vancouver
• Best Production Resources – Sydney, Montreal, Toronto
• Best Doubles for Other Locations – Buenos Aires, Iceland, Arizona

Congratulations to all Reel-Scout clients who made this much-coveted list!

To read the entire article, please click here.