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Home My WebLink AboutED Movie Company RecruitmentCfTY O nd I�V" �� SAN RAFAEL REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY Agenda Item No: Meeting Date: October 19,1998 SAN RAFAEL REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY AGENDA REPORT SUBJECT: Movie Company Recruitment SUBMITTED BY: �� APPROVED BY: _di Jake rs, Economic Development Director Rodbould, Executive Director DATE: October 16, 1998 REPORT RECOMMENDATION Approve funding of $8,095 for Movie Recruitment web site. We are looking to recruit movie companies to San Rafael to shoot their movies, television shows, commercials, etc. This can be revenue-producing for the City of San Rafael though permit fees, business licenses, facility rentals. By adding a web site to our existing web pages, we will make it easier for the film industry to find San Rafael for its location needs. BACKGROUND: California is currently losing nearly $3 billion annually in production of movies, commercials and television shows to other states that have become aggressive in luring film projects away. This phenomenon is costing California not only significant revenue, but also many, many jobs. The California Film Commission is committed to helping California cities keep the California movie industry at home, and to bring the New York industry here as well. The motion picture industry employs 600,000 Californians. The California Film Commission's Guidebook for communities states that " Film production is a clean, non-polluting, quick ingestion of revenue for a local community. When a feature film goes on location requiring overnight stays, the cast and crew will often remain in that location for two to six weeks. Expenditures for companies filming on location average $30,000 per day. The impact on various local businesses can be significant. The average feature film involves a FOR AGENCY SECRETARY ONLY File No.: R Agency Meeting: 1 0 1,7gr Disposition: fgr o q-( Page 2 crew of 90 people and a cast of 10 principal actors, requiring 100 rooms. In addition, each cast and crew member receives approximately $75 per diem, which can mean $7,500 spent per day on `personal expenses,' like meals." Many times a movie company will bring only key crew members and hire locally. Marin County is a mecca for qualified technicians in this industry. Automobile rental companies can be called upon to rent ten vehicles at a time. Local dry cleaners are required for the cast and crew. Banks are called upon for operating monies, and act as payroll companies. Gas stations, lumber yards and hardware stores can all expect a boost in business during film production. Location scouts investigate possible sites, often with the assistance from the State Film Commission. We are suggesting that we become our own scout by putting out to the world our beautiful site locations on the World Wide Web. This web site will host pictures of all of San Rafael's site locations: Falkirk, the Mission, the Bay, some of the old homes in the City as well as some of the new homes, the brick yard, Pickleweed, Downtown San Rafael, the Rafael Theatre, Albert Ball Park, the library, Dominican College, St. Vincent's School, the Downtown events, and many more beautiful sites in San Rafael. ANALYSIS The initial development of this site will focus on: 1. Building a foundation for storing and viewing set locations throughout San Rafael. 2. Promotion of San Rafael commercial organizations that provide service and product support to film production companies. 3. Providing centralized and easy -to -understand information on film permit processing. 4. A presentation of filming that has taken place in San Rafael. 5. An overview of the San Rafael film location planning and coordination services. The plan is to build this site in three phases: Phase I This involves the design and development of the web site components. These components comprise the essential parts that help to make a web site structurally sound, and lays the foundation upon which future information can be expanded. This project will require the use of many photographs; and we have estimated Mr. Jacobson's proposal for initial development to encompass fifty sites. Each site will have a thumbnail representation, a full size photo for viewing and will include copy. Phase II The second phase involves acquiring Internet services that will provide the web site infrastructure. We have already purchased a digital camera to use for this project. With this camera we have already been able to recruit a movie company from New York. PBS is doing a special on Joe D'Maggio in the Bay Area. They were looking for a home or restaurant that would allow them to shoot Mr. D'Maggios friends in interviews. The new camera allowed us to take pictures that day of four different restaurants and Falkirk. These were then e-mailed directly to New York within an hour of the request. The movie company is coming to San Rafael and are deciding between Falkirk and Salute Restaurant. Once we have all these photos logged in, a company will simply be able to go into our web site and find locations that might fit their needs. Page 3 Phase III This will include web site maintenance, support and ongoing development services. This includes making periodic changes, additions and regularly reviewing web site usage. We are estimating four hours of maintenance per month. However, this can vary depending upon need. Phase IV Once the web site is complete, we will send out a postcard to all the scouts, location recruiters and move companies to which our site is available for viewing. All applications will be available on the web site, as well. FISCAL E%IPACT: Cost of $7,095 from Redevelopment funds to have Bill Jacobson Internet Consulting work with Brigitte Moran to design and set-up a web site. $1,000 to have postcards designed, printed and mailed to the movie companies, scouts and location recruiters. OPTIONS: Disapprove funding ACTION REQUIRED: Approve funding of $8,095 for Movie Recruitment web site.