[Scan-DC] SCANNING OPPORTUNITY

[johnson at cpcug.org]

This movie shoot should give some opportunities to hear the "Inside" of
what is happening during the shoot.  Fourteen weeks of shooting will ample
time get down there sometime.

Ralph Johnson

While D.C. Is Seeing Stars, Locals Will Be Getting Work

Nikita Stewart
Washington Post staff writer

The District has given a $1.7 million grant to Columbia Pictures in return
for hiring more than 100 local crew members, several hundred extras and 20
youths to work on a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Owen
Wilson and Paul Rudd to be filmed in the city.

The still-untitled film by writer/director James L. Brooks will be in
production for 14 weeks and is expected to generate $8.5 million in local
spending, officials said yesterday.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and
the film's producers made the announcement yesterday morning at a news
conference inside an Adams Morgan building that will be used for a scene
in the movie.

The grant, through the Film D.C. Economic Incentive Grant Fund, is a small
price to pay as the city tries to lure Hollywood to the District, said
Kathy Hollinger, director of the city's Office of Motion Picture and
Television Development.
"You want them to come here and hire local people, not bring them from
L.A.," she said.

Film productions in 2007 and 2008 generated $115 million in spending in
the District, city officials said.

Students from McKinley Technology High School and the Duke Ellington
School of the Arts, as well as some college students who live in the
District, probably will be hired to join the production through the
mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program, Hollinger said. The college
students will start when filming begins next week, and the high school
students probably will not start until school ends June 15, she said.  The
experience should prove valuable for young people hoping to enter the
entertainment industry.
"They'll get a feeling for being on set. It's a start," producer Paula
Weinstein said.

The film's producers and Hollinger said this summer's student crew will be
part of an effort to create a base of experienced workers for the future. 
Gary Martin, president of Sony Pictures Studio Operations and president of
production administration for Columbia Tristar Motion Picture Group, said
the local hires could be called upon later when other productions come to
the District to shoot on location.

It is easier for studios to film in a city where experienced local crews
are available, Weinstein said in an interview.