Manhattan Movie Mania (NYC Filmmaking)

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THE TRUMP SHUTTLE

ManhattanMovie Manta

Vho's Making Vbat, For Hoou Much, and For WbomThe city's film industryltasn't seen suclt goodtirnes since the 20s.So local leadinglights are cashing in onrhe # 2 -billion indusrryBl Frank Louece

T-"1 rom llaii Sveet to HesterI r Street to Across 110thf-tf vreer, t\ew iork uuy rsI :f #'."i: ffi,'i"'H-vana-that, of necessity, is LosAngeles. But between the flourishingfilrn community that shoots here, andthe investment community and Holly-wood corporate offices headquarteredhere, New York City is the place towhich pilgrims must regularly turn andface, or at least phone up.Within the last six years, according to

figures from the Mayor's Office of Filrn,Theater and Broadcasting, the numberoffeatures shot in New York increased89 percent; the number of entertain-ment TV projects leapt 238 percent.About 20,000 shooting days were com-pleted in 1988, an average of 55 simul-taneous projects a day.Numbers aside, the industry's glow-ing health is exemplified by the new Tri-BeCa Filrn Center, a production com-plex co-owned by Robert De Niro andinvestors Paul Wallace and Stuart Lane,and already home to Miramax Films and

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New York'J enorrtoustalent pool and reseruoirofpro duct i on faci I t iesrefueled the city'sflagging rnouie industry.

to current productions from WarnerBros., Columbia, and other studios.What inspired the actor to start the cen-ter? De Niro, who has just finishedshootng,Auakenings n New York withRobin Williams, said through a spokes-person, "I was looking for a develop-ment person to look for projects for meto do, and as I was interviewing peoplefor the job, I mentioned that we shouldhave a film center in New York that waseasily accessible. Then I saw this build-ing near where I live was vacant. MYhope is that the film center will recap-ture a sense of community. "'T n" second-busiest motion-pictureI center in the country, New Yorkhas all the components for a filrnmakingcommunity. Last year, the city saw theproduction of more than 115 featurefilrns, 150 television movies, series,and specials, nearly 2,000 commer-cials, and more than 300 music vid-

THE TRUMP SHUTTLEManhattan Movie Mania

eos-all generating more than $2.4 bil-lion in direct expenditures, and unac-countable revenue for everything fromhamburgers to hotel rooms."The film industry is very good forthe city not only in direct and indirectproduction revenues, but in promotingtourism and interest in all that goes onhere, " observes entertainment analystHarold Vogel, first vice-president ofMerrill Lynch Capital Markets. "Chi-cago has done nicely, attracting the filmindustry. Florida is going to be a majorcenter, with the new studios in Or-lando. And Canada-they all competeto some degree. Butno cityoutside LosAngeles has the conlluence of advan-tages you have in New York."Many filrnmakers agree. The city'sdiverse locations, enorrnous talentpool, multitude of facilities and ancillaryservices, and cooperative film commis-sion have made movies a major localindustry. The NewYork area is home to75,000 filrn professionals, the world'smost prestigious film festival, and virtu-ally all the major motion-picture artistsof our time: Robert De Niro, MartinScorsese, Meryl Streep, Woody Allen,Glenn Close, Dustin Hoffrnan, Al Pa-cino, Spike Lee. Not aJim Belushi in thebunch. "New York is just . . . NewYork," Pacino wryly reasons. "Whereelse you gonna find that?" he asks.Most analysts and filmmakers creditan aggressive and efficient film commis-sion for the healthy upsurge. The 24-

year-old division of the mayor's officeprovides location-shooting permits forfree-a rarity among the city and statecommissions that have sprung up in itswake. The only requirements are ashooting schedule and the purchase ofliability insurance, both of which evenlow-budget productions routinely needfor themselves anyway."The single-permit idea helped a hellof a lot," notes Herb Golden, senior en-tertainment consultant for Banker'sTrust. "The cityfigured one-stop shop-ping would encourage people to shoothere, and they were right. Because be-fore, every single pipsqueak who had alittle power could hold you up. " As com-mission director Patricia Reed Scottwryly puts it, "Twenty-five years ago,there were an awful lot of 'sidewalk su-perintendents' with their hands out. ""The commission does tend to en-courage; they don't hinder, " observesMark Gasper, an independent filrnma-ker whose $125,000 featwe, An EmPlyBed, was shot on more than a dozenManhattan locations. "That doesn'tmean I was able to close up streets-for that you've got to pay for barricadesand the like. But those are productioncosts, not city fees. As far as the citygoes, we shot on whatever streets wewanted, and we got the same specialparking permits they'd give anyoneelse. "D ud Mazursky, director of the re-I cently released, Enemies, A LoueStory, An Unmarri.edWoman, Moscowon the Hudson, and other New York-based films, agrees with his low-budgetbretlren tlat, "Cooperation from thecity and the working environment hereare both very good. And New Yorkjusthas something you can't find anywhereelse. I can't describe it. But I can giveyou this: When we were shooting theConey Island [summer beach] sceneslfor Enemiesfit was May and the waterwas freezing. But you need to showpeople in the water-so we got mem-bers of the Polar Bear Club. Thesetough old timers-they said, 'This isthe warmest time of the year for us!'Where else you gonna find somethinglike that on your doorstep?"Mazursky shot Enemi'es, A LoaeStory using NABET union crews; he

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gels some help from Robinwhile shoo{f!1g PennY torrheAwakefiltts,


could also have chosen to go with themore established but slightly more ex-pensive IATSE-which points up a un-ion flexibility most would not have ex-pected. "For a long time, the unionshere were pretty rough," concedesGolden. "In recent years, they've beenmuch more considerate and fairly coop-erative." Telly Savalas, on the 23rdStreet set of thenew Kojak TV movies,

Nice New Yorker", RSrr

agrees: "It's become expedient now. Ithink they finally settled a lot of thingshere in the city whereby it's feasible oreconomical to shoot in New York."That would be historically appropri-ate. Moviemaking was born in NewYork City and its environs nearly 100years ago. Soon after Thomas Edisonand his assistants perfected motion-pic-ture equipment in West Orange, NewJersey, nickelodeons and fledglingproduction companies mushroomedthroughout the metropolis. Edison'sKinetoscope Parlor at 1155 Broadwaywas like a turn-of-the-century EPCOTexhibit-while down the street, at 841

Niro's own film componn friBeCoProduclions, mokes its home in lhecomplex, olong with Miromox Films,ond other componies ore currentlynegolioting for spoce.And where do oll lhe cinemolic ge-niuses hong oul between lokes?fhe TriBeCo Grill, o reslourqnl onthe ground floor (co-inveslors in-clude Mikhoil Boryshnikov, SeonPenn, Bill Murroy, ond GhristopherReeve) operoted by Monlrochelowner Qrew Nieporent. ll hcs ol-reody hosled ot leost one porly-for De Niro's lle're NoAngels.

-DonnaWilkinson

De Niro Tria TriBeCas New York's repulolion os omovie-moking cenler conlin-ued lo grow, Robert De Nirothought thot the city locked o creo-tive filmmokers' think tonk. 5o,olong with lwo co-investors, thelwo-lime Acodemy Aword winner(fhe Godfather, Part II; Raging Bulllbought o former coffee worehouseot 375 Greenwich Streetfor $7.5 mil-lion ond lurned it into the TriBeCoFilm Center.The eight-srory lower Monhottonbuilding houses locilities for re-heorsols, produclion, ond ediring;ond o 7O-seot screening theoter. De

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Broadway, he had a major studio rival inAmerican Mutoscope and Biograph asearly as 1896. Soon Pathe, Vitagraph,and other legendary studios were inbustling business.And a rough-and-tumble business itwas-too much so. By 1909, litigationbetween Machiavellian patent-holdersand hustling entrepreneurs had reacheda boiling point; the patent wars of thenext five years drove nearly the entirefledgling industry to California, whereEast Coast patent holders couldn't easilyreach them and sunshine was plentifrrl.

rom 1920 to 1939, virtuallyallNewYork City production was centeredat a single soundstage, the FamousPlayers-Lasky studio in Astoria,

Queens. Then Famous Players-Lasky-by now called Paramount-shifted allproduction to Los Angeles. In 1942,they sold the Astoria studio to the U.S.Army, and except for the training filmsmade there, New York movie produc-tion virtually shut down.But it never entirely left. Soon thenewsreels of World War II and thespreading Italian neo-realist movementof the postwar era made audiencescrave authenticity. Inlluential pictures\ke The Lost Weekend (1945), Miracleon 34th Street (1947), Kiss of Death(1947),and, most notably, Naked CiA

(1948) were all shot here, herald-ing a prodigal return that gave "a NewYork film" new meaning and allure-even when New York locations substi-tuted for locales as varied as Boston(The Verdict) or Kansas (Sflendor in theGrass, shot on Staten Island).

In the 1970s, the renamed Kaufrnan-Astoria Studio began its comeback, andtoday, it and such other soundstages asSilvercup and Empire-Variety inQueens and Camera Mart (the formerTwentieth Century Fox studio) in Man-hattan play host to everything from big-name blockbusters to independent artfilms. Among the newly completed: An-drew Bergman's The Freshman tithMarlon Brando; Scorsese's Good Fel-las, starring De Niro and Ray Liotta;Quick Change, starring and co-directedby Bill Murray; The Cadillac Man, tithRobin Williams; Awakenings, with DeNiro and Williams; Variatbns onthe Mo'Better Blues, from director Spike Lee;Sidney Lumet's Q & A, starring NickNolte; Alan J. Paktila's P resumed Inno-cent, tithHarison Ford; AShock to theSystem, starring Michael Caine; ard R e-uersal of Fortune, the Claus von Biilowstory starring Glenn Close, JeremyIrons, and Ron Silver. And aside fromseven soap operas and countless news,talk, and sports programs, New York ishome to The Cosby Show, Kojak, Lawand Ordpr, True B lue, and other prime-time series."The level of activity's pretty good, "muses Golden. "There's no reason tosee an upsurge, but there's a hell of a lot

Boston's Biz Flicks-ft her wos bock in Boslon lcst( oecember shooting her loteslV li Im, if ernraids. She'd workedin the cify bebre, olong wllh JockNlchofson, on lhe Wlrthes oJEattwic* (19E7). fhe W showsSpencer For Hlre ond 5t Elsewherewere Boslon-bosed, ond scenes lorCheers ore periodlcolly done ln rhecity. Alrhough Bosron drcws itsshore of top fllm ond lV produclions{especlolly if lho silory needson ivy-lengue bockdrop-remember loveStory?l,the l osscchusetls Olfice ofFllm ond Vldeo Developmenl, cre-o?ed by Governor Dukokls in 1977,ocknowledges lhat Hgllywood ondNew York hove the onlerloinmentmorkel cornered. 5o lhe lllm officelooked beyond lhe glcmour roies ofthe lllm lndustry to molnly GorPo-role video lor loccl componles."ln lllossochusells yov hove somevery lucrollve businesses lhol use

lilm ond vldeo," soys RlchordGureghion, dlreclor of communico-fions lor economlc ollclrs. "l$e hoveone of the hoftesl venlor capitclseclors ln ths nallon, ond compq-nles need quollty vldeo cnd filmproduc'lions to sell lhemselves.Technology, sclence, ond educnllonoll use lilm ond vldeoi'ln 1988, lilm ond televlslon pro-duction ln llossochuaefls gonor-oted $309 rnilllon-wlth mo$ olt{reoctivlty centered ln Boslon, dccord-lng lo lhe lilm office. Since 1980, lnfoct, productlon revenues hqverlsen 9{10 percenl. Accordlng loIllcry Lou Crone, film office dlreclor,'evenly-?wo percenlof lhe moneyorlglnolad lrom within the stot6.lhls ligure olone signifles thestrangth of the liossochusetts pro-ductlon lnduefi qnd lts evolullonos o celf-gustalnlng regional pro-ducllon cenlen!'-L.G.

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More ThanJust aD,C, Postcardver since lhe memoroble llaSmilh Goes io WashinglonI-l (1939), rhe nolion's copiiol hosbeen the bockdrop for o steody

streom of silver screen clossics, in-cludlng fhe Day fhe Earth SloodSrill (19511, lhe Exorcist ll973l, A,lthe President's lten 11976l, ond Be-ing fhere (19791. During the 8Os,thecity reolly took off, with o string ofsmoshes such os Silkwood (1983),S]. Elmo's Flre (1985), Heorlburn(1986), Peggy Sue Got Morried(19851, Gardens ol Slone (19871, NoWhy Oul (19871, Broadcast News(l 987), ond Chances Are (l 989).Lost yeor wos D.C.'s biggest loron-locolion filming. According toCrysiol Polmer, direclor ol the Moy-orr's Clflice of fV ond Film, some $25mlllion wos generoled bythe indus-ry. ln oddition lo lhe Exorcist l99N (lobe releosed this summer), Polmersoys, "we hod severol fV series-Aton Called Hawke, Enoops, lop olthe Hill,and ltlancuso FBI."Three proiects ore olreody sched-uled ior 1990: Orion Pidvres' Dino-saurs, Poromounl's True Colors,ond ABG-TV's Capltal News.Wirh oll the other cities vying forthe blg-bucks movie business, D.C.'sfilm commission oims to pleose.'Then people come here, they ol-reody hove o perceplion oboulWoshingfon, becouse ifs so recog-nizoble," Polmer soys.'{le lell themoboul other ports of the cify-ondthol's how we've been oble to in-creirse our reyenue. YIte show themlhol we're more lhqn iusl postcordWoshington." _D.YI

of film and TV being shot here. "Vogel concurs. "The outlook is rea-sonably good, because the cost of going

outside the area is substantial: On a rel-ative basis, New York is less expensivethan alrnost any other location, becauseeverything's at your fingertips. If youshoot in Toronto, the exchange rate isfavorable, but you have travel costs and

other hidden costs. Here, you have awealth of technical expertise-not justcrews and studios, but all the ancillaryservices like marketing, financing, pub-licity." Then, he half-kiddingly sug-gests, "Other cities may have a record-ing studio or an entertaiffnent lawyeror two, but here you have enorrnouschoices. " And choice, filmmakersknow is what it's all about. EFrank Louece is an author and anationally sydirated entertainmentcolumnist for United Feature.

RE!'IEW/MARCH 1990

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Manhattan Movie Mania (NYC Filmmaking)