Arizona bills would offer incentives to lure film producers

The Arizona Daily Star, March 15, 2005
By Lynda Edwards

Mar. 15--David Carradine gained fame in "Kung Fu" playing a sweet, sensitive Shaolin priest who could kill men with his bare hands. He recently helped "Kill Bill, Vol. 2" earn $25.6 million in its first day on screen playing a cruel, hypersensitive villain who can kill with his bare hands.

But Thadd Turner, Tucson-based independent film producer, got Carradine to star in "Miracle at Sage Creek," a $2 million movie written by Turner, filming now at Old Tucson Studios' Mescal location. Last week, Carradine sipped off-brand bottled water under a billowing white tarp as cameramen mapped his next scene.

The Arizona Senate is considering two bills offering tax incentives for film producers in an effort to compete with New Mexico and Louisiana in landing Hollywood films. But Turner thinks that becoming a favorite Hollywood movie backdrop isn't the only way to generate a local film community that draws tourists as well as the next George Lucas or Spike Jonze.

"I hope Arizona's film commissions realize that they need to support everyone at every level of the film industry, including local indies who don't work for a Hollywood studio," said Turner, an author of Wild West histories who sports long brown hair and a handlebar moustache. "Local indies are the bloodstream that keeps a city's film industry alive. Blockbusters don't come every day. Indies give jobs to local grips, sound men, stylists, the skilled work force big Hollywood producers want in place when they come to town." Turner got financial backing from private investors for the film, then met with Los Angeles distributors to negotiate venues such as movie theater chains, cable TV or DVDs.

Shelli Hall, Tucson Film Office director, said she seldom has time to network with indies. Her office has only two staffers, counting herself.

Her office does offer free scouting trips -- airfare and two nights' stay in a hotel -- to filmmakers interested in Tucson. Hall said her office found that 12 of the 50 applicants last year had legitimate projects and got free trips.

Hollywood folklore casts indies as the romantics of cinema, whose scripts are too intimate or radical or weird to get a studio backing. But indies can have an impact on a city's film industry that goes beyond economic, noted Gary Bond, the Austin, Texas, film commissioner. Austin's Robert Rodriguez shot "El Mariachi" for $7,000 in 1992. The movie became a word-of-mouth hit, generating rave reviews that landed him studio gigs including the $60 million "Spy Kids."

"He (still) lives here, holds film classes for aspiring indies. Directors and acclaimed actors drop by Austin to hang out with him," Bond said. "Before Robert, I'm not sure young indies got much guidance from our film commission. Now, the less money a filmmaker has, the more help he's likely to get from us."

And Turner notes that movies like his give local filmmakers a chance to acquire skills they need to be hired by big productions. About half the 76 members of his cast and crew are locals. The rest include contacts from previous movies he's worked on as an extra or consultant, including stylists he fondly calls the "Montana Makeup Posse."

They all work on Mescal's dirt street lined with Victorian-era wood, stone and brick buildings. Old Tucson provided costumes for some actors like production assistant Jeremy Tiffin, who hopes to be a stuntman.

"I play an extra in a scene here where I get shot in the leg, but I don't know if I'll get screen credit," Tiffin said. "It doesn't matter. I'd rather have the worst job on a set than the best job in the real world." "Sage Creek's" unit production manager is Jon Proudstar, an aspiring indie. He recently worked with Ben Lopez, president of Tucson's chapter of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, on "Dude Vision", a love story told through guys' eyes.

Proudstar said Old Tucson saved him immense time because so many sets came with props. The general store across the street was already equipped with penny candy jars and china dolls on shelves.

Old Tucson CEO Peter Mangelsdorf said the Mescal set normally rents for $1,800 daily.

"We gave it to Thadd's movie for much less than that," Mangelsdorf said. "I don't want to say how much less because each case is different. But we put together incentive packages for moviemakers like discounts on catering, set dressing and hotel rates." Mangelsdorf is part of a commission named by Gov. Janet Napolitano last month to coax film producers here.

Commissioners were fuming most because a movie called "The Perfect Man," penned by Tucsonan Heather Robinson about a Tucson teen -- starring pop idol Hilary Duff -- was being shot in Canada. When one complained about U.S. Sen. John McCain's book "Faith of My Fathers" being filmed in Louisiana, Napolitano reminded commissioners that not every problem can be solved by tax incentives.

"Gov. Napolitano said a lot of the movie covers McCain's time in Vietnam," Mangelsdorf said, "and a Louisiana bayou resembles the tropical jungle more than anything you see in Arizona."