Keep films in LA effort keeps fighting against filming in other states. "Mentalist" joins the battle. About 300 protesters marched down 56th Street past a theater in Highland Park , hoisting placards with slogans like “Stop Targeting Aliens,” “We’re not Thugs” and chanting “We’re united.”No, this wasn’t an immigration rights rally. The demonstrators were actually extras who gathered on a hot Monday morning to film a scene for an upcoming episode of “The Mentalist, “ the CBS
crime drama that is shooting its fourth season in Los Angeles. Producers had cordoned off three blocks in the Highland Park community , where the extras milled with another 100 crew members and the show’s stars Simon Baker, Amanda Righetti and Tim Kang, whose characters were investigating a murder amidst the protest.
“This was a big one for us,’’ said location manager David Marmolejo, who spent a week getting the necessary permits and approvals to film the protest march sequence. “Your average Joe doesn’t realize how many people work on a show like this. There are lot of people who are contributing to our local economy.”
To reinforce the point, “The Mentalist” is among the first of several local TV shows that have emblazoned their production trucks with eight-foot long yellow and black banners with the slogan: “FilmWorks. Keep jobs in Los Angeles.”
The banners are part of a two-year, $150,000 marketing campaign launched in December by FilmL.A., Inc., the nonprofit group that handles films permits for the city and incorporated areas of the country. The goal is to remind often film-weary L.A. residents how important their signature industry is at a time when the region has struggled to keep productions from leaving the state.
“The Mentalist” is one of about 45 one-hour dramas and nearly 60 sitcoms that regularly film in Los Angeles, which still remains the largest production hub in the world, notwithstanding growing competition from cities like Vancouver, Canada, Detroit, Michigan, and New Orleans, Louisiana.
FilmL.A. has been plastering thousands of FilmWorks logos on bumper stickers, billboards, bus stops, kiosks and, more recently, film equipment trucks. The campaign also will feature a 90-second public service announcement starring Tia Carrere that will run in Mann Theatres next month. Warner Bros., which produces “The Mentalist,” has featured the Film Works slogan on a half dozen production trucks and has also included the logos on “Hart of Dixie,” the new medical drama series from the CW. ABC Studios also has agreed to feature the stickers on a half-dozen production trucks, said Todd Lindgren, spokesman for FilmL.A. Inc. “It’s just to remind the public of the cultural and economic value of this industry to the region,’’ said Lindgren.
Overall, on location production in Los Angeles rose 17% last week compared to same time a year ago due to a surge in feature film activity, including shoots for Sony Pictures Entertainment’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” based on the Swedish crime novel and the romantic comedy “Think Like a Man.” Feature film production activity rose 117% while commercial production increased 8% and TV activity dropped 3%, according to data from FilmL.A. “The Mentalist,” about a psychic who helps police solve crimes, is set in Sacramento but films heavily throughout L.A., from downtown to the beaches and San Fernando Valley. Next week the crew will shoot a desert scene in Palmdale.
“We’re all over the place,” Marmolejo said. “Hopefully, people will understand that we’re keeping people working and putting food on the table.”
Chipping at the wall. Frustrated at the difficulty of getting American-made films into China, filmmakers are trying to find ways around that country's quota limiting the number of films from the rest of the world. Many are forming co-production deals with Chinese companies. "There's no reason we should have Chinese films and American films anymore. There should be global films," said Relativity Media CEO Ryan Kavanaugh of his studio's Chinese joint venture. More on how Hollywood is trying to crack China's wall from the Los Angeles Times.
Did they not check this out when they hired him? There is a new outrage in the ethics scandal tearing through News Corp. This time, the issue is whether British Prime Minister David Cameron knew that News Corp. continued to pay Andy Coulson after he left the media giant's now-closed News of the World tabloid to become Cameron's communications director. Coulson, who was arrested last month as part of the hacking scandal investigation, also kept using his News Corp. car service. While big exit packages are not newsworthy, when one takes one on the way to a job of great political influence, it can appear to be a conflict of interest. Details from the BBC.
Entertainment news network forming. Broadcaster ION Television is teaming up with PMC, the parent company of Hollywood entertainment trade sites Deadline Hollywood and TVLine, to launch an entertainment news service. Besides putting content on ION's TV stations, it will also create programming for elevators and taxicabs. Yes, you may get on an elevator and hear the soothing voice of Nikki Finke telling you in her kind and gentle manner the day's entertainment news. This story is so big it didn't even break on Deadline. Instead it landed in the Wall Street Journal. 
Not so marvelous. Walt Disney Co. brought the hammer down at Marvel Pictures, sacking the marketing department. Disney will now handle the marketing of Marvel's movies. The timing is interesting because Marvel's films actually performed decently this summer. However, the next slate of movies will be distributed by new owner Disney, not Paramount, which had been releasing Marvel's films. Details on the shakeup from Deadline Hollywood.
Where's my free Slingbox? Time Warner Cable, the dominant multichannel video program distributor in the Los Angeles area, is offering its subscribers a free Slingbox, a device that allows users to watch their TVs via the Internet. Oh, the catch is that you have to sign up for a new version of broadband from the cable operator. Throw in free Showtime too and I might do it. More on the offer from the New York Times.
-- Joe Flint
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