Location filming has taken on a new meaning this television season as an unprecedented number of prime-time series are being made outside of Hollywood.
Nearly 20 shows, mostly one-hour dramas, are being filmed in Canada, Florida, Washington, Georgia, Utah, New York, and various countries overseas.When you add in the number of news and reality shows, it accounts for about a third of the prime-time schedules on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. In addition, large numbers of television movies and miniseries are filmed away from Los Angeles.
"The movie business has become so portable there is no longer any need to film here," says Stephen Cannell, who has built a studio in Vancouver, Canada, for such shows as ABC's "The Commish" and CBS' "The Hat Squad."
"In fact, there is an economic incentive to be elsewhere. Plus you have the cooperation of the states and countries that are desperately trying to lure the film business. The movie business is the perfect business because it's nonpolluting and cash intense."
The biggest reason shows are being shot elsewhere is economic. It's cheaper to shoot in Georgia - and the savings are even greater in Canada where the American dollar is worth $1.39. On a $1 million budget that's an extra $390,000. Producers are also seeking, and usually getting, cost-saving union concessions outside California.
"It's 13 percent cheaper to shoot in Canada," says Scott Shepherd, who is executive producer of ABC's upcoming "Jack's Place." Last year he produced "Young Riders" on location in Arizona. He also worked on "Miami Vice" in Miami and "The Equalizer" in New York.
"I don't know all the dollar figures but I think shows are going elsewhere because people work nonunion in other states. They're probably getting union concessions. I'd rather stay here because so many people are out of work. But there are good crews in Canada."
Cannell and other producers also say they are being driven from Los Angeles by hometown indifference, strangling red tape and price-gouging.
"It was night and day the difference in the level of enthusiasm and cooperation I got from film commissions in California and in Colorado and Texas," says writer-producer Michael O'Hara, who is looking for a location to film the ABC miniseries "Starkweather: Murder in the Heartland."
Cannell says in the course of one day's filming you may work in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. Each city has its own permits and regulations and each requires hiring a full complement of police officers. Residents complain so much about street filming that there are many restrictions.
The movie business has been in Los Angeles for 80 years, and television began moving here from New York in the 1950s.
Moviemakers were attracted by the climate and the wide variety of locations within only a few miles of Los Angeles. Until as recently as 10 years ago studios were a necessity because of the bulky equipment, slow film that required huge amounts of artificial light and sound equipment that required absolute quiet.
"We got fast film, we got lightweight equipment, we got generators, we got lights you can plug into a wall socket, we got radio mikes," says Cannell. "We can get exposures with very little light, we can film in the rain, we have Steadicam so we don't need to lay dolly tracks. Everything is portable and waterproof. The big sound-insulated stages became obsolete."
Every season some shows were filmed elsewhere, principally New York. A few were filmed in Florida, and "Hawaii Five-0" started the trend of filming in Hawaii.
"We were looking for fresh images and fresh faces," says Josh Brand. He and his partner, John Falsey, film CBS' "Northern Exposure" in Washington, NBC's "I'll Fly Away" in Georgia and ABC's "Going To Extremes" in Jamaica.
"On Jamaica, the thing that is freshest to us, and hopefully to the public, are the locations and images," Brand says. "You see faces you don't generally see on American television. You see locales, water, the jungle. You see extremes of poverty, extremes of beauty."
This season such shows as Fox's "The Heights," "The Hat Squad" and "The Commish" are filmed in Vancouver, "CBS's "In the Heat of the Night" and NBC's "I"ll Fly Away" in Georgia, ABC's "Crossroads" in Utah, CBS's "Raven" in Hawaii," NBC's "Law and Order" and "Here and Now" and Fox's "Tribeca" in New York, ABC's "Covington Cross" in England and ABC's "Young Indiana Jones" in various foreign countries.
The Canadian-bound exodus from Los Angeles began in the mid-1980s.
Cannell began the permanent move with "21 Jump Street" in 1987.
"We had to shoot in high schools, which we could get only on weekends," he says. "The L.A. union rules at the time were you had to shoot Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday were double time. In Canada the union rules were any five consecutive days. We moved to Canada."
There seems no immediate danger Los Angeles will lose the film business. The studios are here, the networks are here, the supporting industries are here and the crafts and talent pools are here.
Nevertheless, it seems certain producers will look elsewhere to save money and find fresh images and faces.