SAN DIEGO — San Diego’s most iconic beaches, city views and nature could set the scene for your next favorite movie or TV show.
The City of San Diego says it's building on its success as a wave of Hollywood TV, film and production studios continue to choose San Diego, making the region one of America’s Finest filming destinations.
“We want Hollywood to understand that you don’t have to be married to L.A. We’re here, we’ve got all the same looks and again, they’re way better,” said Guy Langman, the City's Special Events and Filming manager.
The world’s biggest companies including Disney, Warner Brothers, and Netflix have filmed projects or scouted shooting locations across the county. According to the city, the local economic impact of a feature film shooting in San Diego is huge.
Langman told CBS 8 that in March a Warner Brothers untitled feature with more than 100 cast and crew spent a week filming at Downtown San Diego locations.
The city says renting locations, hotel rooms, dining, security, catering and other costs for a project the size of the untitled Warner Brothers film could generate up to $1 million in economic activity in a week.
Tax credits
As companies look for ways to cut costs, many production studios are chasing big tax credits.
In March, California’s Film Commission awarded one of the state’s largest movie tax credits in history. An independent film slated titled "California Convergence" is set to film entirely in San Diego and earned a $1 million tax credit.
As Hollywood continues to adapt to a changing entertainment landscape, the City of San Diego is targeting TV, film and commercial companies and promoting the region as a film-friendly city.
According to Langman, San Diego offers the same, scenic outdoor locations as Los Angeles, but without the crowding and soaring costs.
“We're we're taking a lot of what the good stuff LA does, and implementing it here but not bringing all their baggage,” Langman said. “In today's day and age, and this is, you know, kind of big picture, with the kind of the death of cable, and people cutting their streaming costs and things for content, all of your studios and production companies essentially chase tax credits."
Reality shows
It's not just feature films and TV shows, but some of the most popular reality shows have picked San Diego as a filming destination.
Some popular reality TV shows that have been filmed in San Diego County include TLC's ''90-Day Fiance" and related spin-offs, ABC's ''The Bachelorette", Lifetime's "Married at First Sight" and Netflix's "The Ultimatum: Queer Love."
Langman said American and European reality TV shows have become more interested in filming in San Diego because of the city's accessibility and streamlined process.
"Another reason they like San Diego is because we have much lower fees than LA but less red tape," Langman said,
Langman described the city's "grid" permitting process that allows production companies to use one permit for multiple locations. The "grid" provides reality TV shows with the flexibility of moving between locations like Balboa Park and Mission Bay.
Langman says the city works to be "creative" with how it structures its permits with the goal of making the city more film-friendly for production companies.
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