Culture

Victory Valley Offers a Dramatic Backdrop for Filmmakers

Joey Lauren Adams starred in the 2003 movie The Big Empty, which filmed in Baker.

If you’ve been to the movies or watched TV any time in the last‚ oh‚ 70 years or so‚ odds are you’ve caught at least a glimpse of Victor Valley.

From Tumbling Tumbleweeds in 1935 to Erin Brockovich‚ Hulk and Letters From Iwo Jima‚ Hollywood has long filmed in the High Desert‚ and stars‚ among them Clark Gable‚ Greer Garson‚ John Wayne and Greta Garbo‚ have found a peaceful refuge here.

With a landscape that ranges from mountains to green wilderness‚ farms‚ wine country‚ big and small cities and even a salt lake that doubles for the ocean‚ the Inland Empire offers filmmakers an astonishing variety of location possibilities – all within a short drive of Los Angeles. San Bernardino County alone netted more than $40 million in 2006‚ generated by 426 productions with more than 997 production days – and those figures represent just 70 percent of the estimated year’s total.

“We’ve always had a history of filmmaking since we’re so close to the film industry’s L.A. base‚” says Sheri Davis‚ director of Inland Empire Film Commission. “Within a few hours‚ they have a totally different terrain and look than they can find in the zone. In our region you can go from mountain alpine looks to stark desert in 45 minutes. And we have a very solid crew base‚ too.

We call ourselves Hollywood’s biggest back lot.”

Among the larger films shot in the area in 2006 were Pirates of the Caribbean‚ You‚ Me and Dupree‚ Zodiac and Transformers. But feature film productions aren’t all that is shot in the First District. TV shows included “What About Brian” and “America’s Next Top Model.” Eighty commercials – Nissan‚ Toyota‚ Neiman Marcus‚ Old Spice and Priceline.com among them – were filmed here‚ as were 23 music videos‚ 34 documentaries and industrial films and 22 student projects. And then there were nearly 200 still photography shoots. including a Vogue feature on Angelina Jolie.

The economic impact of filmmaking in the area is enormous‚ Davis says.

“Filming infuses money into a community without impacting schools‚ roads or other infrastructure. We’re a clean industry‚ and we try to take as good care and be as fair to everybody in the community as we can. All we take is images – and then we leave.”

Not a bad bargain – and the community appreciates it.

“I’ve never had a problem in the district with people saying‚ ‘not in my backyard‚’” Davis says. “If anything‚ we have the opposite problem – people get so excited about filming here that we have to keep everything secret‚ or we’d have the whole community out there watching.”

While Hollywood is experiencing a loss of feature films to out-of-state locations‚ Victor Valley is staying healthy‚ filling the gap with independent films and other productions. In fact‚ with the recent opening of once-restricted public lands to filmmakers‚ 15 to 20 new locations soon will be available. Davis‚ who hands considerable credit for the expansion to First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt‚ says the new locations will create a 20 percent to 25 percent jump in filming in 2007 – “a dramatic increase beyond that‚ as the word gets out.”

“More and more companies are realizing that there are difficulties when they leave California to shoot‚” Davis says. “But if they’re going to bottom-line their budgets‚ they’ll go where the incentives are. We don’t have incentives‚ per se‚ but we have land – and that’s an incentive in itself.”

Story by Laura Hill
Photo by The Big Empty LLC

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