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Hawaii May Lose Lost
- Thread starter vacantlook
- Start date
Ninja_Squirrel
Regular
It would be odd for it to be filmed anywhere outside Hawaii, but if it's gotta move, I'd love it to come here to North Carolina. Surely, we've got a beach or island that'll work out okay. The mysteries in this show are so bizarre, they may even come up with a storyline to explain the sudden change in plant species.
A_M_Swallow
Regular
Crusade had a virtual set.
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Hey, if they'll settle for semi-tropical, Florida's available. If they shoot between November and June they won't even have to worry about hurricanes. (After that, all bets are off. )
It would be nice to have some TV show shooting here. Even the one primetime series that is supposed to be set in south Florida, CSI: Miami only shoots about a week of exteriors with the main cast and a bunch of fly bys and other stock footage with the second unit before heading back to L.A. for the rest of the production. (Of course, NYPD Blue did the same thing for their exteriors and did the rest on the stages and back lots at Fox or in the streets of Los Angeles. Not sure about CSI: New York)
Regards,
Joe
)It would be nice to have some TV show shooting here. Even the one primetime series that is supposed to be set in south Florida, CSI: Miami only shoots about a week of exteriors with the main cast and a bunch of fly bys and other stock footage with the second unit before heading back to L.A. for the rest of the production. (Of course, NYPD Blue did the same thing for their exteriors and did the rest on the stages and back lots at Fox or in the streets of Los Angeles. Not sure about CSI: New York)
Regards,
Joe
vacantlook
Super Moderator
For the entire show the way Skycaptain did?
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Good point. And Heaven knows neither the virtural sets in Crusade nor the entire virtual environment in Sky Captain was of a quality to fool the eye into thinking that either had been shot on location in Hawaii.
"Surely my suggestion, while more conventional, has fewer difficulties?" - Jennet Jourdemayne, The Lady's not for Burning by Christopher Fry
Joe
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
I don't think so, really. Hawaii is a punishingly expensive place to shoot, and this has been an issue with every series that has ever shot there. It is also a damned inconvenient places for actors and others involved in the production. An actor can't exactly go out on an audition on his lunch hour if he's in Honolulu, whereas he can if he's in Burbank. Same for the crew picking up extra work on indy projects evenings and weekends.
The only thing that has made up for theee problems (apart from the one-of-a-kind scenary) has been the tex breaks. And the people of Hawaii are nuts if they think that if they raise taxes they're going to reap millions of dollars. What they'll precisely do is drive producers out of the islands. It will become too expensive to shoot a weekly eeries there, so Lost will go immediately. But it will also become more expensive for feature films to shoot there, so a production that might have come for two or three weeks and shot substantial portions of a film there will now blitz through in two or three days, get all the necessary exterior shots with the stars, then leave a skeleton second unit and some stand ins to shoot a little more footage. Because people aren't morons, and they will do what is in their financial best interest - something the "just raise taxes" crowd never understands. They assume that behavior and tax rates have nothing to do with one another, which is just stupid. (And contrary to all of history, not that the sort of politician who advocates such policies ever knows any history.)
If Hawaii does this I can assure you that they will see a decrease in film and TV production and a corrsponding decrease in tax revenue - not only from the mainland producers but from all the local businesses that exist to service the needs of those producers. The catering companies, the prop and lighting rental businesses, the costume houses, and extras talent agencies, all of them will be hurt, some of them will be closed and the state will collect less in tax from them, and their laid-off employees, and spend more on unemployment and welfare benefits for the displaced workers. Yeah, this is a helluva good plan.
About 20 years ago the governor of New Jersey decided to raise revenues by raising the sales tax on big rig trucks. He damned near destroyed the large truck sales industry in the state. Many old family businesses went under. Meanwhile truck sales boomed in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and upstate New York. The state suffered a net revenue loss because of the decline in business and personal income taxes and the cost of all those folks losing their jobs. When Congress similarly raised the "luxury" tax on yachts, rich people stopped buying the things (because rich people are not, by and large, stupid.) The government collected less money, and shipbuilders were thrown out of work. (American shipbuilders, anyway. Some rich people who just couldn't put off replacing the old yacht simply bought new ones and registered them in other countries.)
If Hawaii does what they're threatening they'll have shot themselves in the foot and maybe we really will get some of that Hollywood money down here in my neck of the woods.
Regards,
Joe
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Right! The monsters there have guns.
Joe
Strasser: How do you feel about the German army being in your beloved Paris?
Rick: It was never particularly my beloved Paris.
Strasser: What if we marched into New York?
Rick: Well, major - there are certain parts of New York I wouldn't advise you to try to invade.
The difference being that it is much easier to get an equivalent truck than scenery equal to that of Hawaii.
How much business they lose and whether they lose revenue overall is more complicated than you make it out to be. If they lose a production or two that doesn't necessarily mean revenue will drop. It depends largely on elasticity, something the "all taxes are evil" set ignores. There have been plenty of tax raises that did not devistate industries.
Even if they experience a net loss of film revenue the resources used to attract and run film projects may serve them better in other avenues. You seem to assume that the locals put out of work by losing film project won't either follow their dream job back to LA or simply work in a different field. Tourists need catering too.
How much business they lose and whether they lose revenue overall is more complicated than you make it out to be. If they lose a production or two that doesn't necessarily mean revenue will drop. It depends largely on elasticity, something the "all taxes are evil" set ignores. There have been plenty of tax raises that did not devistate industries.
Even if they experience a net loss of film revenue the resources used to attract and run film projects may serve them better in other avenues. You seem to assume that the locals put out of work by losing film project won't either follow their dream job back to LA or simply work in a different field. Tourists need catering too.
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Thank you for zeroing in on the example and completely missing the point.
Joe
A_M_Swallow
Regular
There are islands other than Hawaii, for example New Zealand needs a replacement for Lord of the Rings.
People can also get lost in deserts and mountain ranges, both of which exist within the US mainland.
People can also get lost in deserts and mountain ranges, both of which exist within the US mainland.
