Having covered the movie and television business in the 80's and 90's I shouldn't have been surprised.
Did you see the terrific film on Hallmark Channel; "Goodnight for Justice" this past weekend? Much of the storyline was set in Wyoming. But it was shot in British Columbia. (All the lush green scenery was a tip-off) It reminded me of the story about Clint Eastwood's classic, "Unforgiven" set mostly in Wyoming but shot in Alberta. Eastwood is rumored to have quipped that Alberta looked more like Wyoming than Wyoming looks like Wyoming.
Then there's "True Grit" which takes place in Arkansas and "The Indian Territories" but was shot outside of Austin, TX and in New Mexico. Most of the original version starring John Wayne was shot in Ouray County, Colorado.
Hooray for Hollywood replaced by Ouray instead of Hollywood.
Back in the 1970's the folks in British Columbia noticed the province could look like a lot of places, from Alaska to San Francisco, New York or Hong Kong. The back country could be the locales for any number of westerns. So they put together a package of incentives to lure Hollywood-based production companies to come shoot in BC instead. Lots of tax breaks, an affordable talent pool for supporting cast and extras and any deal possible to make it a financial no-brainer to leave Tinseltown.
It worked. You can't walk around Vancouver without running into a movie or series in production. Toronto has also established itself as an affordable alternative to Chicago or New York or European cities. Here in the United States, many states have active film commissions hustling the movie business to bring the film business to their state.
For some states it works. For others, it's just worth the ROI for all the financial incentives vs money actually spent on the production. It's hard for a state like Wyoming to compete against Texas, but in the case of movies like "Goodnight for Justice" or "Unforgiven," as long as the state gets mentioned and the locales look fabulous, there has to be a pay-off in terms of potential tourism.
Of course Uber-Producers like James Cameron shoot movies like "Avatar" on gigantic sound states, using green screen and the latest computer wizardry in post-production.
So the next time you see a film, stick around for the closing credits and see where the movie was really filmed as opposed to where the plot took place. Unlike real estate, location really isn't about location. Just perception.
Brian Olson
Conversation Starters Public Relations
"We start the conversation about you" (But never in the movies)
