How artful commercials are an “economic engine” in our region

Three recent filming projects have continued to swell revenue brought into local communities resulting from on-location filming as reported to the Northeast CA Counties Film Commission, the nonprofit film office servicing Butte, Nevada, Plumas and Sierra Counties.

The year-to-date total now stands at $172,810 for six completed projects.

The three latest projects all occurred in October with the first consisting of a very brief return visit to Grass Valley for a follow-up filming at the Holbrooke Hotel of a segment for Hotel Impossible.

With a small crew of 12 in town for just an overnight stay, the production company’s approximate spend was reported as $2850 which included hiring of a local caterer plus restaurant dining by the crew and the purchase of a $120 cake used in the filming.

HOTEL IMPOSSIBLE, WELLS FARGO, RANGE ROVER

The hour-long episode featuring the makeover of the Holbrooke began airing on September 16 and excerpts appear online on the Travel Channel’s website. The follow-up episode will air sometime next year.

A Wells Fargo photo shoot in Butte County was filmed on-location on private property in Chico last weekend and entailed two photo days, a 17-person crew, large contingent of 17 vehicles including the trailer that transports Wells Fargo’s iconic stagecoach, the subject of the shoot.

Additional spending included related retail purchases (nursery, Target store), on-site catering, horses stabled, restaurant meals, and 20 room nights, as well as payment of location fees to the property owner, and sizable gas purchases by the San Francisco based crew. The tally of the direct spend reported from the production company for their brief stay was $9160.

A crew of 60 split their time between Sierra and Nevada counties when filming a John Deere commercial this past week. They too had a sizable contingent of 40 vehicles, hired local technical crew/scout, had meals catered on-site as well as dining in local restaurants and required a total of 423 room nights, along with significant purchases of gas.

Of the half dozen projects the Northeast CA Counties Film Commission has assisted since its launch in the latter part of last year, this commercial TV filming was the most economically beneficial project filmed regionally this year, delivering $89,100 in direct spending. The vast bulk occurred in Nevada County, as the crew stayed at a hotel in Truckee (the location scout stayed in Sierra County).

Though the filming lasted four days, the length of the crew’s stay was a full week. This tally also does not include the extensive month-long scouting by the location manager and, as always with this sort of reporting, also does not include personal spending by these visiting crews.

From the film commission’s standpoint, each filming project poses unique demands that must be met depending on the production company’s specific needs. Film Commissioner S.A. “Sam” Jernigan also noted, “Working on short lead times is also typical” and said the Wells Fargo shoot in particular presented a host of intense challenges for her in delivering the array of resources and location assistance requested.

—Northeast CA Counties Film Commission

Here’s a recent Range Rover Commercial filmed on Donner Summit and in the region.