Many home and property owners in Malibu have known for decades that signing up with one of the Los Angeles area’s film location service companies can get their property on the radar screen whenever a location scout is searching Malibu for a movie, television production, commercial or still photography site. The lucky few who are selected from among the thousands of properties listed can make anywhere from $2,000 to $100,000 for each film project.
The economic downturn and a sluggish real estate market have made more homeowners interested in signing their properties up for film shoots, according to a recent article in The Hollywood Reporter. By California law, if a homeowner rents his or her home for 14 days or fewer annually, the rental income is tax-free.
Carol Jadiker, a manager with Malibu Locations, the primary location service in Malibu, said they have nearly 10,000 properties listed in the “30-mile zone” (the distance from downtown that union workers are allowed to travel without extra types of compensation), with the majority of them in Malibu. Listed properties include not only residences, but restaurants, offices and places of worship, as well as parking and support facilities.
Location managers come to Malibu not only for the beautiful scenery and open spaces that can’t be found in the city, but the fact that it can also substitute for distant locations.
“Malibu has doubled as the French Riviera, the Greek Isles and Mexico,” Jadiker said. “Certain streets in Point Dume with ranch houses and no palm trees could be anywhere in the USA.”
Various homes up and down Pacific Coast Highway, for example, have been used in a wide variety of film projects, including “Spanglish” (2004) with Adam Sandler, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991), the “Poker Face” music video with Lady Gaga, “I Love You Man” (2009), “Funny People” (2009), episodes of “Fantasy Island” and the Jerry Lewis film “It’s Only Money.”
A house in the Colony serves as home base for “Two and a Half Men,” the CBS sitcom now in its tenth season, and Malibu is also the location for the ABC sitcom “Malibu Country” starring Reba McEntire. A $17-million steel-and-glass beach house in Malibu was booked for two weeks for “Sex and the City: The Movie” (2008).
Meanwhile, the Gull’s Way estate last owned by Dick Clark was the location for the TV series “Hardcastle & McCormick,” and appeared in episodes of “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Rockford Files” and “Perry Mason.” And the $75 million bluff-top Italian villa owned by local Richard Weintraub transformed by night into the mansion of vampire Queen Sophie on HBO’s “True Blood.”
Location managers most often look for a house with modern/contemporary or Mediterranean style architecture and a great ocean view, adds Hannah Finley of the Malibu Locations office. Some shoots go on location mainly for outdoor scenes, in which case the scout’s primary focus in finding the perfect location is the swimming pool area, back yard or formal garden.
LA 411, a film industry resource, lists 81 film location services with libraries in Southern California. Perhaps 10 of those services include a number of properties in Malibu, with Malibu Locations the sole storefront-type office in town. When contacted by a property owner about listing their home as a potential film location, the service sends out a photographer to take photos of all interior and exterior areas of the home, which are then stored in a database for film location managers and scouts.
The location manager begins the search process after discussions with the director and production designer, usually using location services to find locations that fit the budget, timeframe, kind of room(s) they need and production size. Once the choices are narrowed down, the scout visits those locations, sometimes several times, before making a final decision.
Doug Busch, a Malibu West resident, is signed up with Malibu Locations and several other location companies. His home has been used for several commercial shoots, including Hunter-Douglas window fashions and a furniture company, so he’s not lacking for interest.
“I recently turned down a car shoot with a big-name photographer who was notorious for being out of control,” Busch said.
His advice to anyone considering using their property as a film location is to make a counteroffer on any fee that seems low, and do some research on the production company, as film crews are “notorious” for damaging homes, he said. All in all, he’s pretty happy with the arrangement.
“We’ve gotten up to ten grand a day (minus the 30 percent commission),” Busch said.
