South Bay Movies and Television

Film making in California has always been a tradition since the art form developed in the beginning of the twentieth century. This was true whether it be the Santa Monica Mountains or the beautiful Pacific Ocean Coastline. And a favorite location has been the South Bay of Los Angeles.
So what is happening to the film industry in California?

It is a combination of State and local government regulations along with some local merchants and residents which is making it very difficult to film here. We have business taxes or no tax breaks along with no monetary incentives to film here. It is appropriately all about the bottom line, as it always is in business.  With that said it is understandable why the film industry follows the lure of other states that want their business.

The Harbor Area of San Pedro and the rest of the South Bay are looking for ways to intise the film makers into wanting to film our towns. Think about it, it is more cost effective to move all the filming gear and personnel to another state rather than film in our area.

Examples of this is in Redondo to get a permit for filming takes about seven working days as the application has to go through six different departments. The city is working at streamlining the process so it will only take half the time.  San Pedro, an advisory panel is being formed. They hope to ease the friction between shop owners and film crews and make it a worthwhile endeavor for all. Torrance is known to be film friendly just as it is with all businesses.

It has not always been this way lets look and just a sampling of TV and big screen films that were shot here in our South Bay Communities.

• El Segundo-Superbod, Live Free or Die Hard, Hancock, Joan of Arcadia, Dude, Where’s my Car, Joe Dirt, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
• Hermosa Beach-Side Out, Southland Tales, Men at Work, 1408, Carrie- Bates HS HB Community Center, Coming Home, Battle for LA, Against All Odds
• Manhattan Beach-MBS Studios-Iron Man 2, Captain America, The Avengers, The Hunting Starship Troopers, (Pre production)Avartar 23, The Panic room, Almost Famous, Hidalgo, Boston Legal, The Practice, Medium, Funniest Home Videos, CSI:Miami;Manhattan Beach City/Beach-Blow, Weeds, Coming Home(the stand), 90210, Starsky and Hutch;  Tree Section Jerry McGuire, Against All Odds; El Porto in Manhattan Beach
• Redondo Beach: Nesting, The Butterfly Room, G-Force 1408, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Big Momma’s House 2, Fat Albert, Eddie Griffin, Point Break, Men at Work, Tequila Sunrise, The Cannonball, Jakes John Travolta’s character in Pulp Fiction Vincent Vega, lived in Redondo Beach.Television-90210, Dexter, Dude, What Would Happen, Tosh.0, Surviving Disaster, Trust Me, Chuck, Medium, 24, The OC, CSI:Miami, Ally McBeal, The Practice,  California Dreams, Baywatch, Riptide, Speeders, Star Trek Party of Even Stevens.The Redondo Union High School football stadium on Pacific Coast Highway was featured in The Hot Chick (2002) starring Rob Schneider.
• San PedroFilms- The Rock, The Usual Suspects , Titanic, The Big Lebowski, Pirates of the Caribbean, Heat, Crash, Catch Me if You Can, The Fast and the Furious, Pearl Harbor, Poltergeist, 50 First Dates, Colombo, Monk, Battle Los Angeles, Chinatown, King Kong (the original from 1933 and the remake from 1976), A Few Good Men, Raging Bull, Clear and Present Danger, Gone in 60 Seconds, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Lethal Weapon 2 and 4;Television series include: Dexter , Mad Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The XFiles, The O.C., The West Wing, Murder She Wrote, Bones, Charmed, 24, Cold Case, NCIS, NCISLA, Criminal Minds and The Mentalist.Torrance-Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, American Beauty, Bad Santa, Bruce Almighty, Climber Guy, Cursed, Days of Heaven, Deadline Auto Theft, Dog Gone Love, Dogtown, Dominion, Drive, Friday After Next, Gone in 60 Seconds, Jackie Brown, The Junkman, Keith, Kids Class, Lifeguard, Malevolence, Not Another Teen Movie, Pineapple Express, Ransom, She’s All That, Skaterdater, Swap Meet, The Guardian, The Hot Chick, The Longest Yard, The Student Nurses, The Wild Life, Torrance Rises, Touching Down, Twist of Faith, Valley Girl, Volcano, Whatever It Takes ,White Heat , Wildfire: Feel the Heat, You Did What? , You Snooze You Lose
• Torrance High School has a long History of being used due to the fact it is retro in style and very well maintained. Examples are- In television-Beverly Hills, 90210 and in The CW’s current spin-off, 90210; as Sunnydale High School, WB Network Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  Skin, Medium. The Secret Life of the American Teenager and as for Silver Hills High School for the All About Us book series.      In the movies: She’s All That. The Wild Life, Not Another Teen Movie, Bring It On,       Whatever It Takes,    Cursed, Wild Things 3, Bruce Almighty, and Less Than Zero.       The documentary film entitled ‘All American High’ was filmed over    several months.

  

Properties for sale Near the Buffy House

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