TUCSON, Ariz. — When we think of film in southern Arizona we often think of the Old Tucson studios, and movies like "Tombstone" and "Major League." But it has been years since the area has seen major Hollywood productions.
"Well first of all, Arizona's had a wonderful history in the film industry. And obviously Old Tucson Studios and like 5,000 plus movies and projects have been shot in Arizona," said Matthew Earl Jones, the director of the Arizona Film and Digital Media Program.
KGUN 9 talked with Earl Jones, Peter Catalanotte - the director of Film Tucson, and David Valdez - a member of the production crew that worked on "Hey Dude" back in the 1980s and 90s. They all shared the sentiment that southern Arizona film hasn't been the same since the golden days.
"During that time period there was quite a bit of production in Tucson, film production I should say, because of Old Tucson," said Valdez.
But Arizona not having film incentives and tax breaks is a major halt in bringing in Hollywood productions.
"If Arizona had film incentives, that era could come back for us. Some different groups in AZ have tried to get some film incentive bills introduced and we just haven't been able to get that going. There's just not a lot of support right now from the legislature and the governor. So rather than wait around, we're looking at the top-tier things that bring the film money here: reality shows and productions from Mexico," said Catalanotte.
Catalanotte said an MTV reality show recently filmed a series around the border region and spent $2.4 million dollars. And a TV series out of Mexico, called 'Run Coyote, Run', filmed its first two seasons between Mexico and southern Arizona; spending a combined $5.3 million.
"Whenever you are watching a film production and you see the long crawl of credits, all the names there, those are all jobs. That's what we love about the film industry being here. They hire a lot of people and they bring a lot of people," said Catalanotte.
A lot of people, that could bring a substantial boom to our local economy if we are working with Hollywood budgets. But even still, there are indeed millions of dollars put into our economy because of the film industry Arizona has retained.
"Our niche is projects that are 20 million dollars and down, commercials, independent features, photo shoots, music videos," said Earl Jones.
"So reality shows and shows from Mexico are really important to us because they're not depending on tax incentives. They can film here without haven't to worry about applying for tax breaks that most states offer. And so, we want to lure more of those here," said Catalanotte.
When films are shot here, Catalontte said, its like a digital postcard for folks all over the world to see just how beautiful southern Arizona is; its another form of tourism.
"You have to understand that, when you come to Tucson to shoot, or in southern Arizona, you're coming for the landscape. There's no other place like Tucson and its surroundings in the world. You come for the saguaros, you come for the weather," said Valdez.
Southern Arizona has the scenery, the space and the crews. Industry buffs say what's left, is up to the state government to bring back film incentives so big-budget film companies will be lured to the Grand Canyon State.
