Beverly Center Scouts for Filming Gigs
The Beverly Center mall in Los Angles, home to Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Traffic and Hugo Hugo Boss, has recently partnered with the Reel to Reel Location Agency to boost its profile as a film production facility.
Beverly Center marketing director Barbara Bach said the growing number of filming requests made it necessary for the mall to outsource the responsibility. Bach hopes shoppers can also benefit from the service.
“We also want to offer the opportunity for tourists to see a production going on,” she said. “We’re a California Welcome Center, so this fits strategically with our plans.”
In past years, the mall has provided film backdrops for “Scenes from a Mall,” “Selena” and “The Volcano.”
Bach said mall officials will review each filming request in tandem with Reel to Reel.
“We’ll look at what the economics are, at the scripts and how they’ll fit in with the center—we want to see the center highlighted in a positive light,” she said.
Beverly Center’s interest in film production isn’t unusual considering property managers are always seeking ways to generate more revenues, said Morrie Goldman, vice president of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., which promotes the California film industry. He said he hopes the mall will remain committed to all types of production budgets.
“Any additional locations that come online are great as long as they’re priced in ways that make it easier to film and are more inclusive to all types of productions,” Goldman said.
Beverly Center will maintain competitive prices, according to Gary Onyshko, vice president of business and legal affairs for Los Angeles-based Reel to Reel, which has worked with malls, hotels, restaurants, hospitals and universities. “We encourage our landowner clients to gain a volume of production deals rather than wait for that one big film,” he said. —Nola Sarkisian-Miller
