Big-name Hollywood types may be coming through Long Beach in the near future and Cal State Long Beach students may possibly be a part of the plan.
Chairman of Cal State Long Beach’s film department Craig Smith recently hinted on a blossoming connection with Long Beach Studios, LLC. The colossal Long Beach Studios will be erecting soundstage headquarters near the Long Beach Airport.
The facility will be “the largest independent production facility in the world,” according to the Long Beach Studios website.
“It’d be a hands-on way of learning how to practice the theories we teach,” Smith said on the prospect of CSULB students joining the Long Beach Studios as interns or even employees.
“My bet is they will need more people than we can provide [given the size of the project].”
According to Smith, student interns work for no less than 45 hours within a single semester, and when it comes to interning or working at the Long Beach Studios, Smith said there is a list of things students could work on: “Lighting, editing, cinematography, sound design, location.”
What’s yet to be demystified is exactly when the Long Beach Studios will break ground.
According to a June 23 article from LBReport.com the Long Beach Studios will take over the Boeing 717 aircraft plant that is in the same area as the airport.
Long Beach Studios will be home to about 40 soundstages ranging in size from 12,000 to 200,000 square feet, according to the website.
Along with the high-tech apparatus of soundstages, the studios will also build 300,000 square feet of rental space, “facilities to match the requirements and budget of any size production,” asserts the homepage information.
In addition to the film studio, visitors who’d rather leave behind their honeywagons after a long day of shooting could enjoy a Long Beach Studios hotel with plush-sounding accommodations – “poolside cabanas overlooking the golf course … floral and plant service … private security and private nightclub.”
The LBReport article discloses “Superman” actor Jack O’Halloran and technophile/media guru/Internet pioneer Jay Samit as being the heads of the studios’ effort.
Sophomore theatre major Emily Sander applauds the idea, saying, “Long Beach has a richer filming scene than you might think.” Long Beach, in fact, is home to famous movie houses, like those of Ferris Bueller and Donnie Darko. The Queen Mary, a highly recognizable Long Beach icon, is the site of many TV shows, including the recent “Dirty Sexy Money.”
Crew direction signs often crowd Ocean Boulevard indicating “CSI” sets are near. And, on a broader scope, Long Beach often doubles for a lot of exotic locations we see in movies – like Jamaica and Florida.
Sander, a non-union background actor, also observes how hit Showtime show “Dexter” only films in Long Beach.
Besides a “far drive” from Hollywood sets, having studios in Long Beach make a lot of sense for some because, “it brings the industry closer to many of the newer shows sets,” Sanders said.
“More new shows are filmed here, and now with the studio we are a suburb of Hollywood movie production, like the Valley has been for decades.”
