Casino Connection Atlantic City

Lights, Camera, Atlantic City

Atlantic City is becoming a star of both the small and large screens.

by Jeffrey Vasser

You might have seen the scene on the Atlantic City beach: two men in business suits talking to each other over the roar of the ocean. Or maybe on the Boardwalk, as one man pushes another in a rolling chair.
    Sights you see in Atlantic City every day? Yes, but did you happen to catch the cameraman, the sound guy with the microphone, the lighting expert and the many, many interns milling around also? That’s because these scenes weren’t just another day in Atlantic City. They were actually scenes being filmed for a Korean television mini-series titled Angel.
    That production alone brought more than $160,000 in direct spending for area businesses. Around $65,000 went to participating hotels, such as the Tropicana Casino Resort, the Knights Inn and the Comfort Inn, and $34,000 went to feed the cast and crew breakfast, lunch and dinner during their time filming in Atlantic City.
    Angel is just one of the many productions the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority has been instrumental in getting made, after making film and television production one of its major directives. When I started at the authority, I made film marketing a major goal for us. A couple of things factored into my decision. Our convenient location and the multitude of settings—the city and the casinos, the beach and Boardwalk, suburbs and the pine barrens—all make the Atlantic City region an ideal location for filming.
    But mostly, while Atlantic City’s location is beneficial to these productions, Atlantic City benefits greatly when these productions come to film. For instance, filming of an Atlantic City segment for the movie Ocean’s Eleven took place at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, among other areas in and around Atlantic City, in 2001. It initiated a frenzy of George Clooney sightings as he and co-star Bernie Mac visited White House Sub Shop on Arctic and Mississippi avenues. More importantly, the filming of the Atlantic City segment used 437 room nights and generated more than $729,000 in expenditures for the Atlantic City area.
    To lure film production to Atlantic City and the surrounding region, I set up the Film Office in January 2004 to work in conjunction with the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission.
    Overseeing the Film Office is Heather Colache, director of tourism for the authority. What does running the Film Office entail? Some of the major responsibilities of the ACCVA Film Office are to assist producers with scouting locations and to secure overnight rooms and office space. The office also provides resource referrals, expedites the permitting process and acts as a liaison with area governments and businesses.
    We’ve made great strides with the Film Office. Over the past couple of years, the popularity of Atlantic City has increased dramatically as producers see the varied locations we have to offer, as well as the conveniences and personalized services we have available to them.
    As a result, the ACCVA Film Office, along with the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission, played a major part in the production of film, television, commercials, documentaries, student films, music videos and more, for the United States as well as productions from around the world.
    In March 2004, the independent film Duane Hopwood, starring David Schwimmer and Janeane Garofalo, finished filming in Atlantic City and the surrounding region. As a result, the production of the movie brought $160,000 in direct spending for area businesses.
    Other films include a Tony Palma Film, Shades of Paradise (2004), Mort (2005), Cut Out (2005) and Frankie and Maddy (2006).
    Television projects filmed in Atlantic City include the You’re Not the Man I Married pilot episode (2004), The Simple Life (2005), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2005), American Eats (2005), Sunday Project (Japan, 2006), the television movie Underworld Histories (U.K., 2006), The Sopranos (2006), Astonishing News (Japan, 2007), and MTV’s Big Ten (2007).
    Of course, we are always on the lookout for the next Beaches, Rounders, Snake Eyes or Ocean’s Eleven. Maybe George Clooney will return to Atlantic City for Ocean’s Fourteen?
    For more information regarding the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority’s Film Office, contact Heather Colache at 609-449-7151 or email hcolache@accva.com.