Major Sound Stage to Bring Hollywood Production Business to San Marcos, CA
Sept. 17, 2003
Spirit Horse Entertainment, a diversified entertainment company, is
making plans for a major movie production plant in San Marcos.
The company also is a presenting sponsor of the 2003 San Diego Film
Festival (taking place in Downtown San Diego Sept. 17-21) with the
first-ever Spirit Horse Award for Best Picture.
"Shari and I are tremendously impressed with the San Diego County area
and the people who live and work here," says Hartly. "We have been
welcomed by the county's thriving film community and look forward to being a
sponsor of the San Diego Film Festival."
Hartly and Hamrick's current plans for a fully functioning film and
television production center will include renovating the space to create truly
state-of-the-art studios; the building currently spans 210,000 square feet on 15
acres.
When completed, its 70-foot high ceilings will rank the facility among the
top five in North America for free-span studio space perfectly suited for large
studio CGI-live action projects, as well as boast a fully operational back lot,
six sound stages and 120,000 square feet of office space.
"By April of 2004 we will begin construction and we’ll then be in the
position of becoming home for top digital companies and indie labels, an
exciting place for film and television production people to hang their
shingles," says Hamrick. "What makes us an ideal location for these
kinds of companies is the fact that we can build to spec and fulfill any of
their individual needs."
Hartly says, "We could not be more pleased about making our new home in
San Marcos. When we first saw the facility we realized it would make an
incredible studio. We had traveled the world with various productions and were
tired of giving away American jobs. Our goal is to keep U.S. productions here by
working with the unions, studios, production companies -- whatever it
takes."
Veteran producers, Hartly and Hamrick have worked in production together as
Spirit Horse Productions since 1989, and in 2000 went on to form Spirit Horse
Entertainment.
Jim Ambroso, district manager at Allied Waste/AWIN, has worked
closely with Hartly and Hamrick for over a year; he continues to oversee the
permit and entitlement issues on the property. Continuing to work closely with
city and county officials, Ambroso has put together an impressive team of
specialists to help with the process of changing the facility and property use
to film and television sound stages.
Gary Bastien of Bastien Architects is the lead architect for the
studio design, as well as retrofitting the existing buildings as sound stages.
With a career of international experience, Bastien is known for his work in
designing Raleigh Studios, Manhattan Beach and the LA Center
Studios in downtown Los Angeles, among other notable projects.
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San Marcos Studio Project Enlists Ally
Los Angeles, Jan. 22, 2004
Spirit Horse Entertainment founders Michelle Hartly and Shari Hamrick want to
create a "Canada South" film-friendly environment with their new
production facility in San Marcos, California. To bolster this effort, the
duo have formed an alliance with the Film Studio Group as consultants.
Located an hour and a half south of Los Angeles, the unfinished
190,000-square-foot studio is already in use as a shooting space. Once
construction is completed, the facility will boast 70-foot-high ceilings,
ranking it among the top North American and Australian studios suited for
large-studio CGI or live-action projects. The facility will offer a fully
operational back lot, six soundstages ranging from 18,000 to 27,000 square feet,
and a 120,000-square-foot, six-story office building.
"Shari and I have spent so much time filming internationally that we
just got tired of giving away American jobs," Hartly said. "Our
goal is to keep U.S. productions here where they belong by working with unions,
studios, production companies, whatever it takes." The team expects
to employ 650 people on the 15-acre site.
Added Hamrick: "We are thrilled to be working with Steve Smith and
everyone at the Film Studio Group, which is engaged in studio projects around
the globe. They are the perfect partner."
FSG will work with Spirit Horse in the studio's initial startup and is
talking with Spirit Horse about managing the facility, though no deal has been
formalized. Hartly and Hamrick are looking for a commercial developer and
additional partners to round out the team.
Discovered while scouting locations with the San Diego Film Commission, the
site of the yet-to-be-named studio was originally a recycling and sorting
plant. It's an appropriate choice, says Smith, Los Angeles Center Studios
founder and FSG partner. "This is certainly a dramatic adaptive reuse
project."
Bastien and Associates Inc., architects for Raleigh Studios, Manhattan Beach
Studios, Los Angeles Center Studios and the $88 million Ciudad de la Luz
12-stage facility in Alicante, Spain, will design the studio and retrofit the
existing buildings as soundstages. The architects are also FSG founding
members with William F. White and Smith, Hricik & Munselle.
"The San Diego area has a long and successful history of movie and
television production. It's about time they had a state-of-the-art studio
in San Marcos to support this tradition," said the firm's president, Gary
L. Bastien.
This history -- Stu Segall Prods., for example, has pumped $600 million in
film and TV revenue into the San Diego economy over the last 16 years -- will
help make the new studio competitive, Hartly and Hamrick say.
They also cite the $50 million-$73 million in yearly production revenue that
trickles down from Los Angeles, L.A. Center Studios' production overflow and
those 70-foot ceilings. Besides, they say, film crews won't have to return
to L.A. to complete post-production.
San Diego film commissioner Cathy Anderson says: "Stu Segall has created
a template that has been crucial to their success. So the thought of
having Spirit Horse do their magic here is fantastic. Our work is not
done, however."
Anderson cited the need to provide infrastructure for the "zone"
around the stages: crew base, services, hotels, and government and community
cooperation with the filmmakers. Anderson's commission has offered San
Marcos City Manager Rick Gittings assistance in cutting red tape and creating an
easy permit system.
Spirit Horse encompasses feature-film development and Spirit Horse Prods.,
which produces more than 60 hours of TV programming, including "In the
Valley of the Kings," "Egypt: The Tomb of the Pharaohs" and
"Secret Tunnel, Hidden Treasure," airing internationally on the
Discovery Channel.
Providing location and production services, Spirit Horse has worked with
Universal, DreamWorks and Columbia TriStar. It is currently prepping four
feature pics, including "Pegasus," helmed by William Katt with
producer Scott Duthie.
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