Published March 2001

LIGHT$! CAMERA! ACTION!
By luring 'The Fugitive' to the area, Everett
has helped boost the local economy

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

Lanie McMullin’s phones are busy nearly all the time, even evenings and weekends — office phone, cell phone, home phone. As director of the Everett Film Office, she’s the one on call when film crews need help on a location shoot, when visiting film companies want a tour of the city or when news media want interviews about television and movie activity in town.

Suddenly, along with overseeing the Everett Performing Arts Center, McMullin is involved in the high-energy, competitive marketplace where cities vie for lens time. For television or movie viewers, the final film or videotape is for entertainment. For her, it’s all about economic development. Now, she’s paying the price for being so successful.

Because of her hustling, Everett caught the eye of Warner Bros.

The film company chose Everett to film a dozen episodes of a new television series, “The Fugitive,” a remake of the earlier TV series starring David Janssen in the role of a physician on the run for the murder of his wife, a murder he blames on a one-armed man who attacked her in their home.

But her efforts also attracted Media Partners, a corporate film company from Seattle, bringing cameras, crew and actors to Everett for a week of filming that focused on the renovated Monte Cristo Hotel.

And success with Warner Bros. — due to her popularity with the film staff and the city’s proactive role in making actors, crew and liaison people feel welcome — is bringing inquiries from Columbia, Sony, Paramount and others.

“All of those have been here recently looking at Everett for possible filming locations. Now that ‘The Fugitive’ has come here, that’s a great help in getting others to look at us. There’s nothing tougher than handling a television series, I’m told, so if we can do that well, the rest is a lot easier,” McMullin said.

Apparently, she and the city are handling things well, judging by comments from “The Fugitive” entourage.

“Lanie and the city make this a great place for us to work,” said Doug Du Mas, Location Manager for the series. “Whether we need to find a particular location — like car shots on West Marine View drive, bar shots at Turner’s or scenes at Providence Hospital — or just handling parking, traffic and neighbors, the city has been there for us, helping us get our job done.”

He recognizes, too, that the film crews need to be good neighbors wherever they go, particularly because they often return to the same areas.

“With the size of our operation (trucks, cameras, actors and equipment), we can be pretty daunting for a neighborhood. We have to do things in a way that we’re welcomed back. There’s always a certain amount of Hollywood attitude toward our business, too, but we try to let people know that people on the crew are local, not from Hollywood. Our ability to do a show is only because of the goodwill of the people here,” Du Mas said. “In terms of proactive film public officials in this state, there’s no one who compares with Mayor Ed Hansen, Lanie and (Lt.) Steve Uram, who works with us for the Everett Police Department.”

The city also cooperates by simplifying the permit process for film companies, designating McMullin as their single contact and assigning various city employees to coordinate the film companies’ needs for location shots and other assistance. By coordinating with all departments and keeping people informed, bus routes are changed; fire trucks know what streets are blocked for filming; and the Parks Department knows it shouldn’t take down flower baskets in front of City Hall on the day of a location shoot.

“We want to be a film-friendly city, and we are, thanks to the mayor. We are encouraging film crews to come in and spend their money in our community,” McMullin said.

Everett has so many attractions, McMullin said, so much scenery and such a variety of locations that could be other places in the country that the city has a lot to offer film crews, from the Jetty Island beach in the harbor to old buildings, new buildings, alleys, downtown stores and the Everett Marina, where “Fugitive” crews were filming recently.

Each day, “The Fugitive” filming means about $150,000 for the community in salaries, car and truck rentals, barricades, food, lodging, materials for building sets and props for various scenes. Much of that influx of money stays in the community.

Purchases for “The Fugitive,” for example, have benefited Dunn Lumber, Goldfinch Bros., Stadium Flowers, Marshall Signs, Costco, Hatloes, Behar’s Furniture, Home Depot, Lombardi’s, Anthony’s Homeport, Mel’s Lumber, Turner’s Tavern (location fees, not drinks) and Everett motels (location fees and lodging), among others.

“There are three ways we win with the film industry,” McMullin said. “The more obvious is a lot of instant cash into the community for food, lodging and goods, but there’s also production dollars for set building and renting flatbed trucks, plus local jobs. One-third of ‘The Fugitive’ crew of union members is from the local community, including carpenters, electricians and stage hands.”

Another way the community wins, she said, is longer term — through tourism. As “The Fugitive” becomes better known, people want to come to see the hotels, taverns or marina where filming took place.

“Think of Roslyn and ‘Northern Exposure,’ Snoqualmie and ‘Twin Peaks,’ ” she said. “Also, it’s nice for people to realize their city has surroundings that are sought after by the film industry; it develops a civic pride that we were chosen for this role.”

Mayor Hansen echoes those views and praises McMullin for leading the effort to bring film crews and other clean industries to town.

“After Lanie got the Performing Arts Center turned around very successfully, she started talking about the film industry, and we got her involved in economic development for the city, not just films but anything that would bring good jobs and clean business here with well-paying jobs for our citizens,” Hansen said.

True to her proactive nature, McMullin headed for the Los Angeles Film Expo in late February for the second consecutive year, telling everyone who would listen about Everett’s attractions. Busy as she is, she’s also going to this year’s Biotech Expo in San Diego with the Snohomish County Economic Development Council’s President, Deborah Knutson, to promote the Everett area to another top-ranked industry the city and county want to court.

The newest enticing venture on her plate is helping the city pursue a new sports arena development. It’s a plus for the city that one of McMullin’s earlier experiences was working for the giant Arthur Anderson accounting firm, specializing in feasibility studies for performing-arts centers and sports arenas.

“It’s good to understand our recruitment of films in context,” she said. “It’s just one part of the city’s economic development effort, trying to recruit businesses that are clean, quiet, good to our environment and have the greatest economic impact and the least drain on services. The film industry is all of those things.”

Related story: A corporate film company turns the Monte Cristo Hotel into a film set

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