Runaway film and television production doesn’t seem to apply to the City of Santa Clarita and it’s most likely due to the efforts of the local film office that recently was awarded top honors at the California Association for Local Economic Developments’ (CALED) annual awards competition.
State Assemblyman Juan Arambula and CALED CEO Wayne Schell presented the award to Assistant City Manager Ken Striplin and Film Associate Jason Crawford at a luncheon in Monterey.

The film office competed statewide for the award, which included 10 finalists, including the cities of Long Beach, Vista, Fresno, Riverside, Selma and Santa Rosa.  

“The City of Santa Clarita’s Film Office is consistently recognized as one of the finest in the state by private industry and other public organizations, but this is certainly one of the top honors we’ve received to date,” said Santa Clarita Mayor Marsha McLean.  “Five years ago we recognized the need to develop a film office to help keep jobs and film work local, while growing the industry.  And in just a few short years we’ve been able to create a model for a successful film program, an example that can be applied to a variety of industries in cities around the state.”

The City of Santa Clarita’s Film Office was created in 2002 to help attract and retain the filming industry, including location filming and film-related businesses.

Today, the film industry is responsible for more than $16 million annually in direct economic impact to the Santa Clarita community and local businesses from location filming alone.

The City is currently home to eight network shows including Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101, HBO’s Deadwood, Big Love, and John from Cincinnati, CBS’s The Unit and NCIS and FX’s Drive and The Riches.

CALED is the premier statewide professional economic development organization dedicated to advancing its member’s ability to achieve excellence in delivering economic development services to their communities and business clients.

For additional information please contact the City of Santa Clarita’s Economic Development Office at 661-255-4347.