Orange County isn’t the first place filmmakers typically think of when setting up production companies. The history, money and panache permeating the industry has perennially been in Hollywood. Yet a cadre of filmmakers has planted business roots in Orange County, precisely as a counterpoint to Hollywood.
They say Orange County has merits of its own, including its strategic proximity to Los Angeles, its affordability compared to L.A. in terms of production and living costs, a unique mystique that sets it apart from its northern neighbor, and an abundant reservoir of venture capital specifically for film productions.
“The opportunities for venture capital in Orange County far exceed those in Los Angeles County,” said Brett Tomberlin, co-founder and principal of Irvine-based Imagination Design Works in an email. “Some of the top financial investors have settled in the more relaxed and luxurious cities of Orange County, away from the chaos of city life. … Orange County has become a sweet spot for independent producers to find substantial lucrative investments that allow their film, TV, and digital projects to thrive.”
Conversely, there are some involved in filmmaking who do the majority of their business in the Los Angeles area but choose to live in Orange County for the lifestyle. Two of them are cinematographers John Leonetti and his brother, Matthew Leonetti. John lives in San Clemente, Matt on Balboa Island.
“The weekly commute is a small price to pay for the benefits of living in such a peaceful (place) filled with so many amazing people,” John Leonetti said.
The history of filmmaking in OC goes as far back as 1910, said Orange County Film Commissioner Janice Arrington. That’s when Hollywood director D.W. Griffith and actress Mary Pickford made a movie here, “The Two Brothers,” a short Western film, parts of which were shot in San Juan Capistrano.
“OC has always been used for its location,” Arrington said, adding that more recently production companies were formed here by filmmakers trained in Hollywood who chose to live in OC and by those who grew up here or moved here.
Other film production companies based in OC include Laguna Beach-based MacGillivray Freeman Films and Fountain Valley-based Sunrise Seagull Productions Inc. MacGillivray Freeman started over 50 years ago and is the world’s largest independent IMAX film production company.
Here are a few of the filmmakers who work and/or live here:
Brett Tomberlin
Imagination Design Works
Tomberlin, an Orange County native, started the production company in 2007 with his father, Mark Tomberlin. Brett serves as president of production and acquisitions. He said they try to keep the company small and nimble, taking on only a few projects at a time since they can each take years to produce.
They’re currently working on “Winchester,” a paranormal thriller about the widow of William Winchester, whose company, Winchester Repeating Arms Company, created the Winchester rifle.
Sarah Winchester was convinced she was haunted by the victims killed by the guns from her husband’s factories. After his sudden death and the death of their only child, she threw herself for decades into building, then obsessively renovating, a mansion in San Jose to keep the “evil spirits at bay,” Tomberlin said.
Tomberlin’s company competed against the likes of Stephen King for the rights to the movie from Winchester Mystery House LLC, which currently owns the property. Tomberlin attributes that to his background in marketing, which he majored in at Santa Clara University, as well as his work in entertainment and marketing before starting his film production company.
It’s his first feature film. Australia-based Blacklab Entertainment is the co-producer. Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will play the lead role because the acclaimed actress saw Sarah Winchester as an example of female empowerment and admired her antifirearm stance, Tomberlin said. The movie is in production and scheduled to be released next year by CBS Films.
He’s also working on another paranormal thriller about the retired Queen Mary ocean liner ensconced at the Port of Long Beach. Tomberlin’s company plans to start filming this year in conjunction with film production company SpectreVision, which was founded by actor Elijah Wood and directors Daniel Noah and Josh Waller.
He said he’s a “rule breaker” because he looks for creative ways to finance projects. To keep creative control, he said he hits up hedge funds, private equity companies and VC firms, though he declined to provide specific examples.
“My model allows me to finance all of the development phase of my TV and film projects and bring production equity to the table when I approach studios for distribution,” he said. “As any creator will attest, you will always want an equity position in any product you pour blood, sweat, and tears into after so many years.”
Brian Esquivel
Owner
Kevin Cooper
Managing Partner
Hornpin Media
Laguna Beach
Kevin Cooper was a college professor in Texas when he read a novel that inspired him to start a movie production company with two friends, Brian Ellis and Travis Brille. “Thirty-Three Cecils” is a drama about two men whose lives intersect in an unexpected way.
Cooper, instead of setting up Hornpin Media in Texas, made several trips to Southern California to look for the most strategic place. He chose Laguna Beach because “it just had this feel to it — close enough to L.A. to be part of it, yet far enough away to be unique,” he said via email.
His son had an accident six months into preproduction of the film that required Cooper to return to Texas to take care of him. Realizing he had to sell the entire production company, he found fellow Texan Brian Esquivel on a film production networking website. Esquivel, who lives in Los Angeles, also has ties to Laguna Beach, having worked there as a senior consultant from 2007 to 2009 at one of the former Martin Lawrence Galleries.
“Esquivel read ‘Thirty-Three Cecils’ and just ‘got it,’” Cooper said via email. “He saw it the way that we did and he was just as passionate. But he also was seasoned enough to just take off running and had all the relationships the project needed.”
Esquivel has his own Los Angeles film production company, Sunset River Productions, with co-founder Robinson McGiffin. He said he sees no reason to move Hornpin Media out of OC because when he lived and worked in Laguna Beach, it provided the genesis of his creative output and that he continues to feel supported by the creative community there.
“Thirty-Three Cecils” author Everett De Morier is finishing up the screenplay, and Esquivel said he hopes to start production soon. He said the film’s budget is about $4.5 million.
Esquivel will be one of the producers. He said he’s also in talks with a few others to join as executive producers.
Hornpin, under Cooper, also bought the rights to two other novels: “Fat Man Walking” and “The Last Clambake.” The former is a biopic on Steve Vaught, who walked across America in 2005. The latter is a coming-of-age drama set against the end of the American electronics manufacturing boom of the 1990s. Hornpin has five-year options to develop both, Cooper said. Development is scheduled to start next year.
Dale Peterson
Writer/Director
Wendy Peterson
Producer
Magic Ring Productions LLC
Irvine
Husband-and-wife team Dale and Wendy Peterson formed Magic Ring Productions LLC in 2013 to finance their first feature film, “Hello, My Name Is Frank.”
The comedy is about a “sweet and lovable hermit” with Tourette Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests itself in early childhood or adolescence, according to the Bayside, N.Y.-based Tourette Association of America. In the film, lead character Frank’s caregiver dies, and he’s dragged on a road trip with three teenage girls.
Dale Peterson has been involved in multiple aspects of filmmaking for the past two decades, including cinematography and directing. He’s said he’s produced and directed more than 100 music videos.
Wendy Peterson’s day job is as general counsel at Irvine-based law firm Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, where she handles the firm’s internal legal matters.
They said that establishing the film production company in Irvine made sense since they live here and because “very little indie filmmaking actually takes place in Hollywood.” Most of the process can in fact be done virtually, they said. Ninety percent of their preproduction on “Hello, My Name Is Frank” took place via phone or email.
They agree that there’s plenty of money in OC to finance films.
“The growing economy in OC has provided many high net-worth residents with additional monies with which to make non-traditional investments,” Dale Peterson said via email. “We are far enough away from LA that most OC residents have never been involved in any aspect of filmmaking, and so being involved in a film is intriguing and thrilling for them …”
Most of the investors were attorneys and other high-worth individuals in Orange County with a passion for filmmaking, Dale Peterson said. He declined to disclose their names. He did say the budget for “Hello, My Name Is Frank” was approximately $2 million.
Wendy Peterson said she’s looking forward to the time when she believes OC will become “a hub for the origination of creative screenplays and the structuring of film finance, which seems to be a natural extension of the busy banking and finance deals made in OC.”
“Hello, My Name Is Frank” premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival in April 2015 and was released last year on cable and online platforms, such as Amazon. It also had a limited theatrical release in a few cities.
The film received two Amazon Video Direct Star awards last fall for being one of the most downloaded indie films on Amazon, and Magic Ring received a “significant cash bonus,” which the Petersons didn’t disclose.
Dale Peterson is working on several more projects, one a finished screenplay for a Christmas film, which has a larger budget than “Hello, My Name Is Frank,” his most recent one, between $6 million and $10 million.
John Leonetti
Cinematographer/Director
Balancio Inc.
Pasadena
John Leonetti chose to live in San Clemente to escape “the hustle and bustle” of the L.A. lifestyle, he said.
“It allows me to relax and really focus on the creative development of my projects,” he said. “I’ve always had a special connection with the water, and a lot of my creative thought process takes place when I’m paddling or surfing.”
Leonetti is known for his cinematography work on “The Conjuring,” which was released in 2013; “Insidious,” released in 2010; and “The Mask,” released in 1994. Films he’s directed include “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation,” released in 1997 and “The Butterfly Effect 2,” released in 2006.
The film he’s directing now is “Wish Upon,” a teen thriller about a young girl who’s given a Chinese music box that will grant her seven wishes, but comes with a deadly catch. It’s scheduled to be released on July 14. He’s also “attached” to direct a feature film based on the novel “The Silence,” by author Tim Lebbon. He has other projects in the works that he said he can’t discuss right now.
Matthew Leonetti recently retired. He’s known for his work on “The Butterfly Effect,” which was released in 2004; “Dawn of the Dead,” also released in 2004; and “2 Fast 2 Furious,” released in 2003.
