User:Miss Mondegreen/Uni filming

The school, which has been able to maintain much of its original architecture is one of the only Los Angeles schools with pre-WWII buildings remaining. Because its older architecture: the brick facades and wide hallways, its "unique east cost look", the school is an attractive place to film. The administration, which allows filming during school hours, moves classes as needed and allows productions to make minor changes to the campus, has a long history of bringing in filming (and the money that goes with it) to the school.

The usage of the school for filming is a controversial one. Filming often takes place during school hours, and students and teachers are moved from classrooms and walkways are blocked off as needed. The school often undergoes renovations for filming, anything from retiling and painting, to temporary removal of furniture and lockers. These disruptions are a cause for students and teacher complaints.

Past articles in the Wildcat addressed not only the distruption to students, but how the money made from the constant filming is spent. Editorials have complained about the portion of the money that goes to the LAUSD, and the way the money is spent by the school.

University High charges the standard district fee for each day of filming (currently $2,500). A portion of the money earned goes to FilmL.A., Inc., formerly named the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation, which acts as an intermediary between the LAUSD and the entertainment industry. The name change, which followed the naming of a new president and finance chief and came as the company was preparing to relocate its headquarters and implement a revised contract with the Los Angeles City Council, helped distance the private non-profit from it's "bureaucratic and scandal-ridden image." In March of 2005, the LAUSD entered into a new three year contract with the EIDC, aftering soliciting bids from other vendors. Ruben Rojas, the LAUSD's director of revenue enhancement, said that the district choose to continue working with the EIDC because of it's "its proven track record and ability to deal with complex film-permitting issues." . Indeed, during that time, FilmL.A. expanded the number of schools that had hosted on-location filming from 19 schools to more than 200 schools: coordinating 1,500 film shoots at 250 LAUSD sites. The LAUSD's filming profits for the 2003-2004 school year generated almost $1 million dollars, and the district is on target to for a annual film revenue increase to at least $1.5 million. The doubling of the LAUSD's film revenue in the four years since FilmL.A. was original hired in March 2002 was a contributing factor to Burbank Unified School District's decision to hire Film L.A. in July of 2006.

Under FilmL.A.'s current contract with the city, the company recieves "a 15% managment fee based on the total use fee". . 75 percent of the remaining filming monies go to the individual schools that host the on-location shooting to be used at the school's discretion, and 25 percent goes to a district fund that benefits schools that do not generate film revenues of their own. Uni High distributes among the departments the first $12,000 made each year from on-campus filming. The Budget Committee makes spending recommendations for any additional monies.

Recent budget cuts have made filming at schools more attractive. In 2004, the number of schools volunteering to be film locations grew from 19 to 160 and the district's annual film revenue doubled to $1 million. In 2005, LAUSD officials revised the district's fee structure for the first time since 1992. The revision included extending a full day of shooting from 14 to 15 hours, and a daily rate increase from $1,700 to $2,500.

Uni has been noted in the press as being one of the more popular schools for filming, even compared to other local schools with similar structure and appearance. In 2003 and 2004 alone, 38 movies, TV shows and commercials were filmed at University High. This popularity, with both its positive and negative impacts, is credited to the Assistant Principal who is responsible for the filming on campus.

The Assistant Principal, Ali Galedary, who graduated from Uni High himself in 1978, says, "Our kids understand, and our teachers understand, that filming is beneficial to University High School." He also believes that the filming can be a good experience for the students. Student reporters have interviewed actors filming at the school and the drama students get to "observe the set". Notably, one student's photo of Jim Carrey during the Bruce Almighty shoot ran in the Christian Science Monitor with a photo byline for her and the school newspaper (where the photo originally ran).

In November of 2006, Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson began filming at Uni. As of April 2007, the $90,000 received for this production is the most that the school has made on an individual filming contract. Uni underwent massive renovations in order to prepare for the filming of Drillbit Taylor. The interior and exterior of the main building were painted, and the main building was retiled as well. The facade of the building was altered to read "McKinley High School," and plants and grass patches were added throughout the school. These changes were unusual not only because the extent and timing of the changes meant that construction took place during the school year, but also because Drillbit Taylor production did not pay for the re-tiling. The district had provided money to re-tile floors throughout the LAUSD, so the re-tiling of the floors itself was not unusual or controversial. However, as the film's production needs guided the color choices for the re-tiling and the schedule for construction, many students were upset by the behavior of the movie company and the school.  Below is an incomplete list of productions that have filmed at University High:

Movies

 * Billie, 1965
 * Pretty Maids All in a Row, 1971
 * Jawbreaker, 1995
 * Bruce Almighty, 2003
 * The Battle of Shaker Heights, 2003
 * Raise Your Voice, 2004
 * Surviving Christmas, 2004
 * The Hot Chick, 2004
 * Freedom Writers, 2007,
 * Drillbit Taylor, 2008

Television

 * My So-Called Life, 1994
 * Oliver Beene, 2003 -2004
 * 7th Heaven, from 1995 - 2007, University High served as Glen Oak High School
 * Lizzie McGuire, aired 2001 - 2004
 * Joan of Arcadia, aired 2003 - 2005
 * Arrested Development, aired 2003 - 2006

Indiviual Episodes

 * The Flannerys, pilot, shot 2003
 * High School Undercover, pilot, shot March 2004
 * JAG, shot March 2004
 * Filmore Middle, pilot, shot 2005
 * Day Break, pilot, shot 2007
 * The Division, season finale, shot May 2004

Other

 * JoJo's music video Leave (Get Out), 2004

Notes and references

 * Location Information for University High School from FilmL.A., Inc.