Lights, camera, action

When Colusa resident Leo Yates was alive, the city enjoyed a lengthy love affair with Hollywood.

Downtown Colusa, the Sacramento River and the historic Colusa County Courthouse became popular backdrops for movies like "tick…tick…tick (1970), starring Jim Brown, "I Walk the Line," starring Gregory Peck (1970) "Brother John," starting Sydney Poitier (1972), Huckleberry Finn, starring Ron Howard and Merle Haggard (1975), and "The Warlord," starring Charleton Heston (1965).

"Leo used to be a one-man show," said Colusa Treasurer Gar Roark. "He use to generate the area for a lot of different movies."

In "Trouble Comes to Town," starring Lloyd Bridges (1972), movie crews blew up a gas station at the corner of Sixth and Market streets, and the Bank of America, which Roark managed, was transformed to a bank of another name ... the same day federal auditors came to town.

"They were a little excited about it," Roark said. "They walked up and down the street and couldn't find the bank. Eventually, they had to ask someone where the bank was. But at the time, people (in Hollywood) recognized the availability of our area ...the old houses and courthouse."

Colusa officials hope to market the city once again to Hollywood, and are planning to create a film commission.

The formation follows the City Council's adoption of a film ordinance last year, which was designed to recover costs associated with filming in Colusa, while stimulating interest in filming in the city, according to City Manager Jan McClintock.

"Most successful areas have a film commission," McClintock said.

Last month, the city processed two permits for filming, one by MTV, which covered Colusa High School's Jan. 26 Challenge Day, a six-hour program created to build connection and empathy among teenagers by addressing common issues seen at schools, such as teasing, harassment, isolation, racism, sexism, bullying, homophobia and violence.

The second filming last month was a music video, McClintock said.

The role of the film commission will be to help companies get permits, represent Colusa at film industry events, help locate sites and maintain a Web site as a marketing tool.

A film commission could also spearhead the efforts to work with groups like Turner Classic Movies, which recently launched a program to visit filming locations and interview people in films or were present at filmings, McClintock said.

Councilwoman Kay Hosmer belonged to a film commission in Sonoma.

"I'm very supportive of the idea," Hosmer said. "It does bring money into the city. It could do a lot for Colusa."

City officials said the film commission would fit in with the city and county's general marking plan, and could be a part of an economic development partnership with Colusa County and Williams.

It is expected, that once started, the film commission would work independently with minimal support from city staff, McClintock said.

Contact Susan Meeker at 458-2121 or smeeker@tcnpress.com.