Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9404290098
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CATHERINE HINMAN ORLANDO SENTINEL
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
The show, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Universal Television, will spend an estimated $20 million in the region, film officials said, creating full-time production jobs for as many as 130 people.
NBC recently announced that it was renewing the series for another season, prompting the show's producers to confirm what had been rumored for weeks. Florida film officials have been courting "seaQuest" for six months, promising coast-to-coast locations for the show's new season.
In the one-hour show, Roy Scheider stars as the captain of a submarine in the year 2018. His mission is to patrol undersea canyons and mountains protecting human colonies and to keep the peace among a fractious crew of scientists and Navy personnel.
It is only the second prime-time network series to be shot in Central Florida and by far the most significant in terms of prestige and economic benefits. Six episodes of the Nickelodeon sitcom "Hi Honey, I'm Home," which aired on ABC, were produced at Universal Studios in late 1990. "seaQuest" will shoot here between July and March, producers said.
Universal is making two stages available to the production beginning May 9, said Norman Rice, vice president and studio manager.
"It is a milestone for a lot of reasons," Rice said. "It is a big show and they intend to use all Florida people on it."
Producers opted to come to Orlando despite a failed attempt in the state legislature this spring to provide a $500,000 incentive for the show to move from Los Angeles.
Executive producer David Burke said it would cost the production hundreds of thousands of dollars to relocate, but he also expected to save money producing the show in Central Florida. In Los Angeles, production costs almost $2 million an episode.
Nonetheless, Burke said the producers' main reasons for moving the show were not economic but creative. Landlocked on a soundstage for its debut season, producers aim to get their cast out of the submarine beginning with the new season. They are coming to Florida for locations, he said.
"The overriding reason is not to save money," said Burke, who grew up in Miami and the Tampa Bay area and was very influential in the decision. "The overriding reason is to use the vast assets the state has.
"It is a show that takes place in the water, and it easier to be in the water in Florida than in California."
Katherine Ramsberger, director of the Orlando Film & Television Office, said she expected "seaQuest" would use locations on both the east and west coasts as well as the many springs, lakes and waterways of Central Florida.
Ramsberger said the show will be a boon in what is already to be shaping up to be a better year than last. In 1993, according to the Orlando Film Office, television and film producers spent more than $92 million in Central Florida.
Florida Film Commission executive director John Reitzammer, who in December orchestrated a legislative tour of the "seaQuest" set in California, said producers were guaranteed that filming in the state will be as "trouble-free as possible."
"They believe there is [going to be] a significant increase in the quality level of their shows and that's the key," Reitzammer said.
Out of this season's network shows, "seaQuest" is ranked 83rd.
The series ranks first in its time period with the important demographic group of adults aged 18 to 54, NBC said.
In the first season, an average of 15.6 million people watched the show each night, according to NBC research. And that would be a lot of people to be exposed to Central Florida on any given Sunday.
"In image," Ramsberger said, "`seaQuest' will bring a lot to our community."
by CNB