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player ready...Filmmakers in Chicago are feeling the effects of Hollywood’s response to the terrorists attacks, with some projects postponed and others changing locations.
Television’s “ER,” for example, has postponed a mid-October trip here, and a Samuel L. Jackson-Jennifer Lopez movie has been put on hold. On the other hand, “Eco-Challenge,” an urban competition from “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett for USA Network, is looking at Chicago to replace the show’s planned filming in New York, according to an Illinois Film Office executive.
“ER” has filmed atmosphere and exterior shots in Chicago several times a season since it was launched in 1994. “It’s a loss. Every time they come in, it’s $300,000 to $500,000 and even more if they do a whole episode here,” said Illinois Film Office director Ron Ver Kuilen. “We asked them if they were going to come in December and January and they said that is still to be determined.”
A spokesman for “ER’s” studio, Warner Bros. Television, confirmed the October trip has been canceled, but said plans were to reschedule.
Content is the reason Ver Kuilen said “Tick Tock,” the Jackson-Lopez movie involving a bomber, has been postponed. But that is only one factor influencing filmmakers. “The industry as a whole is concerned about access to locations because of security issues,” said Ver Kuilen, citing popular filming sites such as O’Hare Airport, Wrigley Field and the State of Illinois Building as examples. “Business as usual will be unusual.” In 2000, feature films and television added $85 million to Illinois coffers, according to Ver Kuilen; another $150 million came from commercials and educational, industrial and documentary films.