HOLLYWOOD GOES TO WASHINGTON, LOCALS TRY TO CASH IN

[AussieMark]

Hollywood Goes to Washington, Locals Aim to Cash In

Washington has found a new way to cash in on rising interest in the capital as a backdrop for feature movies and television shows such as NBC's "West Wing" and HBO's "K Street."

Local residents eager to get their street or business into the next blockbuster or "West Wing" episode can now register in a new Celluloid City Directory -- a database of potential film locations set up by the city authorities.

The city will use it to show off neighborhoods less well known than areas around the White House and the Capitol, officials said on Friday.

"We thought this would be a really fun and easy way to develop a database because everyone wants to see themselves in pictures and there are some great architectural icons in this city," Chris Bender, spokesman for the city's economic development office, told Reuters.

The database would also allow city officials to steer production crews pressed for time to areas off the beaten path rather than the familiar monuments where they would otherwise be likely to concentrate filming.

While many media-savvy cities across the United States already have similar databases for film makers, officials say the project is a sign of Washington's progress toward respectability after years of drug-fueled violence and middle-class flight.

The political drama "K Street" already features some of the city's classiest restaurants, hotels and hair salons by name, in addition to personalities such as senators and lobbyists playing themselves in fictionalized scripts.

It has also raised the temperature of resident female fans of actor George Clooney, one of the show's executive producers, who now live in constant hopes of bumping into him at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel gym where he works out or elsewhere around town.

"National Treasure" starring Nicolas Cage and opening later this month will feature scenes shot in the National Archives and Library of Congress, said Crystal Palmer, head of the city's Office of Motion Picture and Television Development.

"That's the first time we've had a project of that size shoot in the city," added Palmer.

But officials hope crews will venture even deeper into "hometown" Washington when filming begins on projects they say are scheduled for 2004, including "The Candidate 2," a new "Wonder Woman" and an adaptation of Tom Clancy's "Red Rabbit."

Washington filming plans for a sequel to the movie "XXX," with rapper Ice Cube, are particularly promising. "That will go not just to postcard Washington but get us into the outskirts that people may not know about," said Palmer.