"RENT ARTICLE" from the san fransico examiner

[NYTW1994]

Posted: 1/9/05 at 6:22am

Barring a last-minute breakthrough, Hollywood director Chris Columbus and his "Rent" production crew may soon be saying farewell to Treasure Island, according to the island's director and film industry workers.

Treasure Island Development Agency Director Tony Hall said Thursday his agency and Columbus' movie production company had been unable to agree to terms of a lease. He said "Rent" had not met basic tenant requirements such as a security deposit, proof of insurance and financial statements.

The two sides remained in negotiations as of 8 p.m. Thursday.

"We have bent over backwards to make this thing happen. It seems you can never satisfy these people," said Hall.

The crisis caused great anxiety in the film community, which has not had a major San Francisco-based film in three years and saw the $40 million production as a boon for the local industry.

"'Rent' is gone," said Teamsters Local 85 assistant secretary-treasurer Patti Bode. "Unless somebody can turn it around in the next 24 hours, it's gone."

Peter Ragone, spokesman for Mayor Gavin Newsom, said the deal is still alive.

"We are still working on the details of the arrangements. Anyone who suggests otherwise is not in the loop," Ragone said.

From the beginning, the film project has been threatened by bad blood and misunderstandings between two recent Newsom appointees: Hall, a former supervisor, and Stefanie Coyote, a city-based film location manager with Hollywood connections. Coyote was unavailable for comment, except through Ragone.

Under Hall's proposal, "Rent" would lease Building 180, plus parts of two other buildings, for $10,500 a month through July. He said the company would be eligible for $50,000 in rent credits for improvements made to the dilapidated Nimitz Conference Center.

But in a Dec. 13 letter to Coyote, "Rent" executive producer Lata Ryan says the film producers were promised three buildings rent-free: Building 180, the Nimitz Conference Center and offices on the second floor of the administrative building, where Hall's offices are.

In the letter, obtained by The Examiner through a public-records request, the movie company threatened to move the project to New York or Los Angeles if the terms were not met.

"It would be a huge embarrassment to ... Chris Columbus and the city of San Francisco" if it moved elsewhere, the letter states.

Hall said at least three other companies are lined up to pay market rate for Building 180, which he said normally generates $500,000 a year. He said the building's revenues go toward the 11 homeless organizations on the island.

"I'm doing what is right for The City," Hall said. "My job is to care for the 3,500 people out here. As much as I want [the movie] here, they at least have to be willing to pay some rent, and if not, why not? What makes them special?"

Bode, the Teamster, said the movie would generate 45 jobs and that Columbus was prepared to make four movies on the island, creating long-term jobs.

"From the beginning, [Hall] has stymied this at every turn," said Bode. "The whole Bay Area looks foolish."

But Hall said he was simply unwilling to give the movie team "a sweetheart deal" or a "gift of public funds."

"If they walked away right now it might be a favor to The City in the long run," he said.