Mickey Mouse is Getting New Digs
Project could give $533 million boost to economy
The mouse is opening a new home in Santa Clarita and officials are hoping it will create much needed jobs. The Walt Disney Co. has proposed building a 56-acre production studio on it's 890 acre Golden Oak Ranch.
The project would give the sagging Los Angeles entertainment economy a welcome $533 million boost during a tough recession. Industry officials said it was a sign that California incentives to control runway projection may be working.
"It's the harbinger we might see more TV production come back to California," Paul Audley, president of FilmLA, told The Signal. "I can't imagine them not crunching numbers, including the fact that California has now, for the first time, gotten into direct competition with the other 40 states offering incentives."
The Disney | ABC Studios at the Ranch would create about 2,854 full and part-time jobs.
The move would nearly double Disney's total square footage of soundstages in LA County. Richard Ballering, executive director of production for ABC Studios, told the LA Times that the project would address the studio's shortage of production facilities. The network can have as many as 23 shows filming during the height of pilot season.
Company officials said the project is in the early planning stages with several hurdles to go including public meetings and environmental studies. They did not have a projected a completion date.
Walt Disney Productions bought Golden Oak Ranch in 1959 and has filmed projects there such as "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest," "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement," and "Pearl Harbor."
