Film production crews met with city officials for a tour of Lake Elsinore. (Photo courtesy of City of Lake Elsinore)
Film crews don’t usually spend their weekends in Lake Elsinore. City leaders are hoping that starts to change.
Over the weekend of March 27, the city hosted a two-day film familiarization tour. They showed Lake Elsinore as a place for film, TV and commercial shoots. Location managers and industry partners came to see the city and get a feel for what could work on screen.
The group was taken to different spots around the city, including Downtown Main Street, Launch Pointe, Skydive Elsinore, Lake Elsinore Raceway and Lake Elsinore Casino. The goal was to show the variety of scenes the city offers within a close range.
“This familiarization tour is an important step in positioning Lake Elsinore as a premier filming destination in Southern California,” Mayor Pro Tem Timothy Sheridan said in a press release.
The tour came together through a partnership between the Riverside County Film Commission, Inland Empire Film Services, and FILM LE, the city’s own program focused on attracting production and making permits easier for crews.
Economic Development Director Gina Gonzalez pointed out the potential economic benefits of bringing productions to the city.
“This tour allowed industry partners to experience first-hand the diversity of our locations and the ease of working in our City,” Gonzalez said. “Through FILM LE and our regional partnerships, we are committed to making Lake Elsinore a competitive and film-friendly destination that supports jobs, local businesses, and long-term economic growth.”
At a city council meeting on April 14, Sheridan talked about how the tour played out, saying the response from the visitors was positive overall.
“If you walk down Main Street, it’s impressive, and they were impressed,” Sheridan said. “The location managers really enjoyed their time here in Lake Elsinore.”
Sheridan also said the event was the result of work that had been building for years.
“It was something that I had started a bit back in 2022, and it has really come together recently,” he said, thanking Gonzalez and Kimberly Davidson of the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce for helping make the tour happen.
“If we can get film and television productions here in Lake Elsinore, that is going to benefit everybody here,” Sheridan said.
