Film Florida

Film Florida Online Production GuideFilm Florida Online Production Guide

Office:	LEE COUNTY FILM OFFICE
Film Liaison:	Nancy Hamilton
Phone:	800 237-6444
Fax:	239 334-1106
E-Mail Address:	nhamilton@leegov.com
Website:	www.fortmyers-sanibel.com/film/
Mailing Address:	12800 University Drive #550 Ft. Myers, FL 33907-

Coverage Area:

Unique Locations:

Agricultural operations include huge citrus farms, tomato and vegetable farms, exotic fruit groves, ornamental plant groves, palm tree groves, beekeeping operations and cattle and horse ranches; Arcade Theater is a 1920's theater in downtown Fort Myers that has been restored to its original condition, seats 400 and has a stage for performances or can be used to show movies; Babcock Ranch Wilderness is the largest working ranch in the US with 153 sq. miles of land including the 7,000 acre Telegraph Cypress Swamp, cattle, horse, buffalo and alligator ranching; Big Cypress National Preserve serves as natural habitat for heron, bald eagles, deer, and endangered Florida panthers, with grasslands, marshes, and swamps; Briggs Nature Center interpretive park features hands-on exhibits, a half-mile boardwalk through Rookery Bay, a butterfly garden, and wilderness excursions on pontoon, kayak and canoe tours; Buckingham Air Field was built in the 1940's and was used to train pilots during WWII; The Burroughs Home is a 1901 Georgian Revival riverfront mansion in downtown Fort Myers rented for filming, weddings, and parties; Cabbage Key barrier island, former home of novelist Mary Roberts Rinehart, has a dining room, built in 1938 and papered with dollar bills, that inspired Jimmy Buffet's song, Cheeseburger in Paradise; The Caloosa Nature Center and Planetarium features an aquatic "touch tank," planetarium shows and a Seminole Indian village with swamps and local wildlife; Care and Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW), on Sanibel Island, cares for injured birds and animals in order to return them to the wild; City of Palms Park baseball stadium is the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox and is conveniently located in downtown Fort Myers; Clam Pass Park has an elevated boardwalk that winds through a mangrove forest and ends at a beautiful white beach; The Collier County Historical Museum has exhibits on local history and archaeology and adjoins a historical park and Florida native-plant garden; Collier Seminole State Park in the Everglades offers camping in tropical hammocks (raised islands of land in; wetland areas), ranger-guided nature walks and boat tours; commercial shrimp fleet on Fort Myers Beach; The Conservancy of Naples Nature Center offers a unique approach to discovering the southwest Florida ecosystem through nature walks and boat tours, a natural science museum, and a wildlife rehabilitation clinic; Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is an 11,000-acre wilderness bird sanctuary with a two-mile boardwalk through virgin forest with 500-year-old bald cypress trees; Delnor Wiggins Pass State Recreation Area is a beach-front park located on a barrier island and is renowned for miles of undeveloped shoreline; Eden Vineyards Winery has an "Olde Florida" winery building and a vineyard that covers several acres; the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford Estates: The winter home of Thomas Edison lies on a 14-acre riverfront estate with laboratories, botanical gardens and a museum. The Henry Ford home next door also includes a collection of his unique automobiles; Everglades National Park, which covers almost the entire southern tip of Florida, is the nation's third largest national park, with vast wetlands, numerous bird species, alligators, Florida panther, and a host of subtropical wildlife; Everglades Wonder Gardens was established in 1936 as a wildlife park and remains today much as it was in the 40's and 50's; Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Olde Naples is an upscale shopping district featuring boutiques, sidewalk cafes and European charm; fishing villages and camps are numerous along the coast and indude the historic Rod and Gun Club, the historic Useppa Island Club, and Weeks Fish Camp, which has been in operation for more than 70 years; Florida Sports Park, home of the famous Mile o Mud, where swamp buggies race every March, May and October, has an outdoor arena, 130-acre park, rifle/pistol range, go cart races, and a 10,000 sq. foot dance hall; golf courses abound, including several championship courses, several designed by the nation's top course designers, and two courses on the Gulf of Mexico; Hammond Park baseball stadium, the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins, was named the best in Florida by Southern Living Travel; The Imaginarium is an old municipal water treatment plant converted to make a hands-on children's museum filled with dozens of interactive exhibits on science, ecology, technology and includes a movie theater inside one of the huge water tanks; Jungle Larry's Zoological Park and Botanical Gardens has one of the only breeding programs for rare white tigers. Rare and endangered plants and animals live in a 52-acre garden with nature trails, boat rides, shows, lectures, and exhibits; the Lee Civic Center is an 8,500 seat arena with retractable seating that can be configured in many ways, around the modular stage or the open floor; lighthouses include the Boca Grande Lighthouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, the Sanibel Lighthouse, a designated historic site, and a smaller lighthouse on Boca Grande/Bocilla Island; the Naples Depot, an old train depot and registered historic site, has been restored for modern day use with a small store and community meeting room; the Naples-Ft. Myers Greyhound Track has dog racing and off-track betting on the ponies; the Naples Pier is a popular point for fishing enthusiasts eager to try their luck in the warm Florida waters; the Octagon Animal Sanctuary provides a home for unwanted and abused animals from circuses, animal shows and private owners that no longer want them. The animals include more than 15 tigers, lions, an elephant, wolves, a hippo, panthers, bears, zebras and much more; the Philharmonic Center for the Arts is a world-class concert hall with an 80-piece orchestra, four art galleries and two sculpture gardens with traveling museum-quality exhibitions; roadways include long causeways, surfside drives, drawbridges and fishing bridges; Rookery Bay National Estuary; Royal Fakapalm is a public preserve near Copeland that features narrow, winding drives through scenic swamps; Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa is a five-star hotel with a complete spa, golf, marina and tennis facilities, induding a center court stadium; the Sanibel Shell Museum is located on Sanibel Island, which is one of the ten best beaches in the world for shelling, has more than 400 species found in the warm Gulf waters; the Seminole Gaming Palace casino offers poker, gaming machines and high stakes bingo with a full restaurant and bar in Immokalee; The Seminole Gulf Railway includes cargo trains and a dinner train with 1930's passenger cars, all available for filming and stunt work; The Shell Factory and Museum has the world's largest collection of shells, corals, sponges, etc. spread over 65,000 sq. ft; Sheriff's Posse Rodeo Arena; Smallwood's Store and Indian Trading Post, opened in 1906, served the settlers of Chokoloskee Bay by buying hides, furs, farm produce and provided goods that were needed. The store closed in 1982, and was recently reopened as a museum by Ted Smallwoods granddaughter; Terry Park Baseball Stadium, a wooden stadium built in 1922, has been beautifully preserved; The Teddy Bear Museum has 3,000 teddy bears on display, including many rare bears and collector's items; Tin City, designed as an old marine marketplace, has 40 shops and two restaurants on the waterfront in charming, quaint buildings with tin roofs; University of South Florida/Edison Community College Campuses; vegetation stays green all year in southwest Florida and includes many exotic and tropical plants like gumbo-limbo trees, hibiscus, banyan trees, mangroves, and sea grape; Venetian Village is a very upscale waterfront shopping district with elevated boutiques designed with the look and feel of Italy; wilderness locations include swamps, jungles, lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, thousands of acres of undeveloped and partially developed land, deserted islands, and huge grassland savannas. Seven hundred miles of shoreline, 70 miles of white-sand beach (including some of the only undeveloped beaches remaining in Florida), more than 100 barrier islands, breathtaking sunsets, the Everglades and the Ten Thousand Islands compliment the premier and diverse locations available in this Gulf coast county.

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Permitting Info:

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