Home away from Hollywood: The Town Time Forgot


For the past two weeks, Taft has been home to the cast, crew and producers of a movie mini-series in production called “Meteor: Path to Destruction”. Besides the heat, the crew of “Meteor” is in love with the town of Taft.

“When you look up and down these streets, it’s like being in a town during the 50’s”, says producer Tony Roman. “The downtown buildings are left untouched by time”.

Roman has been consistently impressed by the charm of Taft, as well as the friendly locals. “Everyone in this town is so open and friendly” he commented. “The market (La Villa Meat Market) has been great”. Roman and the rest of the crew will be filming on Center Street, Main Street, Lincoln Junior High, and the Taft court house.

Finding a place to film with the look and feel of Taft was not easy to find. Roman spent 4 days scouting around near Cayucos, Tehachapi and Maricopa. After driving through Maricopa, he kept driving and eventually found Taft.

“I fell in love with Taft as soon as I saw it” said Roman. “I wasn’t interested in finding a faceless suburban town with the normal chains throughout. I wanted the unique “Mom and Pop” businesses, and when I found Taft, I really found something amazing.”

One of the favorite structures for Roman has been The Fox Theater. “The Fox has this beautiful art-deco 50’s like theme.” The Fox Theater is just one of the many architectural gems that Roman has discovered here in Taft- and he doesn’t want to see them disappear. “I want to keep Mom and Pop in business”, says Roman.

Roman doesn’t see this visit to Taft as his last either. “I would love to come back and film more in Taft. It would be amazing to do a future project along the lines of a western period piece.


Making a Movie in Taft


Within our small town, a microcosm with such luxuries as, stylists, makeup artists, security, and leg of lamb for lunch will exist for the next week. This self contained community is here to film a movie called “Meteor”.

Celebrities such as Stacy Keach, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jason Alexander, Christopher Lloyd, and Marla Sokoloff star in the film which will capture scenes on Center Street, Main Street, and near Taft Union High School.

However, behind the stars we see on the screen, dozens of crew members work behind the scenes to ensure an amazing production. “For every 6 actors, we have about 75 crew members working to make everything go smoothly” said Tony Roman, Producer for “Meteor”.

Al Valentine, transportation team leader, was key in leading 15 trailers from Los Angeles to Taft for the making of this movie. These trailers are used for housing, food service, make-up, special effects, wardrobe and security.

From an on-site medic to an on-site mechanic, this crew has everything covered. For anything that may be needed outside of what is self-contained, the crew relies on the community of Taft. “We know that if we need help with heavy lifting, we can ask the oil fields for equipment”, says Roman.

The cast, crew and producers that come together to work on a film become a sort of makeshift family, and the time and dedication put into the final product really bring these people together. When asked what makes up the components of a movie, Roman replied, “A lot of dedicated people who will work themselves to death for one thing. The family aspect of the movie becomes more than the movie itself.”

The hospitality and openness of the people of Taft have indeed made the cast and crew of “Meteor” feel welcome and encouraged to return.