Is Arizona really the new Hollywood?

An aspiring actress friend is moving to Arizona to get her start. She said it's the new Hollywood, because more and more movies are being made there. Is there really something to this, or is she full of it?

Sara, Green Bay, Wisconsin

She is not full of it. There is indeed some sort of hinky, entertainment-related activity going on out there on the edges of the earth. But I can understand your cynicism. Filming? In Arizona? A state so hot in the summer you feel your own mortality in the dash from your office to the car? A state stocked with rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, scorpions and, at one point, Stephen Baldwin?

Money, I suspect, must be involved. And it is. In January, the state passed new laws offering massive tax breaks to filmmakers who bring their projects to Arizona. Productions can save up to 20 percent of their budgets, or $5 million, depending on how many locals they hire for the crew and cast. An increasing number of film crews have found themselves baking in the cruel Arizona sun ever since.

So, yes, Sara, that friend of yours may find herself rather desirable to filmmakers once she reaches Arizona. If she cannot find work in front of the camera, she certainly has a decent chance at making some money behind it.

As a resident, "she'll be able to save her employers some money," says Phil Bradstock, project manager for the Phoenix Film Office.

If you are one of the six people who saw Beerfest in theaters, you may be amused to learn the movie--set in Germany--was filmed in Arizona. And if you see a flick featuring characters stranded on a lonely desert road that stretches to the horizon, there's a good chance it was shot in Phoenix. Bradstock says they have a great lonely road out there. The city also has an airport, recently used by the BBC to film some right proper drama or another, and a city hall dating from the early 1900s that makes a picturesque backdrop.

Various other Phoenix locales are being used for an upcoming Jamie Foxx political drama called The Kingdom.

"He has been here for about a year, filming it," Bradstock says. "He's out of the country now, but he'll be coming back soon to finish shooting."

The Foxx film, due out next year and costarring Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman, is set in the Middle East. So is George Clooney's Three Kings--also coincidentally shot in Arizona. And that drug flick Traffic, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Don Cheadle? You guessed it, filmed in Arizona. (Note to any other actor thinking of heading out there to the Grand Canyon State: Wear sunscreen. Don't make us whip out the photos of Michael Douglas.)

Television producers also like Arizona. The CW network is toying with a midseason replacement series filmed in Phoenix, called Hidden Palms, about a rebellious teenager who moves with his family to a desert community. One character is named Jesse Jo--enough to make anyone rebel against anything, I suspect.