La Rotune Restaurant

Cinema fans the world over know that Starrywood is the place to spot movie stars, and there's no better place for stargazing than the elegant "La Rotune" Restaurant. This eaterie, located in downtown Starrywood, is the fashionable place to dine for big-name celebrities, who flock there for lunch and dinner.

La Rotune serves mainly as a haven for movie stars to escape magazine reporters and autograph hounds. The restaurant maintains a policy of admitting only movie stars and their entourage; La Rotune's owner knows all the famous personages in town, and will summon Brutus the bouncer to show starstruck fans the way out.

Tantamount Studios

Many production houses and studios make their homes beneath the Starrywood hills, but whatever their importance, only one above all is Tantamount.

Tantamount Studios is the largest motion picture company in the world — certainly the largest in Usland — and one of the most profitable names in show business. Tantamount drives Starrywood's movie industry forward with releases showcasing some of the brightest stars of the silver screen. Actresses and actors such as leading man Bumphrey Hogart got their big break working at Tantamount Studios; with box office returns in excess of one million dollars annually, executives can afford contracts with popular entertainers, from singers to comedians.

Inside the studio gates, filmmakers translate scripts to celluloid in every genre — romance, western, drama — hoping theirs is the motion picture that will win them the Oscar. Meanwhile, studio moguls and talent scouts remain on the lookout for star material, any unknown with the talent and ambition to go all the way to the top. As they say in Starrywood, "Anything's possible!"

STUDIO BACKLOT

Tantamount Studios covers several hundred acres of property; studio personnel and tour groups use motor carts to travel long distances. Stage workers and extras populate the studio backlot on any given day. Important areas of the complex include departments for costume and makeup; warehouses holding props, set dressings, and equipment; and facilities for film processing, editing, and storage.

SETS & SOUND STAGES

Tantamount Studios has no less than 30 sound stages, some of which are big enough to double as aircraft hangars. Much filming takes place on stages indoors, but sometimes insufficient space and lighting forces movie crews to shoot footage outdoors or "on location." Set construction requires a small army of carpenters, electricians, masons, and decorators under the command of an art director and/or set designer. Sets used in repeated movies (such as a full-scale galleon involved in swashbuckling sea epics) become permanent fixtures on the studio lot.

Movie sound stages are supposed to be controlled environments, but film productions are really controlled chaos. Working from scene to scene, directors such as Tantamount veteran C.B. record the incongruous elements that will later be assembled into a unified whole, following the screenplay (or improvising, sometimes to brilliant effect).

Left: Director C.B. and his long-suffering assistant Montgomery, on the set. Right: A maze of precarious sound stage catwalks allows stage hands access to lights and equipment.

PRODUCTION OFFICE

Studio production offices are where accountants, clerks, and managers handle the real business of moviemaking. With average picture costs totaling in the ten thousands of dollars, careful budgeting and tight fiscal management allow producers to maximize the returns on their investments. Directors screen dailies in the projection room, while casting agents audition actors and actresses for new films. The publicity department plays a huge role at Tantamount: positive press can spell the difference between a skyrocketing success and a box-office bombshell.

STUDIO AIRFIELD

Aerial themes are a current trend in Starrywood filmmaking, thanks to the public's embrace of pilot heroes in movies of high-flying action and romance. Here at the Tantamount studio airfield, directors create thrilling dogfights and midair chases for their pictures. The stunt planes that stunt pilots use for their work are souped-up versions of older models, usually war fighters with authentic-looking mock weapons. Special effects experts rig smoke bombs to simulate anti-aircraft fire and hits from enemy attack. Careful planning of each stunt sequence ensures that it's the villain who goes down in flames, while the good guy flies away with the girl in his arms.