Mayor wants Star Trek3 to be filmed in Seoul

By Lee Kyung-min

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) said Monday it is ready financially support foreign movie production companies that seek filming locations in the capital.

SMG said it will provide up to 100 million won ($95,000) to film productions that film in Seoul for more than six days.

Also it will pay for the hotel stay and airline tickets for movie production company officials who visit Seoul with plans to feature Seoul as a location.

The SMG said after April’s successful shoot for Hollywood blockbuster “Avengers 2” here, an episode of the American TV series “Sense 8” starring Bae Doo-na, which is being co-directed and produced by the Wachowskis of the “Matrix” fame, is scheduled to be filmed here.

To that end, Seoul mayor Park Won-soon met with two Hollywood movie directors to promote the city as a filming location.

On Sunday (local time) Mayor Park visited Paramount Pictures studio in Los Angeles to meet Jeffrey Chernov, the producer of “Star Trek” and Roberto Orci, the director of “Star Trek 3” which will be screened in 2016.

Chernov was the vice president of Walt Disney Pictures and Television from 1987-89. Orci is a screenwriter whose works include “Transformers” and “The Amazing Spider Man 2.”