WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA (TAMPA BAY AREA) FACTS:

•  Tampa often "cheats" for Chicago, New York, the rural inner city, sprawling suburbia and Havana, Cuba.
•  Ft. DeSoto Park, in St. Petersburg is a favorite filming location, offers miles of undeveloped shoreline with water views in three directions.
•  Local crew base is strong. Crew is also available in nearby Orlando.
•  Noted coastal geologist Dr. Stephen Leatherman ranks three of St. Petersburg's beaches in the top 10 in the nation.
•  Tampa Bay’s beaches are always ranked in the Top 10 beaches in the United States.
•  Tampa Bay is the largest open-water estuary in Florida.
•  Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota County was voted the World's Whitest Sand Beach by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
•  You can get from downtown Tampa to a deserted beach in this region in 30 minutes.
•  Orlando is just a 90-minute drive from Tampa-St. Petersburg area. Really convenient for overnight film processing and access to soundstages.
•  The Guinness Book of World Records credits the Tampa Bay Region with the longest run of sunny days in the nation - 768 in a row.
•  Winter Averages - 70.5 degrees - rainfall 2.2"/month
•  Spring Averages - 74.4 degrees - rainfall 2.1"/month
•  Summer Averages - 89.4 degrees - rainfall 9.5"/month
•  Fall Averages - 83.1 degrees - rainfall 1.9"/month
•  The three prominent cities in the Tampa Bay Metro area are Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater.
•  The Tampa Bay Metro Area has 4 million residents making it the 12th largest media market in the United States of America and the largest media market in Florida.
•  The Tampa Bay Metro Area consists of 7 Florida counties: Hernando County, Hillsborough County, Manatee County, Pasco County, Pinellas County, Polk County and Sarasota County.