Photo by Warner Montgomery S.C. Film Commission's Commissioner Jeff Monks Jeff Monks calls South Carolina's film industry "tourism on steroids." The S.C. Film Commission's commissioner backs his words

with numbers: The Patriot

, $150,000 per day for 180 days; Radio, $120,000

a day for 100 days; Dear

John, $207,000 a day.

These are all movies shot in South Carolina, and the dollar amounts mostly come from funds spent on payroll and supplies for crew and vendors. That amount does not include the tourist dollars that roll in after South Carolina is showcased on the big screen and other venues.

Monks told a captive audience at the Columbia Rotary Club's weekly lunch meeting Monday that Japanese tourist agencies have called him

looking to set up Forrest

Gump tours. Another gentleman wanted Monk to tell him the public locations used for the filming

of The Notebook . The

Notebook is this man's girlfriend's favorite movie, and he wanted to propose to her at one of the locations used in the film.

The only problem with such a profitable industry is that everyone wants a piece of it. The competition is fierce from domestic and foreign recruiters. Ninety percent of Cold Mountain, a Civil War story, was filmed in Romania. Big budgets and incentives from states like New York, California, New Mexico, and Massachusetts make Monk's job even tougher. In fact, Monks says S.C. has lost more films to Georgia in the last six months than any other.

Monks says the commission has been in the film recruitment business for over 30 years and with all the new competition, he and his staff have rechannelled their efforts to focus on recruiting, taxation, and educational incentives that include grants to schools for programs that focus on careers in the film industry.

Recruited investments are responsible for one billion dollars to the state's economy. As Monk says, "S.C. can be so many things to so many people." The variation in the state's resources accommodates Colonial era to Vietnam

war movies. From The Big

Chill , to The Patriot, and even to the final breathtaking

scene in Diehard

With a Vengeance, South Carolina has a lot ot offer.

Monks wants to make sure the S.C. Film Commission continues to build on the excellent reputation it has with the folks in Hollywood and beyond.