Location:  Placerita Canyon, California

Client:  Disney-ABC Television Group

Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch will combine in one location the advantages of a large movie ranch for outdoor filming with the control and efficiencies of indoor soundstages. This synergy will provide countless options for the entertainment industry and reduce the need for actors, crews and equipment to travel throughout the Los Angeles region every time production changes from indoor to outdoor sets.

The rustic setting, sweeping vistas and ability to build large-scale sets have made Golden Oak Ranch an important location for outdoor film, television and commercial productions for the past 50 years. Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch will transform less than 10% of Golden Oak Ranch into state-of-the-art soundstages and associated production support facilities.

The site for Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch preserves the natural setting of Golden Oak Ranch and Placerita Canyon by locating the studio with its soundstages on 56 acres in the western most portion of the 890-acre Ranch, directly adjacent to State Route 14. A substantial portion of the project is located on two large, mostly barren parcels of land created by Caltrans during the construction of State Route 14.

Through extensive site analysis and development of a Master Plan for this new state-of-the-art studio, it became clear that the natural attributes of Golden Oak Ranch – the surrounding hills, the valley floor and meadows, the creek that runs through it, and the oak groves that frame the valley floor – are its best assets, and ones that should be preserved to the extent possible as the character-giving elements for the project. Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch will blend with its surroundings, becoming a flexible, functional and sustainable production campus carefully placed into the natural setting.

One of the fundamental goals guiding development of Disney | ABC Studios at The Ranch is to provide ongoing stewardship of the history and natural beauty of the Ranch, in which the existing golden rolling hills, stands of trees, green meadows, and meandering creek will become integral elements of the new studio. The landscape concept was derived from the agricultural setting of the Ranch and maintains “light feet” on the land. The Ranch will include an extensive habitat restoration plan within Placerita Creek designed to restore, revegetate, and enhance the natural environment with native and riparian plant species.