Even Windfalls Have Their Pitfalls
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday May 27, 1992
FILM crews bring not only a mass of people and a list of requests, but thousands of dollars to the locations where they shoot.
It becomes the work space of the production company, and needs for food and materials are met locally.
Fees are paid to the local council and anyone whose property is used for filming.
Mr Chris Jones, the location manager for Shotgun Wedding, said the production company relied heavily on shops and timber yards in Warriewood during the shoot last year.
It "practically built a house" in Orchard Street for the six-week shoot.
"The timber was bought locally, the caterer bought heaps and heaps of food locally, and even the pubs did a good trade out of the crew," Mr Jones said.
Mr Jones did his personal shopping at Warriewood Square - and usually ran into most of the crew there.
Mr Paul Viney, a partner in the locations company, Transient Images, said he had paid about $300,000 in fees to northside councils in the past couple of years.
He had used local security firms to guard sets, and employed local house and pool cleaners after shoots in private homes. Local builders had sometimes been used for set construction.
Location managers said that northern councils were co-operative compared with those in western Sydney and some inner city councils such as Leichhardt, but there were some gripes, such as parking fees for spaces offered free to the public, and building regulations that might affect sets.
In the case of Shotgun Wedding, Mr Jones was brought in after the producer had approached Warringah Council about building "a house" that would have"floating walls" to accommodate camera angles.
The request had gone to the council engineers, who demanded development and building applications. In theory, each time a floating wall was to be used, another application would be required.
In the end, the crew built the set "illegally" and the council let the maximum time elapse before sending the production company notices to quit. The company would then respond as slowly as possible, meanwhile finishing the six-week shoot.
The health and building surveyor at Warringah Council, Mr Colin Seagg, said regulations allowed a "temporary" structure to be built without the usual development and building applications, as long as it was a single-storey building and not for residential use.
These regulations were designed mainly for portable school rooms and offices, but he saw no reason why they should not apply to film sets.
The President of Warringah Shire, Councillor Brian Green, said he was well aware of the advantages of film companies using locations in his area, and the council did what it could to accommodate them.
Parking fees were waived in most cases, and the council employed a film liaison officer to smooth dealings with film companies.
"That, alone, demonstrates the importance we place on attracting the industry to the area," Councillor Green said.
However, he said the council had to work within the law and remain conscious of its responsibility to preserve areas used by the public such as reserves, beaches and parks.
He suggested that location managers should prepare for the council proposals that would make their jobs easier.
He looked on film production companies as a "clean industry which employs a lot of people". Where possible, Warringah Council tried to meet their requests.
© 1992 Sydney Morning Herald
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