A bill governing filming on federally owned lands-including those under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS) and the National Wildlife Refuge System-has been signed into law by President Clinton. Now agencies under the U.S. Department of the Interior, like the NPS, have to write regulations reflecting their interpretation of how the legislation should best be implemented. That process should take no longer than six months-including a period that’s been set aside for public comment and feedback. Some are hopeful that this timetable can be accelerated, but the likelihood of that wasn’t known at press time.
As earlier reported (SHOOT, 6/2), the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) expects to have input into the regulation writing process. The AICP and other industry organizations have expressed support for the legislation, which was originally authored by Congressman Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) and then married with a similar proposal from Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.).
The law-which has an expanded scope to also encompass the U.S. Forest Service and other public land agencies, according to Hefley’s legislative director Larry Hojo-carries provisions that the spotmaking community has embraced. For example, the measure bases "reasonable" filming fees for federal public lands-such as national parks-on crew size and length of stay on location. Both of these barometers are favorable to commercials, which are usually smaller-scale productions and have shorter lensing periods as compared to their TV program and theatrical feature counterparts.
The legislation also calls for timely processing of film permits. The timetable for processing would be tied to the length of projected filming. For filming permits of shorter duration-as is typical in commercials-the turnaround for processing would be shorter than would a request to shoot for an extended period of time, which is often the case for theatrical movies and telefilms.
Another provision in the law establishes an 80-20 split of film fee revenue, with the 80 percent going to the local public land facility where lensing takes place. Hojo explained that the remaining 20 percent will be set aside for system-wide federal land needs.
Retaining the lion’s share of revenue within the local jurisdiction could benefit the film community. Some segments of the industry reason that this revenue distribution policy may serve as additional incentive for local public land managers to facilitate production. This local revenue, for example, could be put towards the hiring of liaisons to handle and expedite reasonable filming requests. Currently, many public land managers have assorted responsibilities, making it difficult for them to divert time to facilitating quick turnaround for the issuance of film permits. Options such as bringing in qualified retirees, and having a standby list of people available to service filming may become economically feasible.
Hojo said that it took some three years for the Hefley bill to become law. And as chronicled in SHOOT, efforts to set up a film fee schedule and lensing policy for the NPS date back to ’92, when Utah Film Commission director Leigh von der Esch took up the cause. While much has changed in the past eight years, the public lands filming law signed by Clinton is arguably even more relevant today as runaway production has emerged as a frontline industry issue. Establishing filming fees and guidelines-as well as moving closer to consistency in terms of what producers can expect when using federal land locations-figures to encourage and foster lensing throughout the U.S.
