The Tension Points Between Government and the Film Industry

Now that we better understand the two major players, let’s take a look at where the tension points lie in this relationship.

Availability:

A production company or studio may need you to be available during unusual hours, and for some, 24/7, at least during production. If work for a government entity, it may be fairly uncommon for employees to work outside of the normal working hours. If you are a not for profit, this may not be as big of an issue for you, but still may be difficult if decisions need to be made with government stakeholders during non-working hours.

How to deal with it: Work with your government agency to move beyond the 9-5 mentality. For many government offices, “flex time” is a concept that is understood and embraced. If this means you need to work weekends or nights, your regular hours are cut back to accommodate. If this is not allowed and you are busy with production, you may want to seek funding to hire a film professional as a contractor who can cover you during crucial production periods.

If you are not for profit entity, find out if there is any way to contact government employees at night or over a weekend when they might be needed for a production issue. If not, try to work with production people to determine what might be needed in off hours and work to see what can be done ahead of time.

The speed of decisions:

As discussed, film productions need decisions to be made quickly, as well as to have the ability to make changes should illness, weather or other obstacles affect the shooting schedule.

How to deal with it – The more you prep the government agencies that have the most interactions with film production on the nature of the beast, the better off you will be. Rather than expecting a bureaucratic agency to come up with a solution – be creative, think outside of the box, and offer up unique solution.

Example: a production wants to film at a city building at night. The city does not have personnel that work at night. The production needs to hire a city employee to stay with them throughout the night in case of any problems or if they need access to specific areas. But City does not have a way to pay overtime to their employees. You might suggest several things: That the production put the employee on their own payroll for that night, at an overtime rate, and pay the person directly; that the City bill the production for this person’s overtime which is then cut as a separate check to the individual, once that money is in hand; or that the person does “flex hours” and works these hours in lieu of a normal shift (in this scenario, however, the employee would not make any extra money.)

Expectations:

Various local people (elected officials, founding fathers, other influential community leaders) may have expectations of hobnobbing with or at least meeting the stars.

How to deal with it: Try to layout a realistic picture for community leaders: that you will try, but that actors often need to stay “in character” and it is not feasible to do a meet-and-greet. The actors also work odd and long hours and inviting them to events rarely works out. Better to know this up front rather than disappoint people.

Be careful not to promise anything since you cannot control whether or not a meet-and-greet can actually take place. Also, try to limit the “favors” asked by these leaders of the production as expectations of a quid pro quo situation can easily develop.
That being said, in many cases, including this one, think in terms of an unspoken “trade.” If the production has a huge “ask” of the community and you are aware of the high interest of community leaders to make a set visit – consider using this as a trade from the get-go. This way, everyone wins.

Certainty:

Ironically, whereas a film production makes changes on a dime, the industry expects and demands “certainty” from the jurisdiction. This certainty comes in different forms.

Financial – if your jurisdiction has an incentive that the production is counting on and that incentive changes, this bad news will travel around the world in a heartbeat. Not only will the current production leave and probably never return, but they will be sure to get this word out to their colleagues worldwide.

This is an area where the industry is a round hole and government is a square box. Ironically, while bureaucratic procedures can be set in stone – but officials, funding, policies, laws, undergo constant change.

How to deal with this: There is no one good answer as this is a case by case situation. But in general, keep an ear to the ground for potential changes in policies, funding, and laws that would either favorably or adversely affect film production. This will probably require building relationships with lawmakers, monitoring legislative sessions and generally understanding the law making process. You cannot control all change just as you cannot control the weather, but if you build strong, trusting relationships with the industry and are honest with them about potential changes, that will go a long way.

Now that we better understand the two major players, let’s take a look at where the tension points lie in this relationship.

Availability:

A production company or studio may need you to be available during unusual hours, and for some, 24/7, at least during production. If work for a government entity, it may be fairly uncommon for employees to work outside of the normal working hours. If you are a not for profit, this may not be as big of an issue for you, but still may be difficult if decisions need to be made with government stakeholders during non-working hours.

How to deal with it: Work with your government agency to move beyond the 9-5 mentality. For many government offices, “flex time” is a concept that is understood and embraced. If this means you need to work weekends or nights, your regular hours are cut back to accommodate. If this is not allowed and you are busy with production, you may want to seek funding to hire a film professional as a contractor who can cover you during crucial production periods.

If you are not for profit entity, find out if there is any way to contact government employees at night or over a weekend when they might be needed for a production issue. If not, try to work with production people to determine what might be needed in off hours and work to see what can be done ahead of time.

The speed of decisions:

As discussed, film productions need decisions to be made quickly, as well as to have the ability to make changes should illness, weather or other obstacles affect the shooting schedule.

How to deal with it – The more you prep the government agencies that have the most interactions with film production on the nature of the beast, the better off you will be. Rather than expecting a bureaucratic agency to come up with a solution – be creative, think outside of the box, and offer up unique solution.

Example: a production wants to film at a city building at night. The city does not have personnel that work at night. The production needs to hire a city employee to stay with them throughout the night in case of any problems or if they need access to specific areas. But City does not have a way to pay overtime to their employees. You might suggest several things: That the production put the employee on their own payroll for that night, at an overtime rate, and pay the person directly; that the City bill the production for this person’s overtime which is then cut as a separate check to the individual, once that money is in hand; or that the person does “flex hours” and works these hours in lieu of a normal shift (in this scenario, however, the employee would not make any extra money.)

Expectations:

Various local people (elected officials, founding fathers, other influential community leaders) may have expectations of hobnobbing with or at least meeting the stars.

How to deal with it: Try to layout a realistic picture for community leaders: that you will try, but that actors often need to stay “in character” and it is not feasible to do a meet-and-greet. The actors also work odd and long hours and inviting them to events rarely works out. Better to know this up front rather than disappoint people.

Be careful not to promise anything since you cannot control whether or not a meet-and-greet can actually take place. Also, try to limit the “favors” asked by these leaders of the production as expectations of a quid pro quo situation can easily develop.

That being said, in many cases, including this one, think in terms of an unspoken “trade.” If the production has a huge “ask” of the community and you are aware of the high interest of community leaders to make a set visit – consider using this as a trade from the get-go. This way, everyone wins.

Certainty:

Ironically, whereas a film production makes changes on a dime, the industry expects and demands “certainty” from the jurisdiction. This certainty comes in different forms:

Financial – if your jurisdiction has an incentive that the production is counting on and that incentive changes, this bad news will travel around the world in a heartbeat. Not only will the current production leave and probably never return, but they will be sure to get this word out to their colleagues worldwide.

This is an area where the industry is a round hole and government is a square box. Ironically, while bureaucratic procedures can be set in stone – but officials, funding, policies, laws, undergo constant change.

How to deal with this: There is no one good answer as this is a case by case situation. But in general, keep an ear to the ground for potential changes in policies, funding, and laws that would either favorably or adversely affect film production. This will probably require building relationships with lawmakers, monitoring legislative sessions and generally understanding the law making process. You cannot control all change just as you cannot control the weather, but if you build strong, trusting relationships with the industry and are honest with them about potential changes, that will go a long way.

Navigating the tension points can be a challenge, but many film commissioners have successfully navigated these waters. In the next series of videos, Jeanne Corcoran helps us better understand how these two pieces fit together.

aters. In the next series of videos, Jeanne Corcoran helps us better understand how these two pieces fit together.