Getting serious about Pensacola film production
- May 14, 2015
- / Joe Vinson
- / economy
Pensacola may not quite be ready for its close up.
A proposed ordinance by Pensacola City Councilman Andy Terhaar to create a city film commission recently raised the hackles of local advertising and media professionals, who worried that the ordinance’s permitting requirements to film on city property were too broad.
As initially written, the ordinance would have outlawed all commercial film, digital recording and still photography on city property without first obtaining a permit from the city film commissioner, an office intended to be the mayor or his designee.
“I didn’t anticipate that there would be this sort of backlash from the community, and that was obviously a mistake,” Terhaar said Wednesday.
Terhaar said he drafted the ordinance using language from similar laws in Hallandale Beach, Miami and elsewhere in Florida, in hopes of avoiding the kind of controversy that surrounded food truck regulations.
“We weren’t ready when food trucks got here, so I wanted to get in front of this,” he said. “If someone wants to close down Palafox Street to shoot a movie, how do they do that?”
The issue will be discussed tonight at the council meeting, but Terhaar hopes to schedule a workshop to “really knock out the details” of how the effort would work.
“It sparked a lot of debate, but I’m glad we’re now having a conversation.”
It's a conversation that seems needed, given that the Florida Office of Film and Entertainment recognizes Visit Pensacola as the official film commission for the Pensacola area, a role it has served for years.
Visit Pensacola President Steve Hayes said the proposal was a surprise to him.
"I got a Google News alert, that was how I found out," Hayes said. "My first thought was this seems like a duplication of services."
Tom Roush[/caption]
As Roush describes it, efforts to attract more film productions were hamstrung by an almost comical series of events.
First, the county’s soccer complex scandal resulted in the removal of most of the commissioners who supported a film office in the first place.
The destruction from Hurricane Ivan put a damper on the area’s film prospects for several years.
In 2007, Hollywood was hit by its own catastrophe — the Writers Guild of America strike — that halted many productions.
The Florida legislature drastically reduced the incentives available to productions, while other states ramped up their own. Roush’s allies at the county level — Visit Pensacola’s Schroeder and County Administrator George Touart — were both forced from their positions following political controversies.
Regardless, Roush said, “we had projects coming and going all the time.”
The state film commission would send out leads for locations — things like “movie production looking for white sandy beaches” or “commercial shoot needs winding road along the coast with beautiful vista” — and Roush would contact the inquiring companies and try to persuade them to choose Pensacola.
One of those early leads was for “World Traveler,” a 2001 film starring Billy Crudup and Julianne Moore that shot a dream sequence on Pensacola Beach.
“It was gorgeous — full 35mm,” Roush said.
[caption id="attachment_23365" align="alignright" width="300"]
"Prison Break" shot two episodes on Pensacola Beach in 2007 / Image courtesy Florida Office of Film & Entertainment[/caption]
Later projects included TV shows for the Discovery Channel and HGTV, a Wrangler truck ad shot in Century, and two episodes of the Fox television show “Prison Break.”
When the USS Oriskany was sunk as an artificial reef, Roush helped coordinate the international media that came to town, including the BBC and a French documentary crew.
Roush also implemented a permitting plan for these productions, but due to the turnover in the tourism director and county administrator positions, it was never brought before the County Commission. The main purpose of permitting, he said, was to ensure any production using public property had insurance and to indemnify the county from liability.
“If you’re a film commissioner and you’re inviting people into your community and someone gets hurt, there’s a liability issue.”
Behind the scenes of a 2013 photo shoot for "Plow & Hearth" / Denise Daughtry, FilmNorthFlorida.com[/caption]
Hayes admits that more could be done to attract productions.
“We’ve been more reactive than proactive,” he said. “A proactive [commissioner] would go to New York and Los Angeles and go to the trade shows and say, ‘Pensacola’s a great place for a TV spot or a branded print campaign.’”
But to justify the cost of that kind of concerted effort, Hayes said, “we’re going to have to show a lot of successes, and we’re going to need to decide what we go after.”
The CMT reality show “Party Down South” is an example of the kind of production Hayes doesn’t want.
“One of our Destination 2020 goals is to find developments that will impact us economically but are also harmonious with the community,” he said. “That kind of wild spring break thing is not us. We’re family-oriented.”
[caption id="attachment_23362" align="alignright" width="300"]
Party Down South / CMT[/caption]
The producers of "Party Down South" chose Pensacola Beach as the location for its second season and had lined up more than $1 million worth of lodging and catering contracts when local media reports prompted a social media campaign called “Locals Against Party Down South.”
Citing image concerns, hotelier Julian MacQueen canceled his contract with the production company, and the show relocated to Athens, Ga.
“This was a huge, $3.5 million production with no incentives,” said Roush. “They were just coming to spend money, and they got shamed out of town. I was no longer film commissioner when that happened, and it made me think, ‘I’m really glad that’s not my job anymore.’”
Roush believes that a true film commission should be politically independent and should defend productions like “Party Down South” for the sake of economic development.
“You don’t get to make the call on which ones you ‘let’ into your community,” he said. “When no one stood up to defend them, believe me, they noticed. They’re not coming back to Pensacola with their ‘nice’ show, and they’re telling all their friends, too.”
A scene from "Girl From Iceland" shot on Pensacola Beach / Kinematic Entertainment[/caption]
Not too long ago, Florida was flush with incentive money.
In 2010, the Florida legislature changed the state's film incentive program from cash grants to transferable tax credits. At the same time, it authorized a massive five-year, $242 million tax credit fund for qualifying productions, which was directly responsible for attracting productions including the movie "Magic Mike" and the TV show "Burn Notice."
According to Roush, who also sat on the board of the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council, most of that money went to Orlando and Miami.
"Not only was that money not coming to Pensacola, it wasn’t coming to north Florida at all," he said.
Indeed, despite having 17.5 percent of the state's population, north Florida saw less than 1 percent of the state's tax credits spent in the region.
"I thought, how can our representatives authorize this, and we get none of it?" Roush said. "I suggested they allocate the credits equitably by district, and if one district ran out of money, those productions could proceed without incentives or move to another district.
"You can imagine what the Miami film commissioner thought of that idea."
Film Florida, a nonprofit association that advocates on behalf of the Florida film industry, has launched a petition asking state legislators to add credits to the incentive fund during the special legislative session. An analysis by the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research determined the incentive fund yielded a low return on investment for the state.
Combined with an already tight budget, the prospects for more film tax credits aren't great.
That's one area where Councilman Terhaar thinks the City of Pensacola can help.
For example, if a film production needed to close a street or park, which would normally involve a cost, the city might waive that cost as a way to incentivize productions. Eventually, he said, Pensacola might be an attractive enough destination for productions that those incentives are no longer necessary.
"It’s like EDATEs (economic development ad valorem tax exemptions)," Terhaar said. "You do it until you don’t have to do it anymore."
He added that whatever the city decides to do, it should be in line with the county guidelines.
"A bunch of red tape is not a good thing," he said. "I hate having two different sets of rules. I’d love to match them together as a whole."
A troubled history
The quest to have a dedicated Pensacola area film commission started in 2000 with a feasibility study proposed by former Escambia County Commissioner Mike Bass. Until then, contact with the film industry had gone through the chamber’s tourism vice president, Sheilah Bowman. Few projects seemed to find their way to Pensacola then. "We just don't have the infrastructure,” Bowman told the Pensacola News Journal at the time. “The sound stages, the heavy lighting equipment, the talent — it’s just not here.” Consultant Denise Daughtry recommended that a film office be established with a full-time film commissioner who reported to the Escambia County Commission. She proposed screenwriter Tom Roush for the job, but questions about the application process derailed the full-time position. Roush ultimately got a part-time contract by Visit Pensacola director Ed Schroeder and was the area’s de facto film commissioner for 11 years. He recently moved to Texas to work for a Houston TV station. [caption id="attachment_23366" align="alignright" width="272"] Tom Roush[/caption]
As Roush describes it, efforts to attract more film productions were hamstrung by an almost comical series of events.
First, the county’s soccer complex scandal resulted in the removal of most of the commissioners who supported a film office in the first place.
The destruction from Hurricane Ivan put a damper on the area’s film prospects for several years.
In 2007, Hollywood was hit by its own catastrophe — the Writers Guild of America strike — that halted many productions.
The Florida legislature drastically reduced the incentives available to productions, while other states ramped up their own. Roush’s allies at the county level — Visit Pensacola’s Schroeder and County Administrator George Touart — were both forced from their positions following political controversies.
Regardless, Roush said, “we had projects coming and going all the time.”
The state film commission would send out leads for locations — things like “movie production looking for white sandy beaches” or “commercial shoot needs winding road along the coast with beautiful vista” — and Roush would contact the inquiring companies and try to persuade them to choose Pensacola.
One of those early leads was for “World Traveler,” a 2001 film starring Billy Crudup and Julianne Moore that shot a dream sequence on Pensacola Beach.
“It was gorgeous — full 35mm,” Roush said.
[caption id="attachment_23365" align="alignright" width="300"] "Prison Break" shot two episodes on Pensacola Beach in 2007 / Image courtesy Florida Office of Film & Entertainment[/caption]
Later projects included TV shows for the Discovery Channel and HGTV, a Wrangler truck ad shot in Century, and two episodes of the Fox television show “Prison Break.”
When the USS Oriskany was sunk as an artificial reef, Roush helped coordinate the international media that came to town, including the BBC and a French documentary crew.
Roush also implemented a permitting plan for these productions, but due to the turnover in the tourism director and county administrator positions, it was never brought before the County Commission. The main purpose of permitting, he said, was to ensure any production using public property had insurance and to indemnify the county from liability.
“If you’re a film commissioner and you’re inviting people into your community and someone gets hurt, there’s a liability issue.”
“More reactive than proactive”
When Steve Hayes took the helm of Visit Pensacola in 2013, he decided not to renew Roush’s contract. “I looked at the position for the next fiscal year, and I wasn't comfortable with the way it was set up, so I said we need to start over,” Hayes said. Visit Pensacola still receives and responds to about 10-20 such inquiries a year. Hayes says Visit Pensacola's communications manager Brooke Fleming typically coordinates with TV shows and other productions interested in the area. “If it’s on public property, we’ll try to find out what they’re doing and ask them to fill out an application,” he said. “In recent memory, it’s been pretty simple — no closing streets.” [caption id="attachment_23399" align="aligncenter" width="850"] Behind the scenes of a 2013 photo shoot for "Plow & Hearth" / Denise Daughtry, FilmNorthFlorida.com[/caption]
Hayes admits that more could be done to attract productions.
“We’ve been more reactive than proactive,” he said. “A proactive [commissioner] would go to New York and Los Angeles and go to the trade shows and say, ‘Pensacola’s a great place for a TV spot or a branded print campaign.’”
But to justify the cost of that kind of concerted effort, Hayes said, “we’re going to have to show a lot of successes, and we’re going to need to decide what we go after.”
The CMT reality show “Party Down South” is an example of the kind of production Hayes doesn’t want.
“One of our Destination 2020 goals is to find developments that will impact us economically but are also harmonious with the community,” he said. “That kind of wild spring break thing is not us. We’re family-oriented.”
[caption id="attachment_23362" align="alignright" width="300"] Party Down South / CMT[/caption]
The producers of "Party Down South" chose Pensacola Beach as the location for its second season and had lined up more than $1 million worth of lodging and catering contracts when local media reports prompted a social media campaign called “Locals Against Party Down South.”
Citing image concerns, hotelier Julian MacQueen canceled his contract with the production company, and the show relocated to Athens, Ga.
“This was a huge, $3.5 million production with no incentives,” said Roush. “They were just coming to spend money, and they got shamed out of town. I was no longer film commissioner when that happened, and it made me think, ‘I’m really glad that’s not my job anymore.’”
Roush believes that a true film commission should be politically independent and should defend productions like “Party Down South” for the sake of economic development.
“You don’t get to make the call on which ones you ‘let’ into your community,” he said. “When no one stood up to defend them, believe me, they noticed. They’re not coming back to Pensacola with their ‘nice’ show, and they’re telling all their friends, too.”
Incentives the name of the game
One thing that everyone can agree on is that incentives are key. "The incentive tail is wagging the production dog, and it’s been that way for almost 20 years, and you’re either competitive in that incentive world or you’re not," said Roush. Ben Galecki, CEO of Kinematic Entertainment, a Pensacola-based film production company, has used the area for short films like "Girl From Iceland," because smaller productions generally aren't eligible for incentives anyway. "But larger motion pictures — I can’t film here because those incentives don’t exist," he said. "From a producer's point of view, this area is not even viable because there are so many places close by where you’ll have that incentive." [caption id="attachment_23363" align="aligncenter" width="850"] A scene from "Girl From Iceland" shot on Pensacola Beach / Kinematic Entertainment[/caption]
Not too long ago, Florida was flush with incentive money.
In 2010, the Florida legislature changed the state's film incentive program from cash grants to transferable tax credits. At the same time, it authorized a massive five-year, $242 million tax credit fund for qualifying productions, which was directly responsible for attracting productions including the movie "Magic Mike" and the TV show "Burn Notice."
According to Roush, who also sat on the board of the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council, most of that money went to Orlando and Miami.
"Not only was that money not coming to Pensacola, it wasn’t coming to north Florida at all," he said.
Indeed, despite having 17.5 percent of the state's population, north Florida saw less than 1 percent of the state's tax credits spent in the region.
"I thought, how can our representatives authorize this, and we get none of it?" Roush said. "I suggested they allocate the credits equitably by district, and if one district ran out of money, those productions could proceed without incentives or move to another district.
"You can imagine what the Miami film commissioner thought of that idea."
Film Florida, a nonprofit association that advocates on behalf of the Florida film industry, has launched a petition asking state legislators to add credits to the incentive fund during the special legislative session. An analysis by the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research determined the incentive fund yielded a low return on investment for the state.
Combined with an already tight budget, the prospects for more film tax credits aren't great.
That's one area where Councilman Terhaar thinks the City of Pensacola can help.
For example, if a film production needed to close a street or park, which would normally involve a cost, the city might waive that cost as a way to incentivize productions. Eventually, he said, Pensacola might be an attractive enough destination for productions that those incentives are no longer necessary.
"It’s like EDATEs (economic development ad valorem tax exemptions)," Terhaar said. "You do it until you don’t have to do it anymore."
He added that whatever the city decides to do, it should be in line with the county guidelines.
"A bunch of red tape is not a good thing," he said. "I hate having two different sets of rules. I’d love to match them together as a whole."
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