American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 65

Hawaii Five-0 photo by Norman Shapiro, courtesy of CBS. The Godfather photo by Steve Schapiro, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Chicago P.D. photo by Matt Dinerstein, courtesy of NBCUniversal Media.

everything from hotel rooms to traffic
control. Most state and local film
commissions are semi-government
offices. The AFCI represents film
commissions worldwide; its list of U.S.
members alone exemplifies how deeply
the film-commission mindset has
penetrated civic planning. Indeed,
there are dizzying numbers of
commissions, even as site-specific as
West Baton Rouge, La., and New
Smyrna Beach, Fla. The fact that the
New York City Mayor's Office of
Media and Entertainment - which is
the key to shooting in the city - is not
an AFCI member demonstrates how
multi-layered the field has become.
A film commission's chief
mission is to support media production, both by temporarily bringing in
outside productions and by advocating
for local entertainment-industry
professionals. In some cases - such as
North Carolina, New Mexico and
Georgia - they aim to support highend professional productions on a
long-term basis by offering studios and
other film-specific infrastructure.
The commissions' goals are
accomplished in a number of ways,
most notably: offering tax credits and
monetary incentives, which vary
widely - and competitively - among
differing commissions; providing assistance in facilitating preproduction
location scouting and for production
needs during a shoot; and supporting
local filmmakers and media institutions in working both with visiting
productions and in creating local
media. In return for offering these and
other services through a film commission, an area hopes to reap temporary
and long-term jobs, create long-lived
local filmmaking communities, earn
dollars spent on goods and services,
and garner bragging rights based on
high-profile projects.
Each state in the U.S. has its
own system for allocating money and
extending tax credits, and often these
involve complex computations and
online applications. The work of raising money, addressing union concerns,

Opposite: The television series Hawaii Five-0
shoots on location in Hawaii.
This page, above: Behind the scenes of
The Godfather, shot in New York City.
Right: The series Chicago P.D. is captured in
the titular Windy City.

and budgeting and accounting fall to
producers and studios, while obtaining
permits to shoot, hiring local security,
rerouting traffic, and quieting disgruntled neighbors all fall to the production
manager's office. Local extras are the
concern of the casting department,
and for large shows, travel, lodging and
food are handled by specialists.
In the midst of such departmentalization, cinematographers don't
often interact directly with film
commissions. However, one area
where they can get involved is in
selecting locations. Although traditionally the province of the director,
producer and location scout, the close
involvement of the director of photography - and production designer -
in this work can only help the final
shoot.
Guy Gaster, director of the
North Carolina Film Office, notes,
"The production team for Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri had
a very clear direction on how they
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wanted to go forward, and a lot of that
was communicated through directorwriter Martin McDonagh. That vision
was inspiring to see from conception
to final product. [Cinematographer]
Ben Davis, BSC is certainly to be
commended - and our state's natural
beauty, too!"
While the workings of film
March 2018

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 2018