When in Rome and trying to lure H'w'd
"Absolutely not," Rome's mayor, Francesco Rutelli, told Daily Variety --- "as long as they left the historic monument in the condition they found it."
The attitude of officialdom toward filming on the streets of the Eternal City is clearly changing. Since the film commish was set up in February, the one-stop paperwork office has authorized more than 500 shooting permits for films, docus, TV programs and commercials.
The reason for this sea change, Rutelli said, is not just to boost the city's image, last promoted in "Roman Holiday" (1953) and "La Dolce Vita" (1960). It is also hoped that Rome's many out-of-work film technicians and professionals will find jobs through local and foreign film productions.
Tubthumping by film commissioner Giovanni Arnone's side at the Venice Film Festival, Rutelli pledged to do everything possible to "circumvent the traditional bureaucratic problems" well-known to any producer who has tried to film in Rome. City residents who have suffered through the closure of main traffic arteries for up to four days of filming can testify that he means business.
"Romans must accept some limitations on their daily life to guarantee thousands of jobs to the people who work in film," Rutelli shrugged philosophically.
To entice offshore producers to give the expensive city one more try, the commission is working on a pact with the hotel association to offer budget packages to film productions. It is even studying a way to return VAT coin, although that will require parliamentary approval. In the meantime, an Internet site has been activated with a form to fill out for further information --- (http://www.comune.roma.it/rfc).
