Nat'l parks may soon try luring film shoots
Bill proposal bases fees on lensing time
The proposal would create a fee formula based on the length of the shoot and number of people involved -- a concept which Motion Picture Assn. of America topper Jack Valenti endorsed Thursday. "The movie industry is quite ready and willing to pay reasonable fees for filming," testified Valenti in front of the subcommittee on national parks and public lands.
The measure was approved by the House last year, but never made it out of the Senate. The bill's author, Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., said he expects the noncontroversial measure to win approval in both the House and the Senate and become law this year. The bill would not affect newsgathering on public park land, but would require still photographers to pay fees if models or sets are used.
Valenti did express some concern about a provision that would grant the secretary of the Interior the power to reject a film project if it is not considered "appropriate" or would "impair the values and resources of the lands and facilities." Valenti said the language has the "smell of script approval" and puts the bill on "boggy ground" when it comes to First Amendment issues.
But Philip Voorhees of the National Parks and Conservation Assn. said the provision was not intended to give the Interior secretary script approval, but instead to ensure environmental protection of the parklands while also giving the federal government authority to reject "certain kinds of pyrotechnics." Voorhees also said that he would like the fee formula to reflect the amount of land affected by the shoot, not just the length of the shoot and number of people involved.
The bill would give individual administrators of national parks an incentive to attract shoots by allowing the parks to keep 80% of the revenue. During the past three years, the National Park Service has issued 4,500 film permits.
