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Briefly... UNCW drops $1,000 filming location fee
NEWS
April 5,2000 • theSeahawk
by ANNA BROOME
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Dawson’s Creek frequently films at Alderman Hall. UNCW has made sev
eral requests of film studios in exchange for the cancellation of location fees.
Animal Cruelty Protest
Planned
A protest will be held on Friday at the New
HanoverCountyFairgroundsat4p.m. Thedem-
onstration will protest the Qyde Beatty-Cole Bros.
Circus, concerning the treatment of animals in
the show.
For more information, contact Frances Boyes
of Students for the Ethnic Treatment of Animals
(SETA) at 6204182.
IFC Plans Beach deaiHv
Campaign
The Inter-fraternity Council Order of Omega
will be sponsoring “Beach Sweep” on Saturday,
April 15. During this time, fraternity and sorority
members will be cleaning up local beaches. This
is the biggest community service project event
this season for UNCW Greeks, who complete 50
percent of the community service work done
through the university. For more information, con
tact Lee Vanderpool at 790-5833.
Greenpeace Environmental
1st Lectire Toniglit
Paul Watson, a seasoned Coast Guard Officer,
specialist in media communications, co-founder
of Greenpeace and founder of Sea Shepherd Con
servation Society, will be presenting a lecture at 8
p.m. tonight in the Warwick Center Ballroom.
Watson is considered one of the pioneers of
Direct Action Environmentalism, and believes that
one's personal convictions about preservation are
nothing unless one acts on them.
The lecture is fiee and open to the public. For
more information, contact the Association for
Campus Entertainment (ACE), who will be spon
soring the event, at 962-3842.
One Mile Radius Fonm
The Student Government Association has
formed a committee to tackle the issues that con
cern students, regarding the one-mile radius poh-
cies, in an effort to work with the administration
improve the current situation.
The overall mission is to come up with a list
of the most important issues that should be tack
led immediately and work with the administra
tion to address these issues.
The Committee will meet every Thursday at
5:30 p.m. in Room 103B of the University Union.
Food and refreshments wiU be available.
For more information, contact Patrick Gunn
at 962-3554 or Dhg9049@uncwil.edu
Atlantis Reception Next
Week
This year’s edition of the Atlantis, UNCW’s
student-produced annual literary journal, wiU be
unveiled to the pubUc next Wednesday at Bames
and Noble bookstore, located on the comer of
College Road and New Center Drive.
The reception will begin at 7 p.m. and is open
to the pubUc. For more information, contact
Atlantis Editor Cass Chapman at 256-7478.
Staff Writer
UNCW administration has decided to
waive the $1000 per day location fee it once
charged studios to film on campus, as a ges
ture of goodwill and an incentive to boost
further producrions. The waiver will also
work as a means of advertisement for the
university’s film studies program.
“It is a win/win situation,” said Mimi
Cunningham, assistant vice chancellor for
university relations. "The university only
brought in roughly $20 thousand a year from
the production fees. We will generate far
greater revenue from the studios by an in
crease in production and other fringe ben
efits.”
The university has made several requests
of studios in exchange for the cancellation
of charges. Included in these requests are an
increase in available internships for the film
studies program, campus recognition in the
film and show credits and prominent guest
speakers from the studio to deliver lectures
on the varieties of professions accessible in
the field.
“The age group that watches Dawson’s
Creek is college-bound kids. We get an im
pressive amount of calls from prospective
students because they know this is where the
show is filmed,” said Richard M. Scott, as
sistant vice chancellor for business affairs.
“They want to come to school here as a means
of obtaining a solid film studies education.”
Groups filming on campus will still be re
quired to pay some fees.
“There are other costs that the campus can
not forfeit without reciprocal contributions,”
Scott said. “There will still be expenses in re
lation to campus security, traffic regulations,
etc. Basically, any expenditures at the cost of
the school will still be paid by the studio.”
Scott did say, “nothing is etched in stone”
regarding the fees. For example, non-cam-
pus organizations are normally charged for
the use of Kenan Auditorium, Trask Coli
seum and Warwick Center. However, Scott
said the university would accept the loss in
revenue as long as the studios donated some
thing to the university such as copies of their
films for university archives.
“You can nickel and dime stuff to death,”
said senior Stan Pollard. “We (UNCW stu
dents] can benefit more from internships and
training than a few extra dollars in a schol
arship fund. Also, this will bring fame and
money to the school.”
UNCW is not alone in its attempt to en
tice film studios with its location. As of Feb
ruary of this year, the city of Wilmington
and New Hanover County dropped what
were previously mandatory kx:ation fees.
“Wilmington lost as much as $50 million
per year over the three years in film rev
enue,” said City of Wilmington film liaison
Marianne Nubel. “ Canada is getting all the
business. The American dollar has seen a
50 percent increase there. Studios that have
one million to spend suddenly have 1.5 mil
lion. We can’t compete.”
North Carolina legislators are now work
ing on incentives to bring back the studios
and the lost income.
“The governor recently brought together
a team of experts to decipher the best course
of action to attract the film industry back to
Wilmington,” said Wilmington Film Com
missioner Johnny Griffin. “The conference
resulted in a three part proposal. Primarily,
the nine percent accommodations tax that
now is relinquished after 90 days will forgo
after only 30 days. Therefore film execu
tives, actors, etc. will not pay taxes on their
boarding if they stay for one or months.
“Secondly, there will be no location fees
for use of public property. This includes uni
versities. UNCW beat the legislation. That
is a smart move. Lastly, a 15 percent rebate
will be imposed. It is not decided if it will
be a percentage of the dollars spent on the
employment of North Carolina citizens
working in the films or of the entire cost.
Some things still need to be worked out.”
" \uur Gunk Iw the l\>rl (^ti) ”
Wilmington
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