The Guild of Location Managers
Latest news...
The Guild at The Production Show 2010 - 16-18 February
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The new Production Show, part of Broadcast Video Expo, was held at Earls Court this week and The Guild were Partners of the Show. As well as exhibiting and spreading the good word of location management, we also hosted two seminars on the Producer's Stage. The Role of the Location Manager - A Producer's Guide and The Use of Location Management in Low Budget Filming were presented by Rikke Dakin and Mick Ratman and were extremely well attended. We were very pleased to be able to meet and catch up with several of our Affiliate members who also had stands at the show. A big hello and thanks to Film Hampshire, JJ Locations, Location Millbrook, Northern Film + Media, Scottish Screen and Screen Yorkshire. Thank you to all who worked hard on putting the GLM stand together and ably manning it over the three days. See you all next year ! |
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Film London - re-structure - January 2010
Film London locations department say : We want to assure the industry that the primary function of the new Inward Investment & Business Development department will be to facilitate and support filming in London (including filming enquiries, locations advice, the ASLM and the promotion of filming in London) – indeed the provision of a full locations service remains a key objective and priority of Film London as a whole.
The Film London Executive Task Force met earlier this week to confirm its continued commitment to the London Filming Partnership and to the facilitation of filming. Representatives from Film London will continue to attend the Guild of Location Managers meetings and the Film London Assistant Location Manager Training scheme is now open for applications, having proved a great success in its first two years. In our commitment to you, and all our valued stakeholders, it is our aim to ensure that the internal restructure will cause minimum disruption to the service Film London and our excellent location advisors deliver.
For a further statement read here.
Affiliate RIBA features in BBC drama tonight - 14 January 2010
See the beautiful Aston Webb room featured at the chief executives office in the new drama Material Girl on BBC One tonight. See their website for all the great spaces available.
Photography in Public Places - the story continues....December 2009
This has been a regular topic with us and it continues to make the news. On 3 December it made the front page of The Independent. Link to the story here
There are articles about your rights and additional info in the Members Only area in the Working on Location page. Please do take the time to read them.
Metropolitan Police issued a bulletin on 14 December as guidance to their officers and staff about the stop and search policy.
John Yates, Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations, has today reminded all MPS officers and staff that people taking photographs in public should not be stopped and searched unless there is a valid reason. Read the full bulletin here.
Photography in Public Places - January 2009 - updated September 2009
Following on from our previous articles "Photography climate echoes wartime Britain" (see News Archive page) and Broadcast magazines article "You can't film here" (see below) , the issue of photography in public places continues to make the headlines.
This month BBC London carried a feature on both their TV and radio news programmes, highlighting the increasing numbers of people being stopped and searched whilst taking photographs in public areas. Click here to read the recent story.
A document available on the National Policing Improvement Agency, NPIA, now provide their guidelines on the laws regarding photography in public places.
Please take time to read this particularly page 22, but in particular to know your rights.
September - Home Office circular - Concerns have been raised that sections of the Terrorism Act 2000 are being used to stop people taking photographs - whether this is photographs of buildings or people - and that cameras are being confiscated during such searches. Read in full here.
We should not be prevented from taking images in public areas. If you have experienced any issues when out scouting, please let us know. GLM members can find more details in the Members Only area of the website.
Welcome to our new Vice-Chairman - September 2009
The Committee are pleased to announce that, after a long vacancy, the position of Vice-Chairman of The Guild has been filled by Richard Godfrey. Richard has been a long standing member of The Guild and in recent years as a member of the committee, to which he has contributed greatly. So we are delighted that he has accepted this role and look forward to working with him.
Bid to close roads for filming in Kent - 28 October 2009
The Guild was approached earlier in the year to give their considered opinion to the proposed bill to allow roads to be closed for filming in Kent. Back in September, Jane Soans could also be heard on BBC Radio Kent supporting this bill and banging the drum for location managers and The Guild.
News today from our Affiliates, Kent Film Office, is :
The Kent Film Office has just received full council support to take a bill to parliament, allowing roads to be legally closed for filming in the county. Should we be successful in this bid, Kent will be the first area outside greater London that has these powers. Pending a national election, we hope to have the legislation in place late 2010 or early 2011.
GLM Affiliates Film Hampshire link their location library to maps
A new and exciting new feature on the Film Hampshire website is the introduction of maps. You can now search in each location category using a map view and click on each location for a description and link to more photographs. The county's Film Liaison Office has also seen a doubling in the number of filming enquires they are receiving, so congratulations to them for all their hard work
Merger Proposed between UK Film Council and BFI - 20 August 2009
Plans have been proposed to merge the industry's high-profile institutions, the UK Film Council and the British Film Institute (BFI). According to a statement from the DCMS, the motivation for the merger is to avoid overlap and thereby reduce costs. "The proposal is for a streamlined organisation, which can spend more of its money on film and services and less on infrastructure, and in turn offer better support for Britain's film culture and promotion of its film industry," it said. See the BFI or UK Film Council for their report on the proposal.
Late Scripts - update March 2009
The issue of late scripts and the impact it has on health and safety has been raised by The Guild at our recent meetings. With feedback from many members about how they have been affected, the GLM has raised this problem at the Film Industry Safety Group Meeting.
We were pleased to welcome Martin Spence from BECTU at our December meeting, to continue dialogue on this subject and the health and safety implications. The call to raise awareness with scriptwriters and producers is ever growing.
BECTU are now working toegther with their sister unions, Equity and the Writers Guild on this. If your work in TV drama, for either the BBC or independent production companies, has been affected by late delivery of scripts and/or late changes to scripts please inform BECTU.
If you would like to add comment please email the Chairman. GLM Members - for the more info please go to the Members Only area in the Working on Location page.
tv-bay magazine - 2009
www.golm.org.uk made it to the pages of tv-bay magazine issue 26 and was featured as Website of the Month. In a location special, the front page screamed "Location Managers What Do They Actually Do ?" Our very own Richard Godfrey dishes the dirt.
Our thanks to tv-bay for granting permission to link to their mini magazine. See page 24 and 44 in particular.
Mayor of London pledges his support for film in the capital - 2008
Boris Johnson annouces plans to harness the film industry, to boost London's economy and maintain the city's position as the cultural capital of the World. Thank you to the press office at Great London Authority for granting us permission to link to their press release. Read it here
Road closures for filming in London... it made the press, read the latest here.
Road Closures for filming - Dec 08
On 22 September 2008 the London Local Authorities (LLA) and Transport for London (TfL) Act 2008 became law.
This Act provides new legislation which means that road closures can be granted by the Traffic Authority specifically for the purpose of filming on London's streets and highways. For the full story, see the latest edition of Locate and for more detailed information and borough legislation, see the Film London website.
The Insider - You can't film here
Thugs is day-glo jackets are taking away our freedom to film in public.
With grateful thanks to Broadcast, Television and Radio Industry News for granting us permission to link to this article.
Filming and the use of firearms - update June 08
Here is the most recent guidance for scenes involving a weapon of any kind, including all imitation weapons.
With thanks to Film London, Metropolitan Police and Firearms in Production Working Party for allowing us to publish this on our website. See the Members Only Area for more info.
Legality of unpaid jobs - updated Feb 08
In the recent edition of Stage Screen and Radio, BECTU say "Help catch the rogue traders". Read a copy of the News item.
BECTU says:
The media union BECTU has always argued that anyone who carries out work for an employer must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. This view is reflected in the newguidelines. Offending employers cannot now claim that they didn't realise they were breaking the law. If anyone spots an ad for a placement which appears to breach the Guidelines, BECTU asks them to alert the union by emailing full details to info[at]bectu.org.uk and putting 'WORK EXPERIENCE ABUSE' in the message header.
Please see the Forum to read discussion on this contentious subject.
For previous news articles please visit the archive.