Page 29 - Fujifilm Exposure_13 Shiner_ok

OWN COUNTY
OWN COUNTY
film commissions
Photos from top left: Fanny & Elvis; Large; Whatever Happened To Harold Smith; Annette Badland in Secret Society; Large; The Darkest Light; Lulu in Whatever Happened To Harold Smith Inset above right: The Yorkshire Screen Commission team
PROMOTING Y FILM FRIENDLY
orkshire, self-proclaimed information. In addition to its brief to “God’s own county,” has promote Yorkshire and Humberside as never been backward in a location base, thus bringing invest- blowing its own trumpet, ment in to justify its funding by most and the Yorkshire Screen local authorities in the region, it also Commission seems to acts as a liaison service for accommo- have inherited some of dation, permissions, transport and
that tradition of self-promotion by other requirements by productions. attracting a succession of film produc- There are now 23 screen commis-
tions to the region in recent years.
It helps that there is a rich diversi- ty within its borders ranging from the
post-industrial urban grit of South Yorkshire as seen
in The Full Monty
and Brassed Off to
the rural backwa- ter of Ramsgill in North Yorkshire used for Fairytale - ATrueStory.
In the past
year or so film-
goers have also
experienced the inner city ethnicity of Bradford through My Son the Fanatic, the bleak beauty of the North Yorkshire Moors of The Darkest Light, and the East Coast delights of Scarborough in Little Voice.
The Yorkshire Screen Commission reckons it can now provide access to more than 6,000 locations on its patch as part of its service to film and televi- sion producers which also includes data on facilities companies and skilled personnel.
At Cannes it will launch its second production directory updating all this
sions in the UK, and Yorkshire was oneofthefirstsetupin1993-witha personnel of two. Additional funding from the ERDF has enabled it to
expand, so that it now has a full- time staff of eight under film com- missioner Liz Rymer at its offices in Sheffield (in the same building as the YMPA with whom it works closely).
One of its vital roles is working with local authorities - police, coun- cils, power companies - to solve prob- lems and cut red tape. “The more films that are made, the more people get used to some of the requirements of film. It has all helped to establish the reputation of Yorkshire as a ‘film friendly’ county,” says Kaye Elliot, pro- duction liaison officer. ■ IAN SOUTAR
The Darkest Light was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture negative