Report on the FILM PERMITS WORKSHOP held at the JMPD on the 27th
September 2007 by IPO member, Richard H Nosworthy
Posted on 28 September 2007 at 08h20

After a late start, a 4 hour workshop convened by the Gauteng Film
Commission, was held at the offices of the Johannesburg Metropolitan
Police Department on Thursday morning 27th September 2007, where members of the
JMPD engaged in a discussion about film permits with representatives of
the Film & Television industry.

Present at the meeting were; David Thembe (JMPD Director of Operations),
members of the "events office" (under which the issuing of film permits
fall), and his five sector Commanders, Terry Tselane (Chief Executive of
the Gauteng Film Commission), and members of his team, as well as
representatives from the Commercial Producers Association, the
Independent Producers Organisation, The Producers Alliance, Location Scouts and
members of the media. The meeting was chaired by Martin Cuff, (a consultant
researching best practice in cities around the world on behalf of the
GFC).

The differing needs of different types of productions were explained to
the JMPD members present by the industry representatives, and the necessity
to simplify the process and make film making in the city attractive to
production companies was then explained and discussed in detail, with
both producers and members of the JMPD using real case examples of problems
experienced from both sides.

Important issues raised included;

i) the cost of permits and the controversial unit cost per hour
for "filming on public roads" paid to the JMPD,

ii) the turnaround time from application to the issuing of
permits,

iii) the importance of the availability of contact details for
members of both teams and the need for a single point of communication,

iv) the flexibility and understanding required of the JMPD when
processing requests for road closures or shoots to take place -
especially during peak traffic hours, and

v) information regarding the logistics of the shoot are
important when making applications (such as how many vehicles will
require parking), as this helps the JMPD when planning for interruptions to the
regular service they offer the cities citizens.

In short the answers to these questions were;

a) the unit cost per hour for "filming on public roads" is not
set by the JMPD (but rather by another municipal department,) and that
the figure is at present R200.00, (a list of other JMPD costs was circulated
and is available on request)

b) the current turnaround time is 7 days, but applications
submitted as "emergency cases" or "urgent" could be processed faster,

c) it was requested that all applications for Film Permits in
the future be routed via the Gauteng Film Commission to the JMPD
(Puisano Phatoli - puisano@gautengfilm.org.za or Jacques
Stoltz - jacques@gautengfilm.org.za )

d) David Thembe gave an undertaking that the JMPD would "go out
of it's way" to work together with the producers, and would take into
account the different requirements of each application. He made it clear
that internal JMPD resource problems (such as the availability of JMPD
officers,) would not be passed on to the producer.

The meeting was closed with an assurance of further consultation between
the GFC, the JMPD and the Producers representatives in a month, and an
undertaking by the GFC to have something concrete to present at the GFC
Indaba in November.