Staff Report

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NEWBERRY — Hollywood isn’t coming to town yet, but film producers are discovering that Newberry is a good place to film their projects.

Scott Sawyer, director of parks, recreation and tourism for the City of Newberry, recently completed the Association of Film Commissioners International Film Liaison course on a recommendation from Dan Rogers with the S.C. Film Commission.

City of Newberry staff met with Rogers in 2015 to tour Newberry and showcase what it had to offer and how to better accommodate film projects seeking to work here.

Rogers recommended a staff member take the Film Liaison course, which was paid for by the S.C. Film Commission.

Sawyer said the Film Liaison course focused on managing a location, scouting trip and supporting a production. This may include searching for local filming locations (scouting), relaying location information, submitting location photographs, collecting statistics, securing permits and facilitating production and community relations.

The course was developed to assist film commissions in training contacts in their region to support film productions.

“Communities that have a designated, trained film liaison working in concert with their film commission are likely to meet with a higher level of success in attracting projects,” Sawyer said. “Film liaisons serve as a point person who represents the city or county when a production comes to town.”

According to Sawyer, the City of Newberry hasn’t been recruiting film projects to Newberry, but have been trying to be prepared on how they could support projects that have called wanting to film in Newberry.

“This has included identifying locations the filmmakers have requested, accompanying them on location scouts, connecting them to local residents or merchants for potential filming locations and coordinating necessary City services required during filming,” Sawyer said.

This process has been a team effort by the City, Sawyer said, with assistance from Assistant City Manager Matt DeWitt, Police Chief Roy McClurkin, Finance Director Shannon Smith, Public Works Director Mac Bartley and Utilities Director Marc Regier.

According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) previous movies filmed in Newberry include the 1989 drama “Chattahoochee” starring Dennis Hopper and a short film titled “Meridian” filmed in 2011.

In the past year, four projects have been filmed in Newberry. Two feature-length productions include the sci-fi thriller “Alienography” and a Christian based film titled “Faith’s Song.”

Two short films filmed in Newberry were a University of South Carolina Film and Media Studies student project titled “Loan Wolfe” about a bank robbery that was filmed in City Hall and the avant-garde “Town with No Cheer” about a boy who finds himself in a cheerless town.

Despite the title, the Atlanta-based filmmakers of “Town with No Cheer” found Newberry to be the opposite of the film’s title as they came upon the city while travelling and arrived during last year’s rescheduled Newberry Oktoberfest event.

In addition to continuing to be in contact with the South Carolina Film Commission, Sawyer said the City is also currently seeking to partner with the newly formed Carolina Film Network on future projects.