Local service producers are furious with The Cape Town Film and Events Permit Office due to a wide range of locations challenges in the city.

Typical locations issues
In an anonymous letter of complaint, the following issues were highlighted as typical:

• “We are no longer allowed any kind of intermittent lock off to shoot on city streets during the week.”

• “We were told that we could not shoot at a location because another production company had already been issued a permit for the same location. When we called that production company to investigate and negotiate space, they informed us that they had never even optioned that space, let alone been issued a permit.”

• “The Film Office is double booking production companies on locations. This is a huge problem and is causing enormous tension between production houses, who are finding that they themselves have to phone other competitor producers to negotiate space at the same location on the same day – this puts everyone concerned in a difficult position and potentially compromises everyone’s shoots.”

• “Because The Film Office works on a white board system, whole shoots have arbitrarily been wiped off the board, without consideration of the knock-on effects on the company concerned and without informing the company that they are no longer in line for the location that they assumed they were.” 

• “The Film Office’s standard response these days seems to be no rather than them trying to support the industry given the turnover it brings into Cape Town.”

• “We have heard of officers tearing up permits when shoots are in full swing, saying that anything to do with the World Cup takes precedence.”

• “We can never get a street permit without getting permission from the traffic department first. Mr. Michaels is the only person who can authorise permission and he is practically impossible to get hold of.”

• “The Film Office is practically impossible to get hold of. Given the time constraints we all work under and the pressures we face as we head towards our shoot days, this is simply unacceptable and puts us at risk of having to inform our clients at the 11th hour (literally) that we cannot offer them the location. Imagine how this impacts our clients’ impression of us.” 

• “City locations are not being managed by the Film Office as they should be. As a result, instead of having the Film Office as the central body and conduit they are supposed to be, we find ourselves having to negotiate with third party authorities, which is time-consuming and complicated.”

• “Unless we obtain written permission from all the residents in the street concerned, we are no longer allowed to shoot in residential areas or private homes over weekends as a result of having to park our vehicles in the street. Logistically, this is almost impossible given the tight time-frames we work on. Also, imagine that a client has selected a location in a residential area and all is going ahead, only for us to find that one resident rejects us.”

• “The Film Office is not being proactive in managing complaints. As a result, the public is becoming increasingly negative towards the film industry and no PR or other activity is taking place to minimise this.”

• “We are starting to lose key locations that are the very reason why international clients come to South Africa. Constantia, for example, has become what is now called a Red Flag zone. Constantia is a favourite international look-alike location for private residences but it is now practically impossible to shoot there.”

• “We are only allowed to park three trucks per street, which is logistically impractical.”

• “Perhaps the biggest concern is that we are never in a comfort zone with city-based locations. Despite the fact that we follow the normal course of events when it comes to location recces and permissions, we remain unbelievably vulnerable and exposed to sudden restrictions. Even if we have a permit, it no longer seems to be any guarantee that our location is secure and that we can actually go ahead. The bottom line is that it seems that every time we need to confirm our locations these days, there are huge complications.”

• “We all know the Cape Town film industry brings huge financial rewards into Cape Town across the board. It is therefore unacceptable that its key players are being knee-capped by The Film Office’s inadequacies and their inefficient and un-strategic approach. It goes without saying that the above issues put strain on our relationships with our clients and make us look bad. We have always been known as one of the most film-friendly destinations in the world, with top crew and top, accessible locations. Given how competitive the market is right now, and how much competition the international players are placing on us, even with undercutting strategies, it is unbelievably outrageous that The Film Office are doing nothing about this. They are putting our industry at risk, therefore our companies and our livelihood, not to mention the livelihood of suppliers and crew.” 

As the letter said, “Many service companies are having issues with The Film Office, something that desperately needs to be addressed in a very serious manner. The industry players need to pull together to insist on a higher, more strategic and supportive level of service, in order that we may in turn offer our clients excellent service and remain cost-competitive.”

A lone voice in defense
When I forwarded this letter to all the key commercials service companies in Cape Town, as well as the Commercials Producers Association (CPA) and the South African Association of Stills Producers (SAASP), only one person spoke up in defence of the Film Office: The Farm’s Skip Margetts, who handles the locations portfolio on the CPA’s executive committee and sits on The Cape Film Commission’s (CFC) locations subcommittee.

While Skip admitted, “There are a number of very valid points, which are massive problems,” he believes some of the complaints have been “blown out of proportion. The rule is generally to shoot during the week at private homes and over the weekend on city streets. You can shoot in private residences over weekends if you set up a basecamp for the parking; and one resident can’t hold the majority to ransom. We’re in a democracy, so majority rules. You can’t lock off thoroughfares, but you can probably shoot on smaller city streets during the week.”

He pointed out that Mr. Michaels is not supposed to be contacted directly; the proper procedure is to go through the film office and then escalate it to the locations subcommittee, who will liaise with him directly on your behalf.

He had never heard of shoots being rejected because of non-existent permits or of traffic officers tearing up permits and encouraged the complainants to lodge these officially, so action can be taken.

Widespread frustration
Some more typical replies to my email said things like:

• “I couldn’t agree more. We are all experiencing enormous problems.”

• “The Film Office is totally sabotaging our business and it must be raised publicly.” 

• “The Film Office is a complete waste of time and space. They have been for years and unfortunately there isn’t the political will to develop anything more streamlined that actually services the industry.”

• “The catalogue of complete non-delivery speaks for itself and they must be accountable.”

• “It daily becomes more and more difficult to shoot in Cape Town.”

• “Cape Town is not film-friendly. The Film Office is under-resourced, under-skilled, and under-motivated. They are technologically backwards. offer no critical thinking, and can’t do anything more take abuse from unhelpful city officials on the one side and frustrated producers on the other. The Film Office  is trying to cram the round peg of production into the square hole of City bureaucracy but failing dismally. An office intended to help production has become an absolute stumbling block and is now a significant risk added to producing in South Africa.”  

Additional complaints
A number of additional issues were raised:

• The need for dedicated traffic officers for the film industry.

• The need for the City to lift restrictions on overtime for traffic officers (including retired officers) and other city officials.  The industry would foot the bill for this overtime but it would  enable filming after hours, on weekends and on public holidays. 

• Similarly, the Film Office’s hours need to be extended during peak season. Shoots come to South Africa to make the most of the light, which is best in the early morning and late afternoon, when the City is not open for business.

• The need for blanket permits for micro shoots, whereby a single permit would allow micro crews (stills, actuality, news and documentaries) to shoot at numerous locations in and around the City. Production companies in possession of a specific permit would take precedence over a micro shoot permit in which the location is unspecified. Stills companies believe they should not have the same restrictions as much larger film shoots. As a precedent, they point out that ENG units reporting on the World Cup will not need to attain permits to do their work.

• The complete absence of a functioning location booking system. The City has still not adopted an option system, a confirm-or-release process, or a standardised grid reference for permits in Cape Town. Applications still arrive by fax and are frequently lost. The lack of technology adoption is a serious hindrance.

• Produces have to spend too much time phoning The Film Office to ask, “Did you get my application?”

• Film Office staff seem to have no way of sharing information on the progress of the applications among themselves.

• The competence and attitude of Film Office staff, who are variously described as “rude,” “unhelpful,” “dysfunctional,” and “incompetent.”

• The inflexible application of rules, like the “three teams on beaches rule,” which does not discriminate between micro shoots and larger film shoots.

• Slow approvals due to unwieldy decision-making hierarchies.

• The need for clarification on the role, function and responsibility of Environmental Control Officers (ECO), including a list of locations requiring ECOs and the specific reasons why they need to be present there. • There is a perception that the film industry is being discriminated against compared to sectors like tourism, events and construction. We were told of construction sites closing lanes of traffic for weeks at a time and blocking roads with nothing more than a red flag and a hard hat; of busloads of tourist on beaches and dunes; events locking down streets for days; and Moto-Cross bikes on Atlantis dunes. All of these activities are more strictly regulated for film and stills production.

• There are complaints about the Film Office’s “need-to-know” communication policy and a resulting “information vacuum.”

• The need for accountability. Producers are irritated that jobs worth millions of rands are being lost because the Film Office failed to secure a location, despite several weeks notice, but the situation is made worse when there is not even an apology from the City.

Nothing new
Perhaps the most concerning comments were those which pointed out that these issues were nothing new:

• “The sad fact is that there is unfortunately nothing new in this letter, nothing that has not been continually addressed with the CFC in the last five or six years. Each and every point has been previously documented and brought to the CFC’s attention, not once, not twice but on numerous occasions. A lengthy manifesto was compiled by all members of SAASP and CPA two years ago, and delivered to the CFC. To date, we could maybe argue that four out of the many, many points have been given any attention.”

• “All these issues were outlined in the Industry Manifesto, which was signed by 250 people and sent to the CFC/CTFPO in December 2007.  Nothing has been done about the situation and the industry is in crisis as a result. “

Communication breakdown
Since then, the production companies and associations I spoke to have written official letters and engaged with the issues at every level: from the Film Office itself to the CFC and its board to the City ombudsman to city officials like Mansoor Mohamed and Alderman Felicity Purchase, the recently appointed Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Development and Tourism.

With the exception of Mansoor and Felicity, who was singled out twice for praise, the response has been disappointing: complaints have apparently been dismissed as “exceptions to the norm,” “personal vendettas,” and “racist,” when they were answered at all. The general tone of response was described variously as “snitty,” “obstructionist,” “totally inadequate,” “intimidation” and “Mafioso tactics.”

The fact that this article is full of anonymous complaints is testament to a real fear of victimisation among the film producers, who fear that complaining openly might jeopardise access to future permits. I was told, “We’ve seen examples of a two-tier service from the CFC/CFTPO between those who are “in” and those who are not.”

The role of the CFC
Many of the angry comments I received were aimed at the CFC, who were perceived as being responsible for managing the Film Office as part of its portfolio. In reality, the CFC and the  Film Office are completely separate special purpose vehicles funded by the City and the Province, so while Debra Bentham is the CFC’s locations manager and heads their locations subcommittee, she technically has no direct power over Terence Isaacs, who heads up the Film Office.

Similarly, the CFC was also criticised for failing to intervene effectively to control price increases at private locations, even though they’re not technically in a position to dictate pricing to private companies.

Nonetheless, producers point out that the CFC should have played a larger role in lobbying and mobilising around both these issues. “Surely the CFC should have intervened more to protect our industry at large? The role of the CFC has been undermined; it is a gatekeeper without keys and seen to be disengaged, disinterested and increasingly irrelevant.”

An online booking system
The best news for frustrated producers is that the Film Office will introduce an online booking system from August 2010. Skip says, “We start beta testing this week. It will be amazing and will make a massive difference. The city has invested a huge amount of money into this. It’s a Google Earth-based system, so you can zoom in and draw in a 200m radius around it and that will be your location. You’ll receive email and sms updates, so you’ll be able to track your application. It completely eliminates the white board, so there will be no chance of your location being wiped out because someone walked past with a furry jacket. It will also allow notes to be compiled on each location, so when you click on the Bo-Kaap it will warn you not to shoot alcoholic beverages there or have a naked female running around on a Friday.”

However, while this will remove the human error element, others point out that “a slick application system does nothing to deal with the fact that the organisation it applies to is dysfunctional and uncooperative. It also won’t reduce the need for the Film Office to chase approvals from departments that are not film friendly.”

Locations subcommittee
Another step in the right direction is the formation of a new CFC’s locations subcommittee in September 2009. “There is oversight now,” Skip says. “If the Film Office says no, you can escalate it to Debbie Bentham, who will forward it to all of us to advise. If you have an issue, escalate it.”

World Cup playing havoc
Things should also improve from July after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  “The World Cup is playing havoc,” says Skip. Debbie admits, “Unfortunately FIFA events do take precedence.” The City had promised the film industry dedicated film and events traffic officers by November 2009, but when they arrived, they were immediately commandeered by the World Cup, but they should improve the situation when they become available afterwards.

Film and events
It’s important to note that the Film Office is actually the Film and Events Permit Office. “This means Terrence is spread too thinly,” says Skip. “If he’s not dealing with a film industry problem, he’s dealing with The Argus Cycle Tour or with another event. The number of commercials being serviced in Cape Town hasn’t grown for the last six years or so, but events have grown and surpassed the film industry. Events bring in around R20 billion a year to the city; we bring in between R4-6 billion, so we’re lower down in their priorities. That’s the reality." Events are expected to continue to grow, while only a tiny percentage of events are currently applying for permits like they should be.

Should we privatise?
Although the film industry would love to split and enlarge the Film and Events Permit Office, the City’s budgets have been cut during one of the biggest years in its history, and film isn’t in a position to dictate.

 “We can’t tell the city what to do,” Skip says. “All we can do is to come with solutions. One option is to privatize; this would introduce permitting costs but is that the lesser evil? It worked for a while with SANParks and Peninsula Permits, but I can’t imagine a private film office interfacing with the City, as nice as that would be.”

Another suggestion is to bring back location fees in Cape Town, as a motivation for  city officials.

Exceptions to the rule
Skip reminds the industry of the danger of demonising individual staff at the Film Office, who are often doing their best within an impossible situation. He speaks particularly highly of Kwanda Modise, who replaced Carol Wright as manager of the permit office in October 2009, and Mr. Michaels.

Successes and failures
Skip also believes that the Film Office and the CFC haven’t communicated their successes effectively. He points to successful interventions dealing with complaints around Bollywood shoots, regaining locations from the National Ports Authority, negotiating to ensure that the new Aviation Bill didn’t impact on filming, and upping the number of parking spaces from three to four. Similarly, the locations subcommittee is currently negotiating to get vehicles on beaches, restore shooting along the R44, and resolve the ongoing problems with traffic officers on Chapman’s Peak. “There a number of issues being dealt with and there are issues we will win,” Skip says. 

There are also some they lose, like blanket permits for microshoots. “This would have massively reduced the Film Office’s amount of work, so we would have loved to make this happen, but the City rejected it as there has to be accountability for each shoot that takes place.”

Going rogue
As a result of the issues mentioned in this article, producers are increasingly going rogue and shooting without permits, which further increases the level of risk for everyone.

We were asked whether The City was even in a position to regulate these rogue shoots. As someone commented, “If a policeman asks to check a permit on a beach at 6.30am a) would he/she know what he was looking at on the permit and b) would there be anyone at the office he/she could call on to check? Answer: no, of course not. If that same police officer asked the accompanying ECO to prove their credentials, could they? Answer again: of course not. The City has positioned itself to control something it does not understand and simply cannot manage.”

Production’s death knell
At present, producers believe the Film Office is a serious contributor to the risk and warn that risk is the death knell of production.

As the Locations Manifesto said two years ago, “The signatories to this agreement believe that the Cape film industry is in crisis due to the on-going neglect of the issues by the City of Cape Town. We also believe that the future of the Cape film sector depends on the urgent redress of these issues.”

If it was true then, how much longer can we wait for these locations issues to be resolved?

Until things change, Skip recommends producers camp out at the CFC and the Film Office when they have problems to solve, and ensure that all shoots have production insurance. “If you have a permit, and you’re a service company, and you lose a location through no fault of your own, you’re then covered for a re-shoot.”

Even though this is probably the longest article The Callsheet has ever published, it is just the start of a critical conversation. We ask everyone involved to continue this conversation online by commenting below.