Monday 13 February 2012
Commerce and Employment Department is delighted to report that following a key presentation in Los Angeles it is FOX's intention to move ahead with making "Guernsey" the movie based on a script version of "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie" novel.
It has further been confirmed that the broadcasting company is committed to filming a series of scenes in various locations in Guernsey and are excited about the potential that the project holds. However, FOX has also notified Commerce and Employment that there are issues concerning casting with regard to the availability of principal actors they wish to recruit to the project within the tight timeframe allowed.
Casting was being achieved in parallel to pre production. Going into full production has therefore been suspended and Guernsey will not see filming in April or early May as had been eagerly anticipated. It is understood that local auditions amongst local school children for the part of Kit will continue unabated.
The prospect of the movie being filmed locally has built significant momentum over recent months but no commitment had been received that the film would actually be made and, if so, whether filming would actually take place locally. Cost, creativity and logistics remained careful considerations.
Since December the Department has facilitated four on-island scouting missions. Very recently Commerce and Employment, at the request of FOX, has been working to help reduce the costs of filming in Guernsey as the cost of potential movie production in Guernsey was proving considerably more expensive than filming in UK, due to the necessity for travel and accommodation for the whole crew and associated freight of vehicles, specialised equipment and materials.
Deputy Carla McNulty Bauer, Minister for Commerce and Employment said
"The latest update has been extremely encouraging. There is definitely an intent to make the movie and for Guernsey to feature. In order to get us to this point there has been a significant amount of effort put in from public sector departments, private enterprise and individuals. I know FOX have been impressed by the level of support and commitment that has been shown locally and as a Department we are grateful for the energy that has been put into this joined up approach.
Helping to alleviate some of the cost differential, at short notice, proved very important to ensure some Guernsey filming remained core to the proposition and this had been achieved to their satisfaction against the original April and May dates by demonstrating a public private partnership commitment".
Deputy McNulty Bauer continued:
"I would like to express sincere thanks to Aurigny and Condor who had both offered key sponsorship to the project in terms of transportation and to a significant number of hotels and self catering for pledging reduced rates to help close the budget deficit. Eventual choice of hotels will not be in our control but the business plan we were able to present demonstrated a real incentive to film in Guernsey. Commerce and Employment also secured some private donations and supplies and services in kind for which we are truly grateful and made a commitment from the marketing and tourism budget to "match" fund industry support, whilst ensuring mainstay 2012 promotional campaigns remained untouched.
I appreciate that timings will now change and availability and opportunities will no doubt vary going forward. When we do receive revised dates it will be essential for the Department to continue to work with FOX and Guernsey industry to keep costs within an on-island filming budget. I am therefore appealing to those who pledged both direct and indirect support for April and May to honour this for later in the year where at all possible. This will ensure Guernsey maximises the exterior filming that takes place on Island".
The project has been a 16 month roller coaster ride, as is often the case with filming initiatives, and has been led by Commerce and Employment for the States of Guernsey with ongoing collaboration from Richard Garrod at Guernsey Film for which we are grateful.
Director of Marketing and Tourism, Jason Moriarty said
"The prospect of having some filming in Guernsey has grown much bigger than the potential considerable value to the visitor economy with the majority of the community wanting filming here for authenticity purposes. So I am pleased and relieved that we have succeeded in reaching this stage. We have collectively done as much as we can and just have to wait for the green light".
It is anticipated a further update on the project will be achieved within a month. The aim currently remains to achieve filming before the end of Autumn.
Contact information:
Wendy Crame at Commerce and Employment
Tel 01481 234 567
