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Filmmaker has RTC in sight
Published Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Lights, camera, action: That may be the theme at the Regional Treatment Center this fall if the City of Fergus Falls allows a Twin Cities filmmaker to use the site for an upcoming movie.
The movie would be directed by Dav Kaufman, a Twin Cities-based filmmaker and writer whose debut project, a horror film titled “13 Hours in a Warehouse,” wrapped up this year. Kaufman is now at work on another film, said Jean Bowman of the Fergus Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, with the script written specifically for the RTC.
The project developed out of a visit last year from Chris Grap, production services manager for the Minnesota Film and TV Board. As part of an effort to familiarize himself with potential Minnesota movie settings, Grap toured about 90 percent of the state, including lakes country.
“In going to Fergus Falls, obviously the RTC stuck out immediately,” Grap said. “It just has a feel to it that I don’t think you’d be able to replicate.”
“A lot of people have lakes and quaint downtowns,” Bowman said, “but no one has the RTC.”
The city’s ownership of the RTC also makes it appealing as a film site, Grap said. Fergus Falls’ proximity to Interstate 94 is an additional plus.
Grap said he met with Kaufman the evening he returned from Fergus Falls, showing the filmmaker photos of the RTC and images from a Kirkbride Web site.
Kaufman went on to write a script set in a former mental health facility, Bowman said, specifically the RTC. Producers had at one point considered a Kirkbride in Michigan, she said, but wanted a facility that had not been developed.
Last Thursday, a production crew of five, including Kaufman, visited Fergus Falls and the RTC. Led by Bowman and other Fergus Falls staff, the group had the opportunity to take in the RTC campus for themselves, and as Bowman put it, “They just had lights in their eyes.”
But before the project can move forward, the production crew must get the city’s approval for use of the RTC. Bowman will bring the proposal to the Public Works and Safety Committee at 7 a.m. Thursday in the City Hall council chambers; it will be considered by the full city council Aug. 4.
Another consideration is the ongoing development of the RTC and a potential partnership with universities in China, Minnesota and the Dakotas.
“We don’t want to do anything that will derail that project,” Bowman said. Harold Stanislawski of the Economic Improvement Commission will serve as a liaison to Campus Development Group LLP to gauge their sentiment toward a potential film, Bowman said, predicting that work by RTC developers would not begin until after filming had finished.
If the movie does come through, filming would begin in mid-October and run for about a month, Bowman said. It would involve a cast and crew of roughly 50, including some local participation.
The endeavor would not only mean a major boost for Fergus Falls businesses, she said, but greater visibility for the community elsewhere.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by otterfan (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
SWEET!!
Posted by really (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great opportunity for the city- hope they don't pass this up!
Posted by FungusAmugus (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 12:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I wonder if OJ will be in the movie?????
Posted by notcominghome (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 1:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wonder if they will say no because it might hurt fergus image if it is a Scary movie. Like the last time,
Posted by goingfishing (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 2:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Fungus, do you have a fetish of some sort for OJ? It sure appears that way. Either that, or your OJ comments are all you're able to write.
Posted by FergusFamily (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 4:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Movie making is big bucks. What a great opportunity for Fergus Falls. I doubt the nature of the movie would influence a decision. Usually you can't even tell where a movie is filmed - it could just be a set someplace.
Posted by awelgraven (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 5:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Filmmaker is spelled with two m's :p
Also, this is pretty cool.
Posted by FungusAmugus (anonymous) on July 16, 2008 at 9:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
goingfishing, fetish ? hmmmm not really but with the high quality of articles in the journal I am sure they wouldn't want to let the OJ stories go away so soon, then they have to resort to well, you know just read it.
But what's funny is everyone loves it they just won't admit it, name calling dragging kids through the mud, pointing fingers, arguing, the DJ loves it , along with all the FF residence. Hey it's Fergus what do expect!
People get more into the nasty comments then the actual articles, just think of all the people reading the comments that are not responding, thousands! thats good for all the businesses that buy ads on the website, they love it the most!
The meaner and Nastier it is, the more people log on to read, the more they get to log on, the more ads they sell on the web page! The OJ articles didn't drag out the worst in the FF residents, and went away to quickly, so someone must keep it going to let them redeem themselves! For the good of FF businesses of course! But the koolaid kid thing is filling in just fine for now! They threw in that last comment to bait everyone in and wham bam, the business ads get more exposure in the two days on the web then one month in the actual paper, how do you think they keep the money coming in! people buy the actual paper less and less and the web paper is free to view, but not to the advertisers,they want contraversy,name calling and NASTINESS that can't be printed or said by them, they hand that over to the GOOD people of FF, and everyone logs on to see the exchanges.
So Maybe when the koolaid thing dies down we can get OJ back to help you clean up your JUNK!!!!
Posted by hethas1 (anonymous) on July 17, 2008 at 11:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Interesting to note there is another horror movie, Session 9, that takes place in an old asylum. The building they used in that movie is also a Kirkbride design (Danvers State Hospital in Massachussets)and scarily looked just like the RTC in Fergus. Definitely a good thing for Fergus, and the city could offer "haunted tours" for some fundraising, tourism.
Posted by Brandon (anonymous) on July 17, 2008 at 1:04 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by metasonics (anonymous) on August 4, 2008 at 8:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
RTC and Movie Opportunity.
Today I sat in on our City council meeting.
A man named Dav Kaufman explained and outlined his generous proposal to use our RTC to shoot a movie.
this movie sounds good.
The money for our community sounds good too, but perhaps what I liked most is that this movie would be shot by people from Minnesota and involve local Fergus falls people as well.
This movie would be done and cleaned-up within a reasonable amount of time for those who support selling the RTC off to foreign interests, so it should be a no-brainier.
I did hear what sounded like political trickery to delay making a decision until it would be too late for the movie to be shot here by a council member named "Wilson".
I also noticed "Shelstad" did not attend.
there was a lot of talk about concerns over how Chinese interests could feel about a film shot here.
I decided to speak and expressed that I don't understand why Chinese concerns should factor in when deciding whether to allow our own people to shoot a movie.
Members of my family have fought and died to preserve this country.
when I think of what the costs were to build this country and our community, and then hear some local residents and elected officials chose to babysit possible Chinese interests at the cost of our own people, it angers me.
certainly there are people in our community who have personal financial interests in catering to the Chinese.
I think history has shown us what could happen.
the Chinese are still in one of the largest military build ups in history as well as going after every possible oil source they can find.
I don't know what they will do with all these resources they are gathering.
I do know that I live here and my concerns are with my people.
we have an opportunity, the parties involved have explained intent and outlined how this would benefit our community, this film has the support of statewide organizations.
some of whom had representative in attendance today who spoke candidly in support of this film.
I hope as a community we do not chose to support a rumored Chinese buy-out, which there is still not even a letter of intent from the Chinese, to deprive this community of the concrete opportunity of this movie offer!
thank you!
Jamie Cooper
Posted by ottergrad (anonymous) on August 10, 2008 at 10:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Since we have all decided that there never has been a rumor about a chinese buyout but a partnership between US and Chinese universities. With investment from the universities and the local development group.
That the movie will be of more concern to the parents of students that pay the bills for this university. They have high degree of interest about Fergus Falls because you could be a family from China or the United States and will research this community if your son or daughter is considering attending this college.
As a teacher and resident of this community I am embarrassed to see the comments about this situation. I think the damage is already done because the city council did not protect the long term university project at the RTC.
Shame on Mark Sievert for not providing the description to the movie so the council could make a informed decision. How stupid of our elected officials for not requesting the information and acting decisively before this turned into a stupid, mostly ignorant blog full of totally false posts.
Without a doubt the residents needs to know if this information was made available to the city administrator and he has some questions to answer. Why would he advise the CVB to move forward and potentially hurt the College. Why would he not provide the information to the council when he had it in his possession. How can they make a decision without all the information.
If he withheld information from the council then he should resign or be asked to resign.
He has clearly shown a total disregard to how city government is suppose to work and time and time again thinks this is a dictatorship. His kingdom that he will micromanage.
The city should not just hold a election for city council they should decide if Mark Sievert over stepped his bounds once again. Withholding information from the council is wrong and this does jeopardize the rtc project.
It is time the council steps up and tell Sievert that they run the city and they should take charge and make decisions. It has been said that there are people that run this city.
You are right and it is the city manager who dictates to the council to vote his way or they are in trouble. If you want things done and have our council listen to the citizens needs, then they need to make their own decisions not bow down to Mark Sievert.
Rick Wilson is Mark's boy and he will follow Sievert's lead. Thank goodness he is running for county commissioner where he will have his hat handed to him and he is out of any decision making process. I do not want to see a "yes" boy in the county also.
As for Sievert, he will try find somebody else to carry his water.
I do believe this next city council will take charge and let him know who really runs this city. It is the voting public.
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