AFCI Memories
Robin Holabird
Former editor, Locations Magazine
Former Board Member
retired, Nevada Film Office
AFCI boasts a strong track record of bringing film industry leaders to Cineposium. I was lucky enough to work with these experts, sometimes as moderator and in other instances as interview subjects for Locations magazine, which I edited for 10 years.
I particularly enjoyed meeting self-described “Pope of Trash” director John Waters (Pink Flamingoes, Hairspray) in his Washington D.C. hotel room before he gave a keynote luncheon address. AFCI provided an elegant room with welcoming gift basket, which Waters immediately asked a bellhop to take outside and deliver to some homeless people on the corner. Next, before I got to my own set of questions, he interviewed me for insights about what we film commissioners wanted to learn from his experiences working on location, something he usually did in Baltimore, Maryland. Not surprisingly, Waters prefers regions that bypass typical views about what makes a place appealing to visitors. The Maryland governor (Harry Hughesel) eliminated the state’s Censor Board, while former Baltimore Mayor Donald Shaefer encouraged Waters to keep making films. “He didn’t care if they were notorious. It still got the word of Baltimore out there.”
Years later in Santa Fe, New Mexico, keynote speaker and Ray director Taylor Hackford need no preparation to give his speech. Taylor stayed longer than usual after his address, but I missed the chance to chat due to an appointment elsewhere. Oh well. Except within a month, he called me and came to my base in Reno, Nevada, where he ended up filming about a week of Love Ranch starring his wife, Helen Mirren. Good business for the region, all because AFCI continued the connection of helping filmmakers.
But the connection continued further than expected for me; a few years after I retired, Taylor called again, noting how much he enjoyed working in Reno and now he and his wife would like to move to the region. Treating the matter as a location scout for an appropriate Lake Tahoe property, I checked out about 35 options and scored a win.
So now I have some really nice friends in the area who in turn helped me by providing an introduction and blurb when my book about film commission/travel/locations called Around the World in 80 Movies.
My tenure as film commissioner may have ended, but the great memories and organizational benefits continue.
Comments