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He recalls his initial reaction to news that Motorheads would occupy most of downtown, impacting the daily operations of small businesses, many of whom are still recovering from the pandemic and emerging from slower winter months when revenue is much lower “I was shocked that someone would ask a community of businesses to remove all their parking and access to a main street to come in and film a TV show I’ve never been that angry I felt like we were being taken advantage of,” he shared. Cummings was at the meeting to ask the county to consider the formation of a filming committee which would provide a better perspective of how film approvals affect businesses. “What I mean is not saying no (to filming) or eliminating it all together but to have some sort of steering committee that involves business groups affected by filming to come up with a proper filming policy that we can all go by that has some level of consistency and makes the job easier for county staff,” he said He noted that while some businesses were compensated because their business had a direct impact, meaning crews took over the business for the day so they could not generate revenue, but other businesses were indirectly impacted and not compensated. Examples he provided included businesses who saw little to no customers because downtown streets were closed, or residents simply avoided the area to steer clear of the chaos. Cummings is also concerned with the direction of future film application approvals when Mechanic and Broadway Streets are under construction Will the main street be closed for filming during that construction? With significant plans to repair Grand

River Street North downtown, as well as parallel streets, including improvements directed under the Downtown Master Plan, there are serious concerns whether the town can handle any more major disruptions in the next 3-5 years Councillors Steve Howes thanked Cummings for bringing the voice of reality and said he was pleased the new draft policy seems to address most of Cummings’concerns

“I believe the draft film policy addresses much of what you’re saying,” said Howes. “I’m happy to see section 2.16 (from the draft) which references areas that are sensitive to disruption, which is downtown Paris And section 2 18 specifically talks about downtown.” Howes wondered how staff would handle film requests between now and the time that the new policy is approved

Gable confirmed they would look to the draft policy when considering or approving requests. Councillor David Miller wondered if Gable could put a price tag on the economic benefits of the Motorheads production, to gage how important this draft policy is and how it will impact potential economic returns for Brant

Gable noted Motorheads has one more visit in July and once that filming is completed staff can begin to form the bigger picture of the economic impact

It was noted that aside from businesses that took a financial loss during filming, many residents filed complaints with regards to the amount of space the film crews occupied, how their scheduling negatively impacted bottleneck traffic in Paris, as well as how businesses were ‘dressed’for filming, especially the use of the Cenotaph that donned American flags. Mayor David Bailey confirmed film crews made a donation to the legion but only approached the legion for acceptance after the flags were flown, to the irritation of many residents

The bottom line, said Bailey, is that film crews bring revenue to the county and Brant is a very desirable place to film. “I hope when we do our strategy, we don’t come down too much on them (production companies) because they do bring lots of money and lots of good does come out of filming in Brant,” said Bailey.

The County of Brant has hosted several film productions of various sizes and scales. Between 2019 to 2023, the County was home to 44 filming projects, including The Cuban, The Handmaid’s Tale and Murdoch Mysteries Motorheads has presented staff with the largest film project in the County of Brant to date with 15 filming and preparation days over the course of five separate visits

Also noted in the draft filming policy, is a staff recommendation to join the Film Incentive Coalition of Ontario. There’s a $2,500 fee to join the coalition, which would be covered using revenue from film applications. By joining the coalition, production companies are eligible for a tax credit for filming outside of the Greater Toronto Area, thus enticing more film crews to look to Brant for future projects.

For more information on this draft policy, you can review RPT-0328-24, item 8.1 from the Administration & Operations meeting (click here)

What do you think of filming in Paris? Email us: stories@theparisindependent.com