By Daniel McGuire for Funworld - International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions A member of the scouting crew for “Adventureland” gives a first-hand report of filming a movie at an amusement park
Mary Lou Rosemeyer took the call from Hollywood. As head of PR at Kennywood, she had been approached by movie people over the years, but she’d rarely signed the dotted line. “We’re a family business and our customers are families,” she says. But the producer, Declan Baldwin, was persistent and genial. Rosemeyer agreed to a meeting, and within a few weeks it was a done deal. In mid-September, a Miramax motion picture entitled “Adventureland” would rent Kennywood and shoot for five weeks. At the end of those weeks, Rosemeyer was shaking her head in laughter and disbelief. “Knowing what I know now, I’d probably do a lot of things differently,” she says.
Hollywood’s invasion of Kennywood came about due to a mix of circumstances—aesthetic, logistical, and financial. The actual Adventureland park—where writer/director Greg Mottola worked in the ’80s, was no longer viable: “It is a different place now,” he says. “It’s more modern and corporate.” Many other parks were rejected for same reason—no amount of alteration could make them pass for 1987. Kennywood, with the right mix of modern and vintage rides, had the right look. What made the decision a no-brainer, from the perspective of the producers, was that it resided in Pennsylvania—a state that offers a 25 percent tax rebate on production costs spent in its borders.
The Crew Descends
When a big-budget feature film goes on location, it resembles an army. Its massive footprint requires sets, staging areas, additional power, food, and shelter for 150 extras and 100 crewmembers. As is the case with a military maneuver, the scouts arrive first, making decisions on where five to 10 semi-tractor trailers of lighting equipment, catering vehicles, “star” trailers, and “honey wagons” (toilets) will be located.
The point of no return was signaled by the one-day appearance of The Suits, a day Rosemeyer remembers well. “When we were told there would be a tech scout, we assumed a couple of people. We were surprised, and caught unaware, when the actual number was 30.” The studio executives arrived wearing sunglasses and black power suits, talking on cell phones, text-messaging on their Blackberries, wading ashore like General Douglas McArthur in the Philippines. With their enthusiastic approval of Kennywood as a location, it was full speed ahead.
The biggest challenge, logistically, was the fact that Kennywood was still operating. Following the summer season, Kennywood flips into Frightnight weekend mode, when the park takes on a Halloween theme. Not only would the park be unavailable to shoot on Fridays and weekends, but the park would need to transform from 1980s Adventureland to Frightnight on Friday mornings, and back to the vintage park set on Monday. Adventureland sets would need to be secured and draped with black fabric and fake cobwebs to protect and mask them from thousands of weekend visitors. Frightnight required thousands of red and green light bulbs to create a spooky mood. Those colors were all wrong for Adventureland’s summer feel, and had to be swapped on Fridays and Mondays by Kennywood electricians working overtime. The first week was hard on everyone, “We were doing so much work for the movie that we couldn’t do our own work”, said Carlos Velez, a Kennywood electrician.
The main selling point of working at Kennywood was that many areas needed only a little alteration. The “Jackrabbit,” the “Thunderbolt,” and “The Music Express” rides were timeless, and only needed to be “distressed”. The park of Mottola’s memory, according to Matt Mund, the Art Director, was “ratty and run-down – a couple of acres of asphalt beside a highway. We had to shrink everything down, show only parts, and make sure the camera didn’t see Kennywood’s lush landscaping,” Mund said. The exterior of the “Playdium”—home of pinball and video games—also had the right “retro” look. The interior, however, was another matter. The most popular video games were both anachronistic and included verboten trademarked logos and had to be swapped out with vintage games such as “Asteroids.” To highlight how much times have changed, one of the young actresses had never seen a pinball machine!
All Hands on Deck
Nearly every shot in the film required operation of rides. Coordinating the operation of the rides required more planning than the filmmakers expected. In addition to the need for operators, the rides had to have a time-consuming inspection by Kennywood’s maintenance department. It took a week of frustration and confusion before the filmmakers finally grasped that a roller-coaster doesn’t turn on with the flip of a switch. By then, maintenance crews had decided to inspect all the rides within view of camera, and make sure that there were enough operators to run all the rides simultaneously, should inspiration strike the filmmakers. This was fine with the production crew until the bill came in for all the additional man-hours. Production quickly regrouped and made an effort to better communicate with the overstretched maintenance department. Kennywood staff had their own learning curve. A single shot might involve a hundred period-dressed extras, two moving cameras, actors wrestling in choreographed brawl, and the West Mifflin Police Department holding up traffic on nearby Route 837. From the sidelines, it was hard to see the purpose for all the electricians, designers, make-up artists, soundmen, and camera assistants, and what, if any, their effect was upon the light hitting a layer of chemical emulsion on a 35mm piece of celluloid. This painstaking process is usually tiresome to seasoned filmmakers—but was bewildering and wasteful in the eyes of Kennywood staff. “Why can’t they just make a decision?” said one Kennywood department head, who asked to remain nameless.
Another cultural difference revolved around safety issues. The film crew wasn’t ready for the high bar set for safety at Kennywood. If a grip left a canister of helium standing alone for just a minute, (helium is used in the film industry for certain lighting fixtures) one of the Kennywood safety supervisors would immediately point out that OSHA rules required it to be tied off to a railing. Despite a production with elements that included children, water, high-voltage electricity, heights, power tools, and heavy machinery, the worst accident was a twisted ankle. By the end of the shoot, the two crews were getting along well. The filmmakers were impressed with the professionalism exhibited by Kennywood’s maintenance and rides crews, in particular Carlos Velez, the electrician, who not only knew the intricacies of every ride, but also volunteered to wear a kangaroo suit for the sake of cinema history. In turn, the Kennywood staff was surprised by the work ethic of the film crew, whose days typically ran 16 hours. “Their lighting guys are really fast. They know how to put lights up fast, and then knock’em down quickly”, said Velez. And as much as everyone tried to remain nonchalant, let’s not kid ourselves—it can be a lot of fun to be on a movie set, surrounded by stars like Ryan Reynolds and Margarita Levieva. Many of the Games and Rides staff ending up in scenes with the stars of the film—ad-libbing with the actors like Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader, and taking direction from Mottola. “It was a real nice change of pace from the routine,” said Keith Humbel, a rides supervisor who, along with many other on the staff, got a speaking role in a parody “Adventureland Employee Training Film” which will be part of the Adventureland DVD.
It won’t be clear until the film is released—tentatively in the summer of 2008—if allowing Adventureland into Kennywood was a smart business decision. Kennywood’s PR department plans to “piggyback” on some of the movie publicity and perhaps draw new crowds to Kennywood. The general feeling at Kennywood is that regardless of dollars and cents, there were some intangible morale benefits. “Having them here pushed some of us to look outside the box,” says Jeff Filicko. One example might be the “Grandprix” bumper-car ride, which for decades prior to the arrival of the film crew was a dark, cinderblock cave with pallid fluorescent lights. Adventureland’s art director transformed the ride with a few colorful drapes and cheap lights. Marie Ruby, head of games at Kennywood, liked the effect so much that she decided to let them stay. “Overall, it was a good experience,” said Jerome Gibas, the GM at Kennywood. “Going into any new adventure there are a lot of uncertainties, and we had to learn along the way. The movie people didn’t know what goes on at the park, and we didn’t know their world. But we came out respectful of each other. I’d ask a lot more questions if I could do it again, but I don’t have a problem doing this again.” Gibas added. “Hopefully, we’ll grab some PR out of this. When the movie comes out, Kennywood’s name will keep coming up, and that will put a message in people’s heads, and they’ll say: ‘I haven’t been there in a while, let’s go back…’”
Walt Disney realized long ago that the movie industry and the attractions industry would have many similarities. They both offer a ticket buyer an experience that takes them out of ordinary existence and puts them in a world of bright lights, color, and magic. To pull this off, both general managers and directors need to coordinate business people, skilled technicians, and artists so that scaffolding is there to support a fantasy. For a few weeks in September, Kennywood and Hollywood had a tempestuous summer affair. This July, we’ll get a glimpse of the results.
SIDEBAR TEN THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE HAVING A FILM SHOT AT YOUR PARK
Call a meeting between the park’s department heads and the film production’s department heads. These people need to know their counterparts, and have each other’s phone numbers.
Create ID lanyards for crewmembers. Require they be worn at all times.
Keep your maintenance and safety crew on hand at all times. An accident at your park will reflect badly on your park, and the amusements industry, not on the film.
Review safety standards. Parks are governed by OSHA safety standards. Film crews follow their union regulations. Be sure that the film crew follows your rules, not just their own.
Negotiate a hefty legal rider to ensure your park is legally protected.
Educate yourself on a film production’s chain of command, and communicate issues to the appropriate department head. For example, if you see an electrician violating a safety rule, you should talk to the supervisor, the gaffer.
Assign a knowledgeable park representative to the production. This person should be on set to field questions on matters pertaining to safety, ride operation, and the feasibility of altering park property.
Work out, well in advance, a system to bill production for damages, materials, and services rendered.
Take photos of key locations prior to arrival of the film production. If there are any damages to park property, you will want to back up claims with photographic proof.
Read the script. If there is something you don’t like, the director may be willing to make a change or tone it down.
