Van Brimmer: To film or not to film, that is the question | savannahnow.com

SpongeBob is in town. And like the Hollywood types before him — Forrest Gump, Bagger Vance, Mary Surratt — the yella fella is disrupting Savannah’s routine.

The situation has the makings of a good movie plot. Take peeved business owners and frustrated government leaders. Throw in a bunch of demonized out-of-towners in a place that sometimes doesn’t take kindly to pushy strangers. Mix in the firing of a polarizing public official.

Talk about drama. Warm up the popcorn popper.

The weakness is the ending. It has yet to be written. By the time the SpongeBob movie wraps later this month, this community needs to have had a frank discussion about the city’s future as a regular film location.

Is the pleasure — the windfall of hotel nights, meals consumed, etc., tied to the location shoot; the exposure and civic pride once the film is released — worth all the pain?

If so, what changes should be made going forward?

Only when a consensus is formed on those issues can we move ahead with repairing relationships, both in Hollywood and within our own community.

via Van Brimmer: To film or not to film, that is the question | savannahnow.com.