The Met Set Up Capital Police Film Unit

The Standard of the Metropolitan Police ServiceThe first ever Metropolitan Police Service Film Unit (MPSFU) has been announced by Lord Puttnam, Chair of the Film London Executive Task Force, and Commander Shabir Hussain of the Metropolitan Police. This streamlined service has been set up following recommendations from the London Filming Partnership Executive Task Force.

Lord Puttnam, Chair of Film London and guests including Emma Thompson and Bob Hoskins at the launchFilm stars Emma Thompson and Bob Hoskins were among guests at the event to mark one year of the London Filming Partnership.

The Filming Partnership has aided several large scale productions in London over this past year. The capital was host to one of the most complex shoots in Whitehall for totalitarian thriller V for Vendetta. Woolwich High Street was also transformed into a vision of the future for Clive Owen vehicle The Children of Men.

   FILM FRIENDLY CAPITAL

The London Filming Partnership was set up to make filming in the capital easier. Just one year on, there is said to be greater cooperation and support from all parts of the city towards filming. A Code of Practice has been implemented and a range of incentives to help film-makers on the ground, including deals on hotels and transport, has been introduced.

Boys in blue - and yellow - will help capital film shoots through a dedicated Film Unit

London film-makers will now have a single point of contact for the Metropolitan Police. A team of officers, fully trained in filming issues and associated police procedure, will be on hand to offer advice in regards to filming requests requiring police assistance.

The MPSFU will liaise with all police departments from Traffic and Transport to Property Services. They will also coordinate police involvement in particularly complicated shoots or productions requiring police assistance across several boroughs.

The MPSFU will also lead on police policy for legislative changes effecting filming in London

and will develop a consistent charging policy across the whole of the Metropolitan Police Service.

NOTES FOR CAPITAL FILMAKERS

The London Filming Partnership

Launched by Film London in 2005, the Partnership aims to make filming in the capital faster and easier, helping make filming more efficient and cheaper.  Over 120 partners have already signed up including all of London’s 33 local authorities, Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police, as well as industry bodies from London’s film schools to its major studios. 

Feature films shot recently in the capital include: V For Vendetta, Children of Men, The Da Vinci Code, Basic Instinct, Flyboys, Stormbreaker,  Basic Instinct 2, Goal, Sunshine, I Could Never Be Your Woman, Breaking and Entering, Love and Other Disasters, Alien Autopsy, Notes on a Scandal, Sixty-Six, Scoop, and Driving Lessons.

Police presence on film shoots

Police presence is currently required for filming of any of the following:
• use of emergency vehicles or anything which looks like an accident
• nudity
• road closures
• use of firearms
• crowd control

The cost of policing a film shoot is met by the production company.  Police presence on a film shoot does not divert resources away from core police operations.

The Metropolitan Police has recently assisted with several high-profile film shoots including V for Vendetta which involved hundreds of extras storming Parliament and closed Whitehall for four nights and Children of Men which saw Woolwich town centre transformed into a future vision of London. 

The Metropolitan Police were involved from the initial planning meetings through to assisting with crowd and traffic control and providing public reassurance.

Structure of the Metropolitan Police Service Film Unit

The MPSFU will be based in the Traffic Department, Empress State building, Earls Court.  The Unit will be led by a police sergeant and constable providing co-ordination and liaison with the Intellectual Property Manager, Real Property Income Generation, Public Affairs, Borough Operational Command Units & City Police.

Film-makers will continue to contact individual Borough Operation Command Units directly for simple and straight-forward shoots.