Interview with Kathi Ash, Project Manager - Film & Television of the Maryland Film Office

             Kathi Ash - Maryland is popular because it has great locations, experienced film crews and is close to the kinds of services that movies need…

            Airports, a big city like Baltimore with hotel rooms to accommodate cast and crew and it is close to Washington, D.C., where many movies need to film briefly.  Sometimes when movies need to film in Washington, D.C. for a week or two, they then film other scenes in Maryland and pretend they are in parts of D.C. (like filming in Bolton Hill and pretending they are in Georgetown).

Maryland is sometimes called “America in Miniature” because we have cities, farms, horse barns, oceans, mountains, suburbs, traditional architecture, small towns and big cities, historic locations and modern buildings. 

MMM ThinkQuest Team - 2 - Do you enjoy working for the Maryland film company?

            Kathi Ash - I do not work for a company.  I work for the Maryland Film Office, which is part of the Maryland State Department of Business and Economic Development.  That means we are a state agency committed to bringing business into the state so that the citizens of Maryland can benefit.  When movies come into Maryland the citizens benefit because movies hire a lot of people, book lots of hotel rooms, buy or rent all kinds of props, supplies and wardrobe.

            I love what I do and I work with an extraordinary team of people.  I used to work on the movies themselves as a location manager and many of the skills I learned “on the set” I can put to work right here to benefit the citizens of Maryland. 

MMM ThinkQuest Team - 3 - How and why did the Maryland film company start?

             Kathi Ash - Maryland’s leaders understand that bringing this kind of work to Maryland is of great help to the economy and helps its citizens get work either on the set, or indirectly (like if you work at the hotels or restaurants that are used by movie people).  Almost every State in the United States has a film office and many cities within those states have a similar office as well.  Some countries all have Film Offices.  All the film offices compete with one another in order to attract this very valuable business. 

MMM ThinkQuest Team - 4 - There are so many landmarks in Maryland, what is the most popular one? 

           Kathi Ash - Well, if the movie company wants to make Maryland look like Washington, D.C., they may want to shoot scenes in front of the War Memorial Building in   downtown Baltimore.  Or they may want to film the granite steps of the Baltimore Museum of Art.  But each project has different needs and it just depends of the script and the locations that are needed for that particular movie.

            Fells Point and Mount Vernon in Baltimore are filmed frequently, as is the park overlooking the Inner Harbor.  The Evergreen Mansion has been used as an             embassy and as a wealthy person’s home on several projects.  The entire Guilford neighborhood could look like Chevy Chase or another suburb outside of      Washington, D.C. where you could imagine that a Senator might live.  Of course, when we needed a town for the Disney movie, “Tuck Everlasting,” that looked    like it could have been 1914, the producers chose Berlin, on the Eastern Shore.  They brought in dirt and put it on the street and changed the signs on all the buildings so it looked just like it would have looked in 1914. 

            So, again, it depends on what that movie needs. 

MMM ThinkQuest Team - 5 - How long has the Maryland film company been around? 

            Kathi Ash - I have only worked here for 4 years, but I believe the Maryland Film Office has been around for well over 20 years.  It started out as other states were also realizing that an office that Hollywood filmmakers could call for help might make the difference between attracting a film to their state and losing the business to another, better prepared state. 

MMM ThinkQuest Team - 6 - What season are most movies filmed in?

            Kathi Ash - All seasons but most movies, but not all, like to avoid times when there is too much snow or other very bad weather.  Generally, the spring, summer and fall or more popular than the winter.  Some scripts are set in the autumn because they want to show students going back to school and they time their production so that they can show leaves changing colors.  Others have swimming scenes so they want to be sure the water is comfortable and safe for their actors to work in (warm enough).

MMM ThinkQuest Team - 7 - Do you have any other fun facts you can share with us? 

            Kathi Ash - Maryland is very fortunate to have both John Waters and Barry Levinson as natives.  John Waters has made all of his films in Maryland and has worked with the same crews over and over again.  Academy award winner Barry Levinson has made a number of movies that are set in the greater Baltimore area and take place in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

            It is great fun to see all the old cars and the clothing styles!  Plus, Baltimore looks wonderful in those films.

            Barry Levinson was also the executive producer on a long running TV series called “Homicide,” which he also directed from time to time.  The NBC TV series led to another HBO series called “The Corner,” and that led to another HBO TV series called “The Wire.”   HBO was so happy with the service, the crews, and the locations that they brought several other projects to Maryland including “Something the Lord Made,” which is a beautiful film about Johns Hopkins Hospital.

            Sometimes smaller films turn out really well.  A man who attended Johns Hopkins University directed a movie about young students on a debate team.  He really loved Baltimore and, after working closely with our office, decided to make his movie, “Rocket Science” here.  He did and he won an award for best director at this year’s Sundance Film Festival! 

MMM ThinkQuest Team - 8 - What is the basic history of the Maryland Film Company/Industry? 

           Kathi Ash - Again, we are not a company, we are a state agency and our office has grown right along with the industry.  It used to be that movies were all made in Hollywood.  But after decades of that, studios and producers wanted to save money be filming “on location.”  That is when states saw the need to open film offices and when movies started to scout for the best look for their film.  As more moviemakers discovered Maryland, they began to hire local filmmakers to work on the projects under Hollywood trained craftspeople.  Over time, the locals got very, very good at their trades and started to be hired for better and better jobs.  These days, studios know that if they film in Maryland, they may not need to fly the entire crew in; they can rely on local crewmembers to work in many important positions. 

            However, as the entire world has awakened to the amount of money that a City or State’s businesses and people can make on a movie, the competition has grown and now state’s and counties compete for all the movies by offering them all kinds of tax and financial incentives.  Without a doubt, the industry will continue to evolve as will the film offices all over the United States and the world!