The Sands Point Preserve requested at Tuesday’s board of trustee meeting that the Village of Sands Point exempt film companies from paying certain fees when they film on the preserve.
Currently, film companies pay the village $1,000 per day for filming and $1,500 on the first day when the company is setting up. The preserve requested that the $1,500 fee be waived, because it’s causing the preserve, a nonprofit organization that operates on 216 acres of land, to lose revenue.
“We think that the fee is a reasonable expectation,” said Jeremiah Bosgang, the preserve’s film and television production manager. “We know that the village has expenses too. We just are asking them to waive the first-day fee.’’
The chairman of the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, Karli Hagendorn, said that film companies have been trying to expedite their filming schedules to avoid paying village fees. If the company condenses its filming schedule by one day to avoid the village’s $1,000 fee, the preserve loses its filming fee, which is $5,000 to $15,000.
The fees the preserve charges go toward keeping the doors open, Bosgang said.
Sands Point Mayor Edward A.K. Adler and other members of the board didn’t approve the preserve’s request, but said that the issue is important and the conversation is worth continuing.
“The preserve does an exceptional job facing all of its challenges,” Adler said. “The preserve is important for this community.”
The village also charges a base camp fee — 20 percent of the preserve’s revenue taken in from that particular film company — which the preserve is asking to be eliminated because it’s causing the organization to lose money, Bosgang said.
On the first day of filming, there are only about three to six people setting up the filming area and painting and designing the set, Bosgang said.
The preserve operates as an agent of Nassau County and receives $175,000 a year to operate, but it has applied for grants that it hopes will help the financial situation, according to Bosgang.
He and Hagendorn both said that filming on the preserve differs immensely from filming in the village on a property or street.
“In my four years at the preserve, we’ve never had to call the police or emergency services once,” Bosgang said. “Everything is confined on the grounds, and we’re not disrupting the public at all. It’s unique and different.”
Trustee Marc Silbert argued that the fees were justifiable because if someone were to get injured while filming, the village would need to dispatch emergency services that need to be paid for.
Both the officials and the board agreed that the preserve is a selling point for real estate brokers looking to promote Sands Point to potential residents.
Hagendorn said brokers purchase a $100 yearly pass and drive clients through the preserve, telling them how important the preserve is to the village’s history.
