Atlanta This article is more than 3 years oldOutrage after Spider-Man allowed to film in closed Atlanta high schools
This article is more than 3 years oldPermission sparks backlash from parents whose children have been barred from in-person learning due to Covid-19 since March
Marvel’s untitled third Spider-Man movie has been granted special permission to shoot at two high schools in Atlanta, sparking backlash from parents whose children have been barred from in-person learning at the schools for more than eight months.
“Too bad kids don’t generate the millions a movie does, or they’d be back in front of their teacher in a classroom rather than a computer screen,” one parent wrote on Twitter, as reported by the Washington Post.
“In-person school is not only safe, it’s necessary for learning,” the parent added.
As coronavirus cases soar in the US, Atlanta authorities have said public school students will not return to in-person learning before January. Spider-Man filming at Frederick Douglass and Henry W Grady high schools could begin as early as January and March respectively.
A moratorium on film production at school properties has been in place since March. Spider-Man is the first film granted an exception.
Parents, family members and residents said authorities had “abandoned children” through a “shameful” decision.
“Georgia’s film industry matters so much we are willing to take a chance over protecting lives,” one woman wrote on Twitter. “My first thought was, my grandson … would love this. Second thought was: moratoriums don’t mean much when it comes down to money.”
In an email obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, location manager Ian Easterbrook wrote that use of the two schools was “vital to the success of this next film”.
His request on behalf of Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios labeled the production of the Spider-Man film as “unique and very time-sensitive”, adding that he had “exhausted normal channels of communication” before appealing directly to school board members and the superintendent. The application to shoot included a $50,000 donation.
An Atlanta public schools spokesman, Seth Coleman, told the Journal-Constitution schools often receive requests to film on their properties, and the Spider-Man movie was ultimately granted permission because the franchise had used the sites before. Several such scenes feature in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was filmed in 2017.
Coleman said individual schools could negotiate specific donations from producers, and noted that the $50,000 offered by Spider-Man producers could be used for pandemic-specific needs including rapid testing kits, virtual learning tools or enhanced filtration systems.
The district would also be in position to collect $750 a day for set-up and tearing down of film sets, Coleman said, in addition to a $2,500-per-day rate for filming. Revenue would also be generated through charging by the hour for any related staff time.
Coleman insisted the single day of filming scheduled per school, plus a few days for setting up and tearing down, would fall on weekends and production would not interfere with any in-classroom learning.
Atlanta and its suburbs have great appeal for the TV and film industry. Given a boost from production houses like Tyler Perry Studios, the city has been called the “Hollywood of the South”.
According to WXIA, public schools have been used for several productions, including Hidden Figures, in 2016, and the 2017 Ice Cube comedy Fist Fight.
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