Joe Puente ponders “Film Day on the Hill”

Every year, during the bureaucratic lightning round that is Utah’s legislative session—from 2017–2020—there has been a designated “Film Day on Hill” held in the Capitol Rotunda in Salt Lake City.

Film Day 2018 image courtesy of

Utah Filmmakers Associate Marshall Moore

Coordinated by the Motion Picture Association of Utah (MPAU), it was always a fun time for friends and colleagues in the local film industry to gather to support Utah’s Motion Picture Incentive Program and the Utah Film Commission—the agency tasked with implementing it.

Film Day is often commemorated with a group photo!

Film Day 2020 image courtesy of the Utah Film Commission

The group photo from 2020 reminded me of a classic horror film, inspiring a short homage to the late director Stanley Kubrick.

Video by the author

Because of the pandemic, in 2021 and 2022, Film Day was an online event.

Coincidentally, February 17
is also the author's birthday.

Since 2023, Film Day has become part of “Cultural Industry Advocacy Day,” so the MPAU joins several other organizations and entities like Hogle Zoo, the Professional Outreach Programs In The Schools (POPS), the Utah Cultural Alliance, the Utah Museums Association, and Salt Lake County’s Zoo Arts & Parks (ZAP) Program, making for a more engaging public experience.

Film Day 2023 image courtesy of Utah Film Studios

I remember registering for Film Day last year and looking forward to it more than usual after two consecutive virtual gatherings—I even preordered a box lunch.

Alas, I was struggling with some intense anxiety and couldn’t make it—2023 had a rough start for me. Thankfully, UFA™ VP Mario DeAngelis could go, so the Utah Filmmakers™ Association was represented, and the lunch I had ordered didn’t go to waste.

Cultural Industry Advocacy Day 2024 presented an opportunity for the UFA™ to connect with more of Utah’s film community, as well as other local nonprofits. We enlisted the services of Associate Member DB Productions Utah to answer a call from the event organizers at the Utah Museums Association to have an “interactive exhibit” in the Capital Rotunda. We were given a prime location between the Salt Lake Film Society and the Sundance Institute. Unfortunately, no one from Sundance was at their table. As we said in our Instagram post, “...we were happy to step up and make sure their allotted space still represented them. We happened to have a piece of Sundance Film Festival history... displayed on their table: An authentic Sundance Film Festival Rejection Letter. They don’t send those out anymore.”

Dare I ask if the Utah Filmmakers™ Association stood out
among the other exhibitors? Images courtesy of the author

In addition to the novelty of DB Productions Utah’s signature photo kiosk—book them for your event today!—we gave out official Utah Filmmaker™ buttons.

Images courtesy of DB Productions Utah and Utah Filmmakers™

We also presented two slide shows: One featuring our Associate Members and the other highlighting the organization’s engagement with the community, production support, and other contributions since its founding in 2002.

The slideshows were presented silently on the day, but the versions we’ve made available through YouTube—now featured on our website—have incorporated licensed soundtracks courtesy of Associate Organization Amphibious Zoo Music.

We also want to express our gratitude for the assistance of two of our Community Liaisons, Justin Kwan and Jared Palmer.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and—especially where guest posts are concerned—do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Utah Filmmakers™ Association, its Officers and/or Associates.

A Message from the Utah Film Commission:

Last week, there were two stories in the news about how film production In Utah has begun to crawl back and that more commercials are filming in Utah. We can all agree that none of us could have imagined the world we are living in now, but the Utah film industry has always been good at adapting to changing conditions. With our skilled crew members, professional vendors and diverse landscapes, Utah has the workforce and resources for any type of production.

When Utah began to reopen in May, the Utah Film Commission had already received 140% more production inquiries compared to the previous year and projects that postponed or delayed are starting to resume production in accordance with state and local safety guidelines. You can find a list of many of those projects that are starting to film in Utah in the Current Productions section of our website.

With the unique circumstances of the pandemic, hiring crews and vendors #InUtah and choosing to #FilmInUtah is the best way to keep our industry thriving and we need your help. We want all crew members and vendors based in Utah to update or register in the Utah Film Directory to show off your experience. Anytime the Utah Film Commission receives a production inquiry, we encourage those in-state and out-of-state productions to search the directory for talented Utahns and businesses in our film industry. Now, more than ever, it’s important for the industry to know the many Utah crew members and vendors that are ready to work.

We know that this has been a difficult time for the Utah film industry, but we are all in this together.

Our office wants to hear from you what more we can do to help! Email us at film@utah.gov or message us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and—especially where guest posts are concerned—do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Utah Filmmakers™ Association, its officers and/or associates. Utah Filmmaker(s)™ and UFA™ are trademarks registered with the Utah Department of Commerce Division of Corporations and Commercial Code, Registration Numbers 10706542-0190 , 11025542-0190 and 10502093-0190 respectively.

Adriele Fugal on how to Work Safely on Film Sets During the Pandemic

Adriele Fugal, MSPH(c)
Public Health Safety Specialist

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced states in the U.S. and countries around the world to shut down for months as the virus has spread globally like wildfire with no regard to national borders, social bounds, political systems, or cultural values. Major industries were advised to have their employees work from home as a mitigation effort to slow the spread of the virus in order to avoid overwhelming hospital beds and avoid unnecessary deaths, especially among our most vulnerable population: older adults.

While some industries were able to have their employees work remotely, other businesses were hit hard by the shutdown, including the film industry. It is estimated that 120,000 people have lost their jobs in Hollywood due to COVID-19, while 50,000 people will be losing their jobs in the United Kingdom. The film industry has also suffered a $4 billion hit at the box office and is expected to lose even more money from stopped productions. To top it off, most insurance companies exclude any coverage of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, painting a scary picture for the future of film and television production.

Adriele...
keeping her set safe!

So, is it safe to work in film sets during a pandemic? It can be! And I will show what you can do to make film sets safe for the cast and crew while helping the film industry get back to doing what it does best. When I started working as a Public Health Safety Supervisor I did a lot of research to understand what the best measures would be to follow to minimize the spread of COVID-19 on film sets. I spent a good amount of time reading everything I could find from many well known and reputable organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). I also spent many days getting certificates related to COVID-19 from top-notch universities, the CDC and WHO, so I could feel prepared and capable of providing the most recent, up to date guidelines to my clients, and the best services to the people I was trusted to keep safe. And that is how I was able to be the first person in the state, or perhaps even in the nation, to develop COVID-19 guidelines for film sets, which I shared with the Utah Filmmakers™ Facebook group, and has since been replaced by the Utah Film Commission guidelines. 

So now, after working on over a dozen productions during the pandemic, here is my take on how film productions can work safely on film sets today:

1. Hire a Public Health Specialist that has abundant knowledge of epidemiology, infection disease and control, and disease outbreaks, like myself, to advise your production during the pre-production phase, and make sure that all safety guidelines are being followed during the production.
2. Have a Public Health Specialist create, manage and implement a Covid compliance program, especially for longer productions or productions with a large number of cast and crew.
3. Make sure that the person you hire is up to date on COVID-19 information. As more research is done, more information becomes available. Guidelines might change as we learn more about the disease. As an example, masks were not recommended to the public a few months ago, but we learned that they are actually very effective in preventing the virus from spreading.
4. Hiring a medic to do the job on set is fine, but being certified to work as a medic doesn’t automatically qualify them to know the best procedures and guidelines for sets. Whoever you hire should have the proper knowledge and training in COVID-19 specific procedures for film sets.
5. Because COVID-19 related claims aren’t covered by production insurance, it would be advisable for producers and companies to have cast and crew sign a mandatory liability release waiver. The production should state in this document that they are doing everything in their power to prevent the spread of infection on set, and all involved should be required to follow safety guidelines put in place. Setting this expectation in advance will give the cast and crew peace of mind.

While I, as a public health professional, cannot warrant 100 percent that no one on set will ever get sick, I can assure you that by following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our state, and those widely accepted by the film industry we can effectively minimize the spread of COVID-19 on sets, while giving everyone the feeling of safety and care.

Adriele Fugal, MSPH(c)

Public Health Safety Specialist

Get your Safe Sets™ International Covid-19 Certificate

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The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and—especially where guest posts are concerned—do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Utah Filmmakers™ Association, its officers and/or associates.

Utah Filmmaker(s)™ and UFA™ are trademarks registered with the Utah Department of Commerce Division of Corporations and Commercial Code, Registration Numbers 10706542-0190 , 11025542-0190 and 10502093-0190 respectively.