For much of October and early November, Harvard’s town center was a movie set, rented and reimagined by Columbia Pictures for scenes in its forthcoming 2019 version of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.” But the license the town granted Columbia remained under wraps until the studio finished its work and left town shortly before Thanksgiving.
Last week, officials released both the 13-page agreement and an accounting of the fees Harvard collected for use of town land and provision of services by fire, police, and DPW. The grand total? $97,000.
The largest portion of that payment is a $60,000 license fee the town charged Columbia for use of town land that included the Common, the area between the General Store and the Congregational Church, and the Town Hall area. Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro told the Press this week that she and the other members of the town’s negotiating team—Select Board member Stu Sklar and Town Administrator Tim Bragan—had calculated the amount based on Harvard’s published fees for use of town land and parking spaces, as well as a consideration of the inconvenience to townsfolk of closing Town Hall, Hildreth House, and the fire station, and disrupting traffic on film days.
Columbia agreed to set aside $9,500 to grade, spread fresh loam, and reseed the land on which it built its faux-Concord set. And the Cemetery Commission asked for and received $2,500 for use of the town center cemetery. Columbia was invoiced separately for the $25,000 direct cost of fire, police, and DPW services provided by the town and was charged $1,200 for the additional four days it took to remove its set from town center. Some of the police money is to reimburse Harvard for hiring additional officers from Lancaster and Boxborough to help control traffic on film days.
In a brief interview, Sobalvarro told the Press that Massachusetts law requires the $60,000 fee received from Columbia to be treated as a gift rather than a fee for service and must be deposited by Columbia directly to town accounts. She said that while use of the money had not been discussed in a public meeting, Select Board Chair Lucy Wallace and Sklar had met and determined it should be divided among five town entities and deposited to their accounts. They are the Council on Aging ($15,000), Parks and Recreation Commission ($16,000), Harvard Tree Gift Fund ($5,000), Ginny Thurston Scholarship Fund ($10,000), and Rantoul Trust-Elderly Fund ($14,000).
Restoring town land
Although Columbia had always planned to repair the area in town center on which its Concord town center set was built, bad weather delayed the work. Instead, Harvard DPW workers filled holes and leveled the area last week and the $9,500 set aside for the work will be given to Parks and Rec. That money and the $16,000 Columbia gift to the commission will be deposited to Parks and Rec’s revolving fund. The commission is already considering ideas for reconstructing the area between the General Store and the church, one of which appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of the Press. Sobalvarro says the commissioners can use the Columbia money for that purpose.
Thus concludes Harvard’s first experience with a major Hollywood studio. Negotiation began Aug. 10 according to Sobalvarro. Work on the set commenced Sept. 17, but negotiations dragged on and the contract wasn’t signed until Oct. 18. The license was set to terminate Nov. 17, but Columbia wrapped up its work four days later, Nov. 21, incurring the $1,200 late fee.
Synchronizing the needs of the film studio and those of the town was not easy, said Sobalvarro, whose efforts and those of other officials were in addition to their daily duties. Still, the economic benefits of having Columbia in Harvard extended beyond town government. The General Store buzzed with crew members and sightseers, and it gained new walls and a fresh coat of paint on the second floor, as well as a more solid fire escape. The store and homeowners around the Common had their own contracts with the studio, as did the town’s two churches. And many of the workers hired by Columbia hailed from Massachusetts.
The town is quieter now, even as it prepares for its annual holiday rituals. But come December 2019, when the film is scheduled to be released, Harvard will once again become a star, a stand-in for its neighbor Concord, but unmistakably Harvard beneath the signs and paint.
