Agreement with union returns film unit to Spokane

SPOKANE — The filming of "Home of the Brave," a movie starring Samuel Jackson and rapper 50 Cent, is returning to Spokane under an agreement by financial backers to pay union wages.

Production trucks that left Monday for Vancouver, B.C., made a U-turn Wednesday under an agreement with Local 488 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Technicians, representatives of both sides said.

"We're very happy," said Rich Cowan of North by Northwest, a local production company that is doing the filming for Home of the Brave Productions Inc. "We're pleased to see the jobs and dollars return to Spokane."

Three-and-a-half days of filming had been completed out of a shoot projected to last for a month, and the flap has set back the production schedule by about a week, Cowan said. For example, he said, some rooms that were painted over for the filming and then repainted in the original color must go through the same process again.

Budgeted at $12 million, "Home of the Brave" also stars Jessica Biel, Brian Presley and Christina Ricci in a portrayal of soldiers struggling to adjust after returning home from war in Iraq.

David Robinson, business manager for the union representing grips, electricians, camera operators and other technical workers in Washington and Oregon, said the filmmakers found they could not avoid paying union scale by going to Canada.

"I think they left town fully intending to shoot in Vancouver but, once there, they realized they couldn't get a union crew there," Robinson said. "The unions in Vancouver said, 'We're not going to work on this show.' "

North by Northwest was not directly involved in negotiations Tuesday between the union and Home of the Brave Productions Inc., Cowan said, adding that he did not know all the details but could confirm that the financing company had agreed to pay union scale.

Robinson said he was satisfied.

"Our goal is never to shut down a production," he said. "We like to see people working."

He added that for most of the locally hired crew members, "the pay increases will be significant."