Tampa filmmaker Todd Wiseman Jr. has been shooting the limited series A Land Remembered in Hillsborough and Pasco counties for several weeks. A proposed move into Pinellas County, however, may have hit a snag.
A Land Remembered is an adaptation of the historical fiction by Patrick D. Smith, following three generations of the MacIvey family, who relocate from Georgia to homestead in the Florida wilderness. The book follows the MacIveys from the 1860s to the 1960s.
Wiseman’s proposal for a Pinellas shoot was submitted March 28 to the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Film Commission. It asks permission to film on location at Fort DeSoto State Park’s remote east beach in early May.
Scenes are for a flashback episode to the 16th century arrival of Florida’s earliest pioneers. “Supplies – grain, tools, and livestock – are off-loaded and staged as the settlers prepare to push inland into the wilderness,” reads the proposal. “Spanish soldiers and settlers ready themselves for the perilous journey just as a band of Calusa warriors strides into camp, setting the stage for a fierce struggle over who will claim this land.”
Cattle, oxen, horses and pigs will be introduced, as well as rough-hewn animal pens and small human domiciles.
When local environmentalists caught wind of the Fort DeSoto proposal, they cried foul.
“We cannot have a hoof running on this beach,” said Lorraine Margeson, a longtime environmental activist and shorebird nesting monitor. “There’s no way to do this without having some sort of environmental impact.
“Sea turtle nesting season starts May 1. Guess what? You’re going to need an FDE (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) permit to do anything at Fort DeSoto Park.
“We’re going to flood the County Commission with emails, so whatever little thing he thinks he’s going to do is getting shut down. Because the parks can’t start doing this stuff.”
Wiseman said he’s extremely sensitive to environmental concerns. “I think people are jumping the gun a little bit,” he explained. “They just need to let me do the show. It’s going to be amazing, and absolutely not something that disrupts the environment.”
The company is currently shooting on a “homestead” constructed on a private ranch in Pasco. “There are several beach options,” Wiseman added, “because there are a lot of sensitivities this time of year. There’s nothing set in stone.”
A spokesman for the Film Commission would only confirm that the proposal was “under review.” A meeting between the filmmakers, park representatives and environmentalists is scheduled for Monday.
A Land Remembered is financed with a $500,000 state grant, along with a matching grant from Visit Tampa, and other donors. Wiseman intends to complete the first season (four episodes) before shopping the project for distribution.
“If it’s going to disrupt things, we’re just not going to film there,” offered Wiseman. “Because our operation is so logistically focused, we have to have multiple inquiries open.
“If we film there, which I would love to, it will very minimally impactful.”
Fort DeSoto State Park, he said, would benefit from its exposure in a TV series. “It’s harder to protect something that you don’t know about, that you can’t see. I think Fort DeSoto is an example of a place that has all this natural beauty that should be protected. And I think this would be in service of that.”
Not good enough, according to Margeson. “If he brings one horse running around the beach in there, one, two cattle, we’ll be screaming,” she said. “Because that is a pristine property.
“I just can’t believe that someone would come to the most popular park in the county … we are at the height of season. So we already have shorebird nests, all over the park. There’s not a place he can go where he might not trample a gopher tortoise burrow.”
