THE U.S. COAST GUARD MOTION PICTURE & TELEVISION OFFICE Producing pictures worth thousands of words
The first references to the U.S. Coast Guard in film and entertainment date back to 1914; the need for a liaison officer to work with Hollywood to accurately depict the service was recognized during World War II. However, nothing official became part of the record until the 1977 federal budget, which declared such an office should be established. It was another 11 years before the Coast Guard Motion Picture & Television Office (MOPIC) was written into the U.S. Code. Originally part of Coast Guard District 11, based out of Long Beach, California, it was elevated to a branch of Coast Guard Headquarters in the 1990s, reflecting the growth and influence of the Hollywood-based entertainment world. “I don’t think our mission has changed much – to enhance awareness of the Coast Guard through cooperative efforts with the entertainment industry at no cost to the taxpayers. The Coast Guard will be portrayed in TV and film whether we participate or not, so to advance the goals of our service, it is best to support that and make sure our story is told accurately,” MOPIC Director Cmdr. Steven Youde said. “We also are tasked with protecting the Coast Guard and making sure we can continue doing our jobs and protect our limited resources; entertainment is a low priority. “We’re essentially Hollywood’s agent for the Coast Guard. We look for opportunities to be involved, but also try to protect the service from projects we don’t have time to support or that don’t align with our goals and missions. We rarely interface with foreign productions, other than looking at U.S. distribution. There have been projects in the past that have risen to a level of support, but, generally, no.”
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Coast Guard OUTLOOK
MOPIC also works with book authors and documentary productions, but the rapidly changing face of entertainment has meant the small unit (currently – and typically – three Coast Guardsmen) has had to expand its knowledge and activities into new media, from e-books to YouTube, Amazon, and the video giant, Netflix. “It has increased the workload,” Youde acknowledged. “It’s not just Hollywood that can create an impactful production. People have more access to media outlets than just Hollywood production offices. You have to filter whether it is a good idea to support one of the alternative media. We’ve worked with some YouTube channels that have more viewers than the Discovery Channel.” Social media also has added to that workload, bringing both new challenges and new tools to present a positive Coast Guard image to the world. “We are still working on how to navigate the new media, but we are trying hard to leverage it and connect with the influencers who are using those media,” he said. “They don’t know the process as well as Warner Brothers or MGM or Disney. By law, this is the only office that can authorize anything entertainment related, so no matter who they reach out to, ideally they eventually get referred back to this office. We will then vet that project and determine whether it is something we should support without interfering with Coast Guard missions. We have to be the single point of contact between the production and our USCG units. We help keep them out of trouble, but also help them share their story.” A good example was The Finest Hours, a 2016 Disney film starring Star Trek’s Christopher Pine, about a 1952 Coast Guard small-boat rescue of more than 30 sailors
“COAST GUARD ALL HANDS” IMAGE
By J.R. WILSON
