Ben Hur? Titanic? Avatar? Arnold Schwarzenegger's burger budget? They all fade into insignificance as hard up Salford Council lavishes £3,000 to film just two full council meetings in September and November.
In August, Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, announced that any member of the public and press could take photos or film public council meetings (see previous Salford Star article click here), and Salford Council decided to stream full Council meetings live via its website.
At the first such meeting in September, a large crew from Digital Tree Media arrived with cameras and mics, to cover every angle of the councillors and the Mayor's warblings except the £1,500 stream didn't work and the public had to wait days for it to appear on the Council website.
The two and three quarter hour film did finally appear, complete with prayers and councillors arriving in the chamber, as Hollywood (Z-movie) arrived at the Civic Centre (see here).
Meanwhile, the Salford Star showed edited highlights of the juicy bits of the same meeting at no cost whatsoever, as Salford Mayor Ian Stewart tried to explain away secretly giving £164,000 to Salford Red Devils (see here). The Star intends to live stream the meetings totally free.
While the Council spends £1,500 on each Avatar-style production, it has included a censorship clause for anyone else who wants to film its public meetings, stating that they should refrain "from editing the views being recorded in a way that may ridicule or show lack of respect." (see previous Salford Star article click here).
Photos by Steven Speed
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