A 10-day shoot by two University of Florida film students turned into six weeks of bedlam according to a complaint to the Tampa Palms tax district board.
By JOHN BALZ
Published July 18, 2003
TAMPA PALMS - Ann Hill saw the trucks and the tents and thought a "band of gypsies" had come to town.
It was two University of Florida film students and a cast of youngsters making a movie called Little Men that some Tampa Palms residents say disturbed their peace and disordered their landscape.
"We lived in fear," said Hill, who has lived in Tampa Palms since 1991 and installed a security system during the filming to protect herself.
In a complaint to the Tampa Palms tax district board, homeowners in the Stonington village said a 10-day shoot turned into six weeks of bedlam in May and June. Cast and crew drove trucks on the Tampa Electric Co.'s easement, camped on the easement, sped through the neighborhood and set up portable bathrooms on the border of 16-acre Oak Park, the complaint said.
Co-director Vincent Vittorio, 23, lived in Tampa Palms as a boy before moving to Georgia in sixth grade. He thought the neighborhood would be a perfect backdrop for his $50,000 film about young boys and girls' power struggles over a clubhouse.
The Little Men team was comprised of 50 to 80 people and about 30 vehicles. The professional 18-kid cast came from around the country.
Vittorio's production company, Vincenzo Independent Productions, secured permission to use the easement from TECO and to use parts of the 16-acre Oak Park from the Tampa Palms Owners Association.
Friction between film companies and the communities where they shoot is not uncommon in film circles. The 2000 release State and Main, starring Alec Baldwin, pokes fun at the Hollywood stars who crash a small Vermont town to make a movie and at local residents who are irritated by the glitz and glamour.
Vittorio said the overall relationship with Tampa Palms was "supportive." The tents might have looked unattractive, he said, but the cast and crew behaved properly and cleaned up after themselves.
"We couldn't shut down a city to make Bad Boys II," said Vittorio, referring to the Martin Lawrence/Will Smith blockbuster that disrupted large sections of Miami during filming.
Community Development District supervisor Andy Miller said he noticed the filming during Memorial Day weekend and received a number of calls from residents, asking whether it was an approved project.
"I'm kind of disheartened that it happened," he said.
To receive permission to film on Tampa Palms grounds, Vittorio submitted a written description of his project. Usually the homeowner association board must approve a request. In this case, property manager Michelle Kitts gave the okay.
"I was misinformed," Kitts said of the film. "I thought it was going to be a couple college kids and a few residents with a camera. I was shocked when I found out the extent of the project."
Vittorio is finishing up editing Little Men and plans to submit it to the annual Sundance Film Festival in Utah. He said he has no plans to return to Tampa Palms for another movie.
Might another would-be Spielberg film here next?
"It's not going to happen again," Kitts said.
- John Balz can be reached at 813 269-5313 or at balz@sptimes.com
