The Lake Orion Village Council heard a rather unusual request at their July 24 meeting–a production company has asked to be allowed to shoot a scene for a movie in East Lawn Cemetery.
Jason Hammonds, owner of Open Door Productions, a Lake Orion based film/media company, requested to use the cemetery on Orion Road for a film shoot in Sept. of 2007.
He said two days of shooting would be required, between Sept. 23-Oct. 7, for a burial scene in the movie ‘The Jackknife Memoriam.?
A burial scene would be filmed, but Hammonds said in a memo to the council that there was no need to actually bury a casket or dig up the ground.
Council member Douglas Dendel said his only concern was people might be attracted to the cemetery if the movie were to become some kind of ‘cult? classic.
‘My fear is you’d get young people who want to come out and visit the cemetery,? he said, adding that such a thing could open the cemetery up to vandalism.
The council voted to have Hammonds deposit $500 in an escrow account to cover the village attorney’s fees, and to have village attorney Gary Dovre draft a license agreement.