Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 30, 1991                   TAG: 9103300342
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINNETKA, ILL.                                LENGTH: Medium

TOWN FEATURED IN `HOME ALONE' IS GROWING WEARY OF STARDOM

Weary of playing host to Hollywood, Winnetka officials are considering restricting filmmakers' access to their exclusive North Shore village.

"We have not sought out movies as a way to improve our economic base, and wouldn't. Winnetka's not for sale, that way," Village Manager Robert Buechner said Monday.

"We don't want to be party poopers," he said. "But let's try to get some rules and regulations so no property owners are inconvenienced."

For more than a year, since shortly after "Home Alone" was filmed here, the village has required full village council approval rather than a simple permit for filmmakers who want to shoot on location in Winnetka.

Council approval will remain a requirement until an official policy on filmmaking is adopted, Buechner said.

Regulations under consideration include imposing a rental fee for using public property that is blocked off during filming, and restricting the number of days a film crew can remain in town, he said.

Setting the policy will be up to the full council.

An outright ban on movie making is unlikely, Buechner said.

"It gets mentioned, in passing, every time the matter is discussed," he said.

But Buechner said that would probably anger some residents, who view filmmaking in their town as "a fun thing."

Others, however, consider the invasion of Hollywood types an intrusion.

Winnetka has been featured in about 10 movies in the last five years, including "Uncle Buck," "Ferris Buehler's Day Off" and "Home Alone."

"For some people, it was the straw that broke the camel's back," Buechner said of "Home Alone," the tale of the adventures of a boy accidentally left home while his family vacations in Europe.

The home, a stately Winnetka colonial, is prominently featured in the movie.

"The people immediately next to the home ended up getting tired of it . . . shooting way into the wee hours some nights . . . the noise, klieg lights, temporarily being shut out of their driveways," Buechner said. "It's a quiet residential neighborhood."

Suzy Kellett, director of the Illinois Film Office, has been working with Winnetka officials with hopes of establishing a policy that won't keep movie moguls and their money from coming to Illinois.

She said other North Shore communities have restrictions and doesn't think Winnetka's proposed restrictions will act as a deterrent. But Mark Levinson, an executive producer of "Home Alone," said a restrictive policy "would be too bad because it'd limit the amount of filmmaking" done in Winnetka.

"It's beautiful and I don't think we were much of an inconvenience," Levinson said.

"Our picture could not have been made anywhere else," he said by telephone from Los Angeles. "There's a particular look, a kind of North Shore look that's part of the picture."

"As long as we live up to the rules and so on I don't think it's a big problem," Levinson said. "Most of the time people are happy to have a film crew come in. It's kind of fun - for a while."