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How the US Coast Guard Contributed to the Filming of "The Surface" Movie

Coast Guard News, Flickr

On Sunday, the Milwaukee Film Festivalwill feature a panel discussion offering people a sneak peek at several movies in progress, all being made by Wisconsin filmmakers. One of them is The Surface, a film we’ve heard about in the past on Lake Effect.

Much of the movie was shot on Lake Michigan. And, on the last day of filming this summer, Lake Effect caught up with one of the people helping making that possible. Commander John Pruitt III is the director of the US Coast Guard’s Motion Picture and Television Office, and he was on the set to make sure the movie’s Coast Guard scenes went off without a hitch. 

“We wanted to make it exactly what we do in the Coast Guard,” says Pruitt.

The purpose of the Office to make sure that the US Coast Guard is represented appropriately in the movies. Pruitt works with the directors, producers and writers to make sure that everything is accurate to the Coast Guard’s reality.

“It allows us to show the American public what their tax dollars are at work and doing,” says Pruitt. “So the American public can see this is what the Coast Guard does, because they usually don’t see the rescues. They usually just see the person coming home.”

Commander John Pruitt III is the director of the US Coast Guard’s Motion Picture and Television Office.