Vampires and tourists will return to Covington for the first time in the New Year as filming of the hit television series, "The Vampire Diaries" will continue on Friday.

Covington City Council approved filming hours and road closures for Bonanza Productions, who films the "The Vampire Diaries," at the council meeting on Monday.

Production crews and cast will return to film the show on Friday, Jan. 11 at the intersection of Floyd Street and East Street. The council approved for Bonanza Productions to film from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., and to close the intersections of Floyd Street and East Street from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. for filming purposes.

Mayor Ronnie Johnston said new policies that were approved by council at the Dec. 17, 2012 council meeting will
apply when concerning the impacts filming will have on any of the residents. He said interim city manager Billy Bouchillon will work with film crews to make sure the new policies are applied.

The film procedures policy created by the Covington Filming Committee has two sections, one for "Downtown Film Activity Impacts" and the other for "Residential Film Impacts."

Under the downtown film activity impacts section of the policy, if customer access to a business is directly impacted during business hours, a maximum of $200 per day will be paid for filming activity - which includes set-up, filming and break-down; and if the business is directly affected by filming, compensation will be decided between the filming company and the business owner.

The residential film impacts portion says that typical film days shall be conducted between the hours of 7 a.m. and midnight; if no traffic restrictions exist for the residents within 200 linear feet of the film location, compensation is not required.

It further states that if filming or wrap-up is to extend beyond midnight, compensation per each resident within 200 linear feet of the actual film location shall be compensated at a rate of $50 per each day of film activity, excluding exceptional activities - which includes activities such as pyrotechnical and explosives; and if road closures exist, all impacted residents will be compensated at a rate of $100 per day for their inconvenience.

Private property use by film companies is to be negotiated between the filming company and the homeowners, according to the policy.