Now North Carolina Expanding Its Studios

COMMENTS (10)

• Diversity of locations is a good thing creatively. I know I’m not alone in saying I’m sick of the majority of movies taking place in L.A. and New York. It’s boring.

  Comment by Mr. Good — Friday February 13, 2009 @ 7:25am PST  Reply to this post

• The only problem with North Carolina’s studios is that you have to film in North Carolina.

  Comment by ReelBusy — Friday February 13, 2009 @ 9:26am PST  Reply to this post

• For what its worth two studios going up in the Boston area…

  Southfield Studios
  http://www.isgstudios.com

  and

  Plymouth Rock Studios
  http://plymouthrockstudios.com

  All due to the new MA tax breaks. I think in total its 15-25 stages depending on how much they decide to expand. Both probably open in 2010.

  Comment by Frank — Friday February 13, 2009 @ 9:40am PST  Reply to this post

• I shot there. For what it’s worth, this place is unbelievable. It’s like walking on to any high end Hollywood lot but without the LA prices. It couldn’t have been easier–it’s all there.

  Comment by ProducerBoy — Friday February 13, 2009 @ 10:48am PST  Reply to this post

• I feel particularly blessed to have been able to build my SAG resume on the work I found growing up in NC. Got my SAG card on Young Indiana Jones, shot on location and at then-called Carolco Studios. That’s why I have mixed feelings about out-of-state production (now that live in LA) and the dichotomy between the Hollywood Branch and all the others.

  I believe one day we’ll come to realize that they complement each other, and opening up a close relationship between the Hollywood and North Carolina film industries is mutually beneficial, and a better alternative than Canada. I cannot think of any television productions that ran away to Canada that couldn’t have been shot in NC. And Producerboy is right, it’s a sprawling Hollywood lot, staffed by pros and located on the outskirts of a population center of 82,000 as opposed to 12 million in LA county. Plus, pirates hung out in Wilmington.

  I’d also love to see what kind of outreach Hollywood can provide to the New Orleans branch. Obviously another region that cannot be duplicated in LA, and one that could use the business.

  Comment by Fred — Friday February 13, 2009 @ 12:17pm PST  Reply to this post

• Having worked in Wilmington and LA, I’d say using a Heaven/Hell comparison wouldn’t be overstating it. Wilmington has cheap food, cheap drinks, cheap real estate, beautiful beaches, and sincere professionals…where as LA has…well, the opposite. (and YES, Wrightsville Beach trumps any local LA beach, tenfold) Wilmington’s film industry had a pretty good run of it in the early 90′s, and they’re well-deserving of another windfall. Everything about the industry is legit down there…no hacks anywhere, from catering to line producers, they focus on their work, not their egos. All things being equal, and with the dollar fluctuating, it was only a matter of time before production returned to the states and Wilmington made a comeback. This is good news for all parties.

  Comment by Wrightsville Beach — Friday February 13, 2009 @ 5:31pm PST  Reply to this post

• I respectfully disagree.

  North Carolina is a lovely place, but Los Angeles still makes the most sense for production. Unless there is a distinct regional need (see tomorrow night’s ‘Eastbound & Down’, where the directors & producers, all southerners, wanted the true south), LA can usually suffice.

  Before they pour too much money into these studios, I’d keep on eye on the Califonia legislation being passed to keep production in-state. I’m thinking (hoping) the pendulum is about to take a drastic swing the other way as the bureaucrats realize they’ve spent the past eight year pissing away one of our best economic resources.

  Fingers crossed.

  Comment by Rabble, Rabble. — Saturday February 14, 2009 @ 5:49am PST  Reply to this post

• I’ve been a gaffer, working from an LA base, for the last 17 years. I’ve worked on four continents, in eleven countries, and 21 states. On projects big and small, I can tell you that when it comes to the quality of both the end product and the production experience, nothing beats an LA crew. These inexperienced tax incentive crews move at a fraction of the speed of an LA crew. It isn’t that they don’t try, but there is no shortcut that can make up for the full time, 20 or 30 years’ experience the LA guys have. These headaches are compounded when dealing with potentially lethal amounts of electricity in trainee hands. I didn’t realize just how well trained my guys in LA were until my michigan crew came within a literal inch of killing the actors standing on a metal grid. They never even knew they were endangered, but sooner rather than later, someone won’t be so lucky. I just hope the incentives pass so I can work at home and not have to be there to see it happen in order to pay my bills.

  Comment by anonymouse — Saturday February 14, 2009 @ 11:45pm PST  Reply to this post

• “On projects big and small, I can tell you that when it comes to the quality of both the end product and the production experience, nothing beats an LA crew. These inexperienced tax incentive crews move at a fraction of the speed of an LA crew.”

  I don’t doubt that nothing beats an LA crew, but there are crew folks (at least in NC) that have been doing it just as long. I saw a lot of the same (albeit older) faces on the Surface set that I saw on Young Indy. I’m sure they’re all on One Tree Hill now, much smaller pool of folks but they wouldn’t be working that long if they electrocuted anyone. Can’t speak for Michigan, of course, but I’m sure those guys got great jobs in the Detroit Lions’ front office. I hope so, anyway.

  Comment by Fred — Sunday February 15, 2009 @ 11:45am PST  Reply to this post

• The studios & producers have just been fed up with union demands , threats of striikes & they simply said we don’t have to film in california! They have proven with out a doubt they have filmed in other states & other countries with no problem & with excitement & enthusiasm of their residents & politicians’!

  Comment by Reno Wilshire — Saturday August 29, 2009 @ 6:40pm PDT  Reply to this post