We love showcasing film offices’ success stories in our blog, especially when it’s about one or in this case - two - of our clients. It seems Pittsburgh’s competitive film tax credit program has elevated the city on to Hollywood’s sharp radar. The Steel City’s movie industry has been steadily growing in spite of the recession experienced everywhere else in the country.
As you’ve probably noticed by now, we are in the middle of Hollywood’s 2010 award season - Golden Globe, Directors Guild of America (DGA),Screen Actors Guild, People’s Choice, etc., have been gracing the stages and television screens, and making headlines continually for weeks now. But the most coveted trophy to bring home - the Oscar - is still up for grabs on March 7, 2010 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
This morning, Oscar finally made their announcement on who the 2010 nominees are. We are excited to share that four of the ten “Best Motion Picture of the Year” nominees were filmed in seven of our clients’ states.
“Best things come in small packages.” We’ve all heard that phrase many times. But in the case of the latest movie production currently filmed in West Michigan, we cannot come up with a better description.
Yesterday, February 10, 2010, was the first filming day in West Michigan of Tom Seidman’s small-budget film The Bunny Lady. “The movie is set in West Michigan, and written for West Michigan,” said Seidman. It’s a story of a “crotchety old farm woman” with a big heart running a rabbit rescue center, and starring in the title role is our beloved “Mrs. Brady” herself, Florence Henderson.
Seidman, a West Michigan native, wrote and directed this charming family Christmas movie. He has also worked in many well-known films and television productions over the years including The Dead Poet’s Society, Reds, Rich and Famous, Honky Tonk Man, Ordinary People, and Golden Girls. The Bunny Lady is his directorial debut.
Movie Maker Magazine recently publishes their list of Where to Live and Shoot in 2010. As usual, iconic cities such as Los Angeles (No. 2) and New York (No. 4) sit prominently on the list. However, the No. 1 position might be a surprise—especially to those outside the industry. Have we peaked your interest yet?
Here’s the 10 Best Cities to Live, Work and Make Movies in 2010, according to Movie Maker Magazine:
It’s hard to think of movies made in Hollywood without seeing images of the American West. Golden deserts and awe-inspiring canyons, majestic mountain tops, wide serene lakes, and vineyard hills are just a few of the unforgettable vistas often memorialized in many of our favorite movies.
Have you ever watched a movie and fallen in love with its settings and locations so much you wish you could be there on your next vacation? We have! We find ourselves constantly wondering how we can get to that beautiful seaside town in The Proposal, or whether the eccentric inn-on-stilts in Nights in Rodanthe really exists. And so we set out to do a bit of online sleuthing, in search of the perfect reads that would give us some insights into the world of movie locations.
Being in the film business, we love movies. Rarely does a Friday roll around without us getting excited about a new film’s opening. This weekend, our hearts are set on catching the just-released holiday movie Everybody’s Fine, a remake of Oscar winner Giuseppe Tornatore’s Stanno Tutti Bene. The movie follows a widower (Academy Award winner Robert De Niro) on his impromptu road trip to visit his grown children during the holidays. In addition to De Niro, the cast is an ensemble of many of our favorite actors including Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, and Sam Rockwell. Although it is a holiday movie, we have been duly warned that Everybody’s Fine is “a prickly, bittersweet weeper about a father’s attempts at reconnection and reconciliation with his … far-flung children.
Reel-Scout just heard from the grapevine that the much-anticipated movie Thor by Marvel Studios will be filmed in three of our clients’ backyards: California, Los Angeles and New Mexico. Production Weekly also confirmed the locations in its tweet last Friday. Congratulations to FilmLA, California Film Commission, and New Mexico Film Office! As we mentioned last week, you are definitely among the Top 5 Filming Locations in North America.
Last month, Variety wrote an article listing the top places in the world that location managers, directors and other industry insiders voted as best locations for filmmaking. Reel-Scout is excited to share that our film office clients represent two of the Top 5 markets for filmmaking: California (No. 1) and New Mexico (No. 3).
Reel-Scout has always been proud and happy to call Charlotte our home. We’ve built our companies here. We’ve raised our families here. We love most every nook and cranny of this city and there are too many other places we’d rather be. But putting aside all the personal reasons why we love Charlotte, did you know that the Charlotte region is also the setting of blockbuster movies such as Shallow Hal, Nell, Days of Thunder, Talladega Nights: the Balad of Ricky Bobby, and The Color Purple?
