Scott Suttell
SOURCE: Crain’s Cleveland Business | Scott Suttell
January 26, 2022
The company each year ranks the best big and small cities for people to live if they’re trying to make a living in the movie business. It sets aside the two most obvious places — Los Angeles and New York — and then ranks cities on factors including tax incentives, infrastructure development, access to film-school talent, diversity of settings, and more.
David A. Arnold is a nationally known stand-up comic from Northeast Ohio.
SOURCE: The Morning Journal | Breanna Mona
January 26, 2022
“Being on stage as a comedian is like taking a bath — if it’s been three days, I gotta go.”
Comedian, writer, producer and actor David A. Arnold says he’s had “multiple irons in the fire” his whole life, but stand-up is very much his favorite job.
In a phone call ahead of his Netflix taping “It Ain’t for the Weak” at Playhouse Square Jan. 29, he says he’d do standup all day every day if he could.
SOURCE: Moviemaker.com | Greg Gilman
January 25, 2022
Before we begin our latest list of the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker: Some obvious background.
The COVID pandemic continues to rage on two years after the virus landed on American shores, and one of the few silver linings has been a revolution in telecommuting — giving us all more freedom than ever before to live and work where we want, how we want.
The movie industry is no exception. Post-production coordinators are managing workflow between editors and animators from the comfort of their own homes, and the writers’ room may also be a bedroom. Production, however, can’t always be facilitated through Zoom calls. So for on-set crew, producers, and directors, it remains essential to be close to someone yelling “Action!”
Fortunately, there is no shortage of production hubs springing up in cities, big and small, around North America. And a few — like Albuquerque and Atlanta — are even shaping up to rival MovieMaker Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker Hall of Famers Los Angeles and New York. Dozens of other municipalities are nipping at their heels with very attractive tax incentives and infrastructure development, luring more projects to previously overlooked areas.
Let’s dive into the evolving filmmaking landscape across the continent, starting with America’s iconic entertainment capitals. These are the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2022.
Courtesy Mark Andrew Hamer
SOURCE: Cleveland Scene | Sam Allard
January 25, 2022
Former Browns running back Peyton Hillis, who electrified Cleveland when he ran for 11 touchdowns and more than 1100 yards during the 2010 NFL season, is starring in a locally filmed horror slash police procedural now available on streaming platforms.
The Hunting, directed by local film producer Mark Andrew Hamer, follows the exploits of a small-town detective (Hillis) and a wildlife specialist (Solon High School alum Joelle Westwood), who are tasked with solving a mysterious spate of missing-persons cases in and around Mantua, Ohio. It is, per the film’s publicity materials, a modern update on the werewolf genre.
Cleveland State University film students at work in the studio. Photo / Cleveland State University.
SOURCE: Cleveland Jewish News | Bob Abelman
January 25, 2022
Humble beginnings. There is no better way to describe the School of Film & Media Arts at Cleveland State University.
CSU had no film program until the fall of 1977, when one faculty member was hired to teach a few courses in film history and film appreciation for the Department of Communication. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that an additional faculty member was hired to teach some basic small-format production courses on very limited equipment in a very finite studio space with a very restricted budget.
By 2005, the department became a school and, over time, its film sequence became one of the most popular programs. Today, the new School of Film & Media Arts, with tracks of study in writing/directing, cinematography, writing/producing, post-production, interactive media and acting/directing, calls a 36,000-square-foot space on the sixth floor of Idea Center in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square district its home.
With two new 2,000-plus-square-foot sound stages with 24-foot ceilings, state-of-the-art teaching laboratories, digital editing bays, professional production equipment and a viewing room/theater with 7.1 surround sound and a commercial theater-quality projection system, the program is the only stand-alone, degree-granting film school in Ohio.
SOURCE: WKYC 3 Studios | Marisa Saenz
January 21, 2022
CLEVELAND – Nearly 40 years after it first came out, multiple reports say “A Christmas Story” is getting a sequel — with original Ralphie actor Peter Billingsley in talks to return.
Warner Bros. and Legendary will be handling production. Deadline reports that the sequel will premiere on HBO Max.
However, the sequel will be filmed far from Cleveland, in Hungary.
SOURCE: idea stream.org | David C. Barnett
December 2, 2021
A major motion picture recently wrapped shooting in various locations around Northeast Ohio. “White Noise,” starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig was one of the first projects shepherded by Bill Garvey, the new president of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission.
A chilly wind whipped across a desolate section of Cleveland’s Flats under the Innerbelt bridge, last week, as Garvey pointed out a barren tract of land. Just a few weeks earlier on this very spot sat a full-sized façade of a motel built from scratch by the “White Noise” production crew.
“It’s a project that spent the last five months filming here in Northeast Ohio,” Garvey said. “You don’t have to go to L.A. to make movies that are high quality. The crew that works here makes the same rates as you would make in L.A., and they work on the same caliber projects. We have a vibrant business here, and it’s growing.”
locationmanagers.org
The Warner Bros produced motion picture was location managed by new Greater Cleveland Film Commission President Bill Garvey.
“Judas,” filmed entirely in Cleveland during the Fall of 2019, shines a spotlight on the progress the Greater Cleveland Film Commission has made to grow the motion picture industry in NE Ohio. The Location Manager Guild Awards are the motion picture industry’s highest accolade for location scouting & management.
Warner Bros spent $20.89 million during production in NE Ohio, hired 118 local crew, hired over 3,000 extras, sourced from over 60 local businesses, and booked 1,000s of hotel room nights.
“Judas” was nominated in the Outstanding Locations on a Period Feature Category along with 4 other features:
A complete list of this year’s winners:
LaKeith Stanfield plays FBI informant William O’Neal in “Judas and the Black Messiah.”Glen Wilson | Warner Bros. Pictures
SOURCE: Cleveland.com | Joey Morona
October 25, 2021
CLEVELAND, Ohio — In late 2019, the filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning film “Judas and the Black Messiah” turned Cleveland’s Slavic Village into 1960′s Chicago.
The transformation was so believable, the film’s location managers Bill Garvey and Tim Kanieski took home the award for Outstanding Locations in a Period Feature Film at the recent Location Manager Guild International 2021 Awards.
The film beat out four other films — “Dreamland,” “Enola Holmes,” “Mank” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7″ — for the honor.
Daniel Kaluuya (second from right) has won awards for his performance as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, SAG Awards and BAFTA Awards. COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter | Abbey White
October 23, 2021
Judas and the Black Messiah, Tenet, The Queen’s Gambit, Lupin and the fourth season of The Crownwere among the winners at this year’s Location Managers Guild International Awards held on Saturday.
Actor and director Isaiah Mustafa returned to host the annual ceremony, which went virtual for the second year in a row and was made free to stream on YouTube and Vimeo. Netflix productions ultimately dominated both the nominations, announced back in August, and this year’s winners list alongside Warner Bros.