Hollywood Invasion

10. Well, this has been fun. What’ll it take to keep the Hollywood love flowing? A cautionary tale from Tinseltown’s former favorite city.

By Michele Orecklin

Illustration by Sean McCabe

As Boston angles to lay permanent claim to the title of Hollywood North, we should hope state leaders remember this: Not so long ago, the proud citizens of Toronto justifiably believed their hometown held that distinction. In 2001 alone, U.S. studios shot a whopping 17 feature films and 33 TV movies there. But in the years since, the Toronto Film and Television Office (TFTO) estimates, major film production in the region has dropped 35 percent. In the face of that slump, the TFTO, once a hive of permit granting and celebrity wrangling, has been forced to focus its efforts on a campaign to recapture the glory days.

In some ways, Toronto was a victim of its own success. It was one of the first to pony up tax incentives for film shoots. But when state governments (including our own) saw how well that worked, they all cribbed its playbook; today, some 40 states have a film office that offers tax deals. Such tax-break brinksmanship is indeed a danger for Massachusetts—already, Connecticut boasts a bigger rebate. To build on this year’s momentum, the Bay State needs to ensure that it provides other advantages, too, and these moves could help keep the party going for years to come.

Developing a deep bench: A large pool of experienced workers gives studios confidence they won’t be understaffed in a crunch. The union of local film workers is trying to grow its ranks, and to keep budding crew hands in town, the Massachusetts Film Office wants to link aspiring gaffers, grips, and electricians in the film programs at Emerson, Tufts, BU, and other schools with the working pros.

Building a state-of-the-art soundstage: Film crews in need of cavernous, unobstructed indoor spaces are making do by renting hockey rinks and empty warehouses as temporary soundstages, but Massachusetts Film Office boss Nick Paleologos thinks that a technologically advanced, permanent soundstage would be an important advantage to luring productions. California-based Good News Holdings is moving toward filling that need—it’s planning to build the first large film studio in the Northeast, a 1,000-acre facility with soundstages and editing facilities, in Plymouth.

Being an accommodating host…: Know what makes directors happy? The ability to close off a major thoroughfare (like, say, the Mass Ave. bridge, which the producers of 21 emptied) at any moment they please. “There needs to be an overall cooperative environment that allows things to happen that might be out of the norm,” says Bill Lindstrom, head of the Association of Film Commissioners International, a group that provides pointers on facilitating location shoots.

…But without annoying the natives: For Boston residents, the thrill of spying Kate Hudson behind them in the latte line fades quickly if her presence in town is accompanied by the shutting down of their route home during rush hour for three straight days. Balancing the needs of the moviemakers and the easily riled locals is something the film office in Toronto did well. Early on, it met with residents to collaboratively craft guidelines for movie crews so they would create as little disruption to daily life as possible—a move its Bay State counterpart would be wise to emulate.

Hollywood Moment
Location scout Charlie Harrington on how Denzel Washington made him buy a nicer car.

Harrington’s scouted locations for movies like 21 and Good Will Hunting, work that put some 163,000 miles on his car. So when Washington visited in March to prepare for The Great Debaters, it was a well-worn vehicle—dented on one side—Harrington drove him around in. When Washington returned for filming, he supplied a ribbing. “He said, ‘Charlie, you haven’t fixed that dent, I can’t be seen in this thing!’” With all the work he’s getting, Harrington was able to take the chiding to heart: The next day he bought a new Range Rover.