2011 was a big year for both The Location Reservoir and Western Mass film production in general. The film industry in Massachusetts made a rapid recovery from a trying 2010. That year saw a threatened cap to the film tax credit scare away potential productions that could have shot in Massachusetts. The cap was eventually voted down by the state House of Representatives thanks to the efforts of The Massachusetts Production Coalition and countless other advocates of the film industry, but the damage had already been done.
In February of 2011, representatives of the state and industry went on a trade mission to LA to make sure that the studios knew that Mass was open for business and that they could rely on the tax credits for their productions. You can read more about that here. It was a definite success and productions began looking all over the state as possible destinations for their productions.
In order to capitalize on this increase in production I approached Diane Pearlman, the executive director of The Berkshire Film & Media Commission (BFMC) about expanding the BFMC to include Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties. Diane had been doing a great job of marketing the Berkshires to the film industry, especially in the face of all the unease surrounding the tax credit but Western Mass is much more appealing to productions and stronger as one region than if we limit ourselves by archaic county lines. Since that time we have been working to raise money in Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties to provide the necessary resources to adequately represent the region as a whole.
I officially launched the first version of The Location Reservoir in January of 2011 after about 3 months of trying to design and build as professional a site as my limited funds and training would allow. I had already been shooting various public lands around the Amherst/Northampton area for awhile including a few friends who let me scout their properties as a test run. I launched with only a handful of properties including:
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- Cushman Village Center
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- Downtown Amherst
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- Fitzgerald Lake
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- This Lake House
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- North Amherst Cemetery
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- The Rendezvous in Turners Falls
By February I had outgrown my very limited web host so after some research I chose Gaia Host and started started adding locations at a faster rate. At this time I was contacted by Open Square in Holyoke and they became my first paying client. I was treated to an in-depth tour of the building including:
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- Creepy Basement
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- Creepy Basement
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- Raw Industrial Space
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- Event Space
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- Office Space
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- Future Loft Space
At the same time Diane Pearlman, the executive director of The Berkshire Film & Media Commission began getting more and more inquiries about locations in Western Mass. The two that stuck the longest were for a lake house and open fields and forests that could be dressed as a 1600’s style farm. I spent the next several months scouting all over Western mass for options for both films. Using this blog and the kind assistance of several other community organizations I found many options. Here are a few with the town where they are located:
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- Buckland
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- New Marlborough
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- Hancock
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- Cheshire
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- Sandisfield
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- Cummington
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- Petersham
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- Petersham
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- Ashfield
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- Warwick
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- Bernardston
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- Plainfield
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- Leyden
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- Granville
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- Granville
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- Becket
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- Tyringham
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- Becket
While scouting for those two films I juggled several other location requests through the Mass Film Office and the Berkshire Film & Media Commission. Most of these projects were in the very early stages and some are still considering the area as an option.
In May I started the Codependent Film Club, an informal group of folks in Western Mass who work in film or are interested in film. The main focus is an open screen where anyone in the area can show their work and enjoy a few adult beverages. It’s been a few months since I’ve had time to organize another but I hope to have another soon, so stay tuned.
Big changes came to the film industry in Massachusetts in June when it was announced that Lisa Strout was going to take over the Mass Film Office. This was encouraging news, as the Film Office had been without a leader since the departure of the previous film commissioner. This article has more information about Lisa Strout and the future of the film office. Lisa has already proven herself an advocate of the entire state of Massachusetts and has visited Western Mass twice with plans to return.
As the industry waited for Lisa to take over her post officially I continued to handle multiple location requests for productions of all sizes.
In July I also took part in the first of a series of seminars put together by the BFMC and IS183 Art School in Stockbridge about the different stages of production. I spoke about my experiences working as a location scout and manager and we had an enthusiastic crowd of folks from all over the Berkshires interested in various aspects of film production.
In August we finally had a production commit to filming in Western Mass. It was a commercial that you may have seen on local tv or even Facebook for Cooley Dickinson Hospital. I was hired as a production manager to help with hiring crew, as well as the location manager to scout the locations and facilitate the filming. While it wasn’t a feature film or anything glamorous they did spend several days here and contributed to the local economy by staying in a hotel, eating out, purchasing supplies, hiring local crew, paying location fees etc. You can see the videos and other components of the campaign here.
This ended up being only the first of two hospital shoots this year. In October I was contacted about a shoot for Baystate Hospital in Springfield. After a few delays (including the October snow storm), they came for a scout and then in December we shot for 3 days. Keep your eyes out for the finished project and I’ll be sure to post a link when I have one.
So, that pretty much covers 2011. Clearly it was a busy year with many encouraging developments in the film industry state wide and in Western Massachusetts specifically. I myself scouted and/or shot in just about every corner of the region and I haven’t even mentioned all the work by local filmmakers that has either been completed or is in progress.
So what’s on tap for 2012? Well for starters since September I have been scouting locations around Berkshire County for the BFMC in order to expand on and refine the library of location photos they maintain on their website. I am also working for the Berkshire Visitor’s Bureau to assemble 500 photos to be used as their contribution to the Mass Film Office’s new location library. Standby for more information on that, or you can email me at locations@berkshirefilm.com.
My main goal for the year is to finalize the expansion of the Berkshire Film & Media Commission into Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties. In order to successfully advocate for the region the BFMC needs funds for marketing, office space, and to expand the staff of the organization. If you are interested or can think of anyone who might be interested in making 2012 even better than 2011 by investing in the region through the BFMC please visit the BFMC’s website and mention that I sent you.
Thanks for reading and supporting film production in Western Mass and have a Happy New Year!
The Location Reservoir News and Updates 