180° Latest Issue

• NC Filmed Movie Premieres at Venice Film Festival
• Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Returns to Duke
• Triangle Regional Film Commission to Launch This Month
• Film Industry Reps Lash Out at Political Ads
• Andie MacDowell Goes Behind Camera To Help Produce Short
• "The Andy Griffith Show" is Big Business for Mt. Airy
• Michigan Incentive, Though Generous, Not Automatic
• Quick Cuts & Did You Know

NC Filmed Movie Premieres at Venice Film Festival

The romance-thriller “Road to Nowhere”, which was shot throughout Western North Carolina, is one of 22 films competing for the prestigious “Golden Lion” award at this year’s Venice Film Festival.  Filmmakers spend two months last year shooting in Jackson, Graham, Buncombe, Haywood and Swain counties as well as in Waynesville, Asheville, Bryson City and at Fontana Lake.  Producers were taken aback by the friendliness and helpfulness of local officials and crew and one stated that he “looked forward to working in NC again when I shoot my next feature in 2011.”  Read more about the Venice premiere here.

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Returns to Duke

Durham’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, which will be celebrating its 14th anniversary this upcoming April, is returning to its starting place as Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies once again providing an institutional home for the festival.  The average movie/festival-goer won’t notice the change, but having CDS more formally into the organization made sense in order to take advantage of shared goals and long-term missions.  Duke University has been associated with the festival since its inception in 1998 as the Double Take Documentary Film Festival.  The festival changed its name in 2002 and began operating as an independent nonprofit.  Submissions for the 2011 festival are currently being accepted.  Read more about the renewed formal partnership here. 

Triangle Regional Film Commission to Launch This Month

The Durham Film Commission, producer Thom Mount (“Bull Durham”), and media producers Sandy Freeman and Rob Shoaf are teaming up to launch the Triangle Regional Film Commission.  The new film commission will represent the greater Raleigh-Durham area, encompassing 13 counties and will operate as a 501 (c)(3) organization governed by a board of directors.  The commission will be housed in Durham and more information about the commission and its efforts will be available through the NC Film Office later this month.  Read more about the new commission here.

Film Industry Reps Lash Out at Political Ads

Wilmington’s Star News recently contacted local representatives of the film industry to get their comments on a series of ads, partially being funded by PPD founder Fred Eshelman, that are critical of Democratic state lawmakers who recently voted in favor of changes to the state’s film incentive that would help attract more productions to NC.  The ads are both mass mailing and television commercial and claim “welfare for Hollywood has got to stop” and that lawmakers are “giving fatcats our tax dollars.”  The ads also appear to just be targeting Democrats, though members of both parties voted in favor of the recent changes.  Industry reps point out that the ads fail to mention a production must spend their money in NC before they get any incentive and are a smear campaign against the industry.  Read the entire Star News' article here.

Andie MacDowell Goes Behind Camera To Help Produce Short

Andie MacDowell, the actress best known for her roles in “Groundhog Day” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, made her directorial debut in late August with the showing of a seven minute short about all the behind-the-scenes happenings prior to the start of an Asheville Tourists baseball game.  MacDowell teamed up with 614 Films and filmmaker Rod Murphy on the project.  The two have several other projects they are working on, including a documentary about an Asheville beauty pageant.  Read more about the baseball short and see it in its entirety here.

“The Andy Griffith Show” is Big Business for Mt. Airy

On the tail of news that George Lindsey, better known as Goober from “The Andy Griffith Show”, was donating his famed coat to the Andy Griffith Museum, the Kansas City Star ran a story on how tourism as a result of “The Andy Griffith Show” has helped Mt. Airy stay alive following the closing of several textile and furniture factories in the area.  It is estimated that 200 people visit the Andy Griffith Museum daily and the town’s annual Mayberry Days festival pumps in about $5 million each September, with 50,000 expected this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the show’s first episode.  Read more about the economic impact of this show, even today, by clicking here.

Michigan Incentive, Though Generous, Not Automatic

Michigan may offer the nation’s most generous incentive but it is not guaranteed for filmmakers.  Since its inception, about half of the projects who have applied have not received funds.  Production’s lack of funding and lack of economic benefit for the state are some of the reasons movies failed to get the coveted tax breaks.  So far this year about 25% of the 88 projects that have applied for the incentive been rejected.  The strict, and sometimes lengthy, review process can put production companies and their tight timelines in a bit of a quandary.  In comparison, North Carolina does not have an application process and funds are available to ALL productions that meet the state’s minimum spend of $250K.  Read the Detriot Free Press' entire article by clicking here.

Quick cuts...

Woody Allen was recently stated that it is cheaper for him to make his movies overseas than in New York, the city where he got his start…over 100 locations have been uploaded to the state’s location database since June when the state office announced the launch of their new public location upload engine…The US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte will host the Banff Mountain Film Festival’s Radical Reels Tour on September 11…The Queen City will also host the East Coast premier of Concord resident and Carolina Film Works’ Leon Dunn’s “Sinners & Saints” on September 14 at uptown’s Epicentre…Fayetteville’s Carmike 15 will host a screening of NC native Paul Papadeus’ feature “Yearling” on September 18 to help garner financial support for the film.

Did You Know….

There are over 75 individuals registered with the NC Film Office who work in Makeup.

Don’t forget to make sure and update your crew and support services information OR register online as the NC Film Office is constantly sending out our state resource directory and updates to productions that are looking to film in NC.

Click here to sign in or create your account.