• Iron Man 3 to Shoot in NC
• In State Spend By Productions to Top $200 Million
• The Hunger Games Wraps Filming in NC
• Showtime Orders Second Season of Homeland
• Piedmont Triad, Western NC and Triangle Regions Upgrade Online Services
• Strong Start to Final Quarter of 2011
• Former State Commissioner Bill Arnold Passes Away
• Fall Film Festivals Underway
• Quick Cuts & Did You Know

It’s Official! Iron Man 3 to Shoot in NC

Governor Bev Perdue officially announced that the major motion picture Iron Man 3 will be filming in North Carolina. Marvel Studios chose to film the third installment of their hit franchise in NC as a result of the state’s film tax incentive, strong crew base and infrastructure, and the amazing facilities at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington. The motion picture will be made over a 10-month period and is expected to have an estimated economic impact of more than $80 million and create 550 crew jobs and more than 1,000 talent opportunities—making the feature the largest to date to shoot in North Carolina. Read the Governor’s official announcement by clicking here.

In-State Spend By Productions to Top $200M

2011 will go down as the most successful year in North Carolina film history. As of September 1, estimates from the 20+ productions that have shot or were still in production within North Carolina indicate that in-state spending will exceed $200 million while creating over 25,000 job opportunities for both crew and talent. Highlights to date for the year include the shooting of three television series, two major motion pictures, five mid-range features, five made-for-TV movies, and several smaller independent features and major commercials.  Click here for more about the record year.

The Hunger Games Wraps Filming in NC

The first installment of the much anticipated Suzanne Collins’ book trilogy The Hunger Games has wrapped its filming in North Carolina. Studio officials from Lionsgate had asked state and local officials not to talk about the feature during production. The first movie, titled The Hunger Games, stars Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone, X-Men: First Class) and Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are Alright, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) alongside the likes of Liam Hemsworth (The Last Song), Stanley Toochie (The Terminal, The Devil Wears Prada), Elizabeth Banks (Our Idiot Brother, W., The 40 Year Old Virgin), Woody Harrelson (No Country for Old Men, White Men Can’t Jump, Cheers), Donald Sutherland (MASH, Ordinary People), and Grammy award winner Lenny Kravitz. Filming took place in the Charlotte and Western NC Regions and the production has had an estimated in-state spend of over $60M while creating almost 600 jobs for crew and over 4,000 talent opportunities. The Hunger Games will be released in March 2012 and Lionsgate has said that the three books will be made into four movies. Read more about the wrapping of filming by clicking here.

Showtime Orders Second Season of Homeland

Following solid ratings for the first four episodes of the new series Homeland, which is being filmed in the Charlotte area, Showtime has ordered a complete second season of the series. Showtime’s president David Nevins said he believes that the characters “have long lives – where they’re going and where it can go” and has suggested that the show has a number of potential avenues that it could explore in the future. Filming for the first season of the show is set to wrap and early estimates show the series has produced 150 crew positions and well over 1,000 talent opportunities while have a direct in-state spend in excess of $26 million. Read more about the 2nd season order by clicking here.

Piedmont Triad, WNC, Triangle Regions Upgrade Online Services

With recent upgrades by the Triangle and Western NC Regions and the addition of the Piedmont Triad Region, four of the state’s regional film commissions are now part of the state’s custom-built locations, crew and support services database, and project management system. Created by ReelScout, based out of Charlotte, the program (called ReelScout and ReelCrew) allow easy display and collaboration for the regional film commissions and the state film office. Wilmington was the first region to use the system. Since its inception, ReelScout has become the industry standard for housing film commission location databases and presenting location packages to productions. Click here to find out more about the system and the upgrades.

Strong Start to Final Quarter of 2011

In addition to the Iron Man 3 announcement, the final quarter of this year is off to a strong start as three productions are shooting or have just wrapped up filming in North Carolina. Combined, these productions will create over 200 crew and in excess of 600 talent opportunities while have a direct in-state spend of over $10 million.

The Healer is an independent thriller that filmed in the Western NC Region. It is the story of two teenage siblings and their father who are swept into a supernatural adventure in a haunted forest for which there seems to be no escape except death. Its cast includes Isabelle Fuhrman (The Orphan, The Hunger Games), Joel Courtney (Super 8), Peter Bogdanovich (The Sopranos) and country recording artist Trace Adkins.

The Hallmark Hall of Fame feature A Smile As Big As the Moon also recently completed filming in the state, shooting in the Wilmington Region. Based on the popular book by Mike Kersjes with Joe Layden that tells the story of a high school football coach and special-education teacher who work to get a group of special-ed students into space camp. The feature is scheduled to air on ABC in 2012. The production is filming some scenes out of state before returning for wrap.

Finally, the independent feature Arthur Newman, Golf Pro is currently shooting. While the feature is based out of Wilmington, filming will take place at Carolina Beach, Wallace, Currie, Fairmont, Lumberton, Raleigh, Durham and Graham in addition to the Port City. An all-star cast has been assembled for the film and includes Academy-award winner Colin Firth and Emily Blunt and it is the directorial debut of Donte Ariola.

For a list of current productions in the state, as well as to browse the state’s archives of previous productions, click here.

Former State Film Commissioner, Bill Arnold, Passes Away

In August, the NC Film Office was saddened by the news of the passing of the state’s first film commissioner, Bill Arnold. Arnold was appointed to the state film commissioner office in 1980 and served for 26 years. Prior to his time as film commissioner, Arnold was the director of the state’s Department of Travel and Tourism. Arnold is survived by his wife Dorothy, son Stephen, brother John, and several nieces and nephews. Memorials are still be accepted on his behalf at the SPCA of Wake County. For more on Arnold’s service to North Carolina, click here.

Fall Film Festivals Underway

The Fall has proven to be a prime time for film festivals in North Carolina. Recent festivals have included the Modern Film Festival in Kannapolis, the Ava Gardner Festival in Smithfield, Durham’s Escapism Film Festival and the inaugural Corpsedance International Horror Film Festival in Chapel Hill. Up next is the Asheville International Children’s Film Festival (Nov 4-14), followed by one of the state’s largest film festivals, the ever popular Cucalorus Independent Film Festival in Wilmington (Nov 10-13), and the Carrboro Film Festival (Nov 20). For a listing of film festivals held throughout the state, with links to the festivals’ home pages, click here.

Quick cuts….

The hit HBO series Eastbound and Down recently wrapped its third season in Wilmington… Two Piedmont-filmed features are now available on DVD and BluRay-The 5th Quarter and the Hallmark Channel movie Beverly Lewis’ The Shunning…also available on DVD/BluRay is the Wilmington filmed made-for-TV movie A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song as well as the independent feature Bloodworth (which filmed as Provinces of Night)…UNCW alum Shaofu Zhang (2006) recently won a gold medal at the 2011 Student Academy Awards for the animated short Dragonboy, which he co-directed as part of the MFA program at the Academy of Art University...the School of Filmmaking at the UNC School of the Arts will host its final Senior Spotlight Night, an event that showcases the best films made by this year’s senior class while attending UCNSA with proceeds to benefit the school’s Los Angeles Immersion Program, on Saturday, November 12th

Did You Know….

Over 100,000 attendees have been in attendance at the Cucalorus Film Festival since its inception.  The 17th edition of the festival takes place November 10-13 in Wilmington.