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Barbara D'alessandro is a production manager and assistant director who's lived in Wilmington for 20 years with her husband, Joe, a camera operator. She's currently working in Charleston as the production manager of Army Wives, a series for the Lifetime television channel that hasn't aired yet. The show is filming there partly because of specific locations being used (an old naval base, for instance) and "because of the amazing incentive program that they have." (South Carolina offers a 20 percent rebate.) But because Charleston has no crew base to speak of, "probably half our crew on Army Wives are from Wilmington," she says. Even the incentives of the neighboring state are good for Wilmington.
D'alessandro believes incentives are smart business. As a production manager, she's in charge of keeping track of the show's budget. "We're spending two-and-a-half-million dollars an episode here," she says, on housing, hotels, lumber, office supplies, props and set dressing. Then there's the per diem money given to cast and crew. "It just circulates through every aspect of the community."
Until now, she and her husband have had to work as much as half the year in Los Angeles and elsewhere. They often work here in Charlotte, a hub of TV commercial production, to pay the bills. But travel comes with the job, she says: "When people ask me about getting into this business, I tell them you can't be a person who needs a consistent lifestyle. We're like salesmen in a way; you never know at the beginning of the year how your year's going to end." But now, she says, Wilmington's movie professionals are gaining confidence that there will be consistent work. "It absolutely feels like a boom again," she says.
Johnny Griffin, head of the Wilmington Film Commission, estimates there are 600 film crew workers living in Wilmington now, and he says one day the previous week 450 crew were working on the Screen Gems lot.
Griffin, whose office is funded through local government and regional economic development projects, is one of four regional film commissioners in North Carolina. Their job is to recruit and assist film production in their areas. Griffin's office, which also is on the Screen Gems lot, covers 11 counties in the southeast.
Before he took this job 7 1/2 years ago, Griffin was a location manager for Hollywood films. Then as now, he scouts locations to find just the right spot for the look of a particular movie. His office maintains a database of more than 20,000 images that he can send quickly when producers call. He helps make arrangements for housing, hiring local crew and renting equipment, and helping the producers spend money locally -- doing so costs the studios less money, and it puts money directly into the local economy.
"We get a call from a production saying, 'We've got a movie, these are the locations we need, we're looking at four different states, you're one of the states we're looking at. Now, tell us why we should come to your state.'"
Griffin was part of the chorus of voices pushing for film incentives in North Carolina. Dealing directly with studios executives in Hollywood, Griffin knew what it would take.
"A lot of people felt like, since we had the studio, we had the crew, we had a history in the film industry, that was all we needed, that we could rest on our laurels and the production would come here because we have everything they need," Griffin says. "The productions, though, essentially put pen to paper and run the numbers and look at the bottom line. And it didn't matter that we had all of these things."
A trip to Los Angeles last November with Secretary of Commerce Jim Fain was typical, Griffin says. "We were there three days, and I think we had 18 meetings with 78 individuals. We went to every major studio, and each studio essentially has a film division and a television division. So we went to Disney and had a meeting with 15 film executives and then we went and had a meeting with 15 television executives." They also met with Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros. and HBO.
But it's not all martini lunches at The Polo Lounge. Griffin's job is to go to the bean counters, the vice presidents of finance and tax strategy, and convince them of the financial advantages of making a movie in North Carolina. "And the executives sit there and essentially tell you what is good about your incentive and what they don't like." So far, the feedback is good, Griffin says, but he's cautiously waiting to see how the numbers add up once the studios have filed to take advantage of the incentive. "They literally make decisions over one and two percentage points. They can tell you in every other state what the incentive nets out to. North Carolina, they've got to test drive it, if you will."
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Calendar
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Queen Charlotte Fair @ Route 29 Pavilion
- Through April 22, 4-11 p.m.
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NEW WINDOW GALLERY-Pat Rhea-ACRYLIC PAINTINGS-April 05-30 2024 VALDESE, NC 28690 @ New Window Gallery/Play It Again Records
- Through April 30, 12 p.m.
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TheDiscountCodes
- Mondays-Sundays. Continues through Dec. 31
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Wine & Paint @ Blackfinn Ameripub- Ballantyne
- Thu., April 18, 6-9 p.m.
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Face to Face Foundation Gala @ The Revelry North End
- Fri., April 19, 6-10 p.m.
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