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"Major Movie Studio" for RI


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Ian Donnis reports on his blog that a news conference is scheduled today at 2:15pm to announce a "major film production studio" coming to RI:

From the State House:

The news conference is scheduled today, Thursday, Feb. 7, at 2:15 p.m. in the House Lounge on the second floor of the State House.

Expected to participate in the news conference are Speaker Murphy (D-Dist. 26, West Warwick, Coventry and Warwick), President of the Senate Montalbano (D-Dist. 17, North Providence, Pawtucket, Lincoln), House Corporations Committee Chairman Brian Patrick Kennedy (D-Dist. 38, Hopkinton, Westerly), Senate Minority Whip Kevin A. Breene, (R-Dist. 34, West Greenwich, Charlestown, Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond), Hopkinton Town Council President Vincenzo Cordone and Hal Katersky of Pacifica Ventures, LLC.

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I'd like to see this happen (if not in Providence proper) on the East Providence waterfront, in the areas zoned for light industrial. This would count as such, right? I think it would make a nice impression to those that come into the state to work on a project, to be working across from the city skyline. It would also be a catalyst for a lot of other development on that waterfront. Hotels, condos, apts, supporting retail, etc.

I just hope it's not really in Hopkinton. Let's stop developing in the sticks, before there are none left.

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I'm all about the clusters, so I can see some sense in Hopkinton. There's a place about 20 miles from there in Watertown, CT, Sonalyst Studios. They mostly do military simulation stuff, but they have a HUGE soundstage.

Plus, that location is real close to the casinos which is probably where "the major talent" would prefer to be compared to Prov. (Harsh, I know, but it's true. Casino hotels are a familiar home away from home for some people.) Around two and a half hours to NYC.

I don't feel like this detracts from the Providence scene at all. It's a plus for the category. And as cool as the armory space is, it's not big enough for even moderately serious stuff. There's a reason the studios are all out in a backwater like Burbank. Space is what you're looking for and the ability to build clean, square open steel-frame buildings.

Another plus for RI is the diversity of locations in close proximity: up-scale and down-scale urban including historic, modern, industrial/ex-industrial/art-in-ruins, waterfront, quaint, gritty; suburban neighborhoods from wealthy to working class; rural settings from family farm to agribusiness, woods, rocky cliffs, beaches, yadda yadda yadda. The dunes at Horseneck Beach can look like the Sahara Desert. That's the magic of Hollywood. I mean Provywood. I mean Hopkywood.

The X Files was shot almost entirely in the Vancouver, BC region for this reason.

I'm not saying good or bad. Let's see what the deal is.

I'm just saying I see how the deal works.

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I imagine Hopkinton was a place where a nice chunk of land could be bought cheap, also watching Channel 6 tonight (their 4 o'clock news totally blows by-the-by) it appeared that there are some existing buildings at this site (but as I said, their 4 o'clock news blows, so I don't really know what I was looking at, there was a funny video on YouTube of a baby laughing at a Wii which they spent about 10 minutes on though :rolleyes: ).

Hopkinton gives relative proximity to Amtrak stations at Kingston and Westerly, easy access to Green (in the less traffic-y direction)... There's no reason big stars can't stay in Providence/Newport hotels and be limo'd to the studio, or limo'd to Providence when wanting to enjoy the nightlife and enjoy to boogie.

Of course this would have had some spin-off effect if located in Providence such as staff eating lunch at local eateries and such, but I don't think we would have noticed day-to-day that much, and there will probably be a largely transient workforce that moves in for months at a time to work on projects, so it's not as if we're losing an influx of residents that a similarly large project in another industry would have brought.

Seems good for the state, and having a studio here, anywhere in the state, will ensure that crews keep coming to Providence.

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Hopkinton gives relative proximity to Amtrak stations at Kingston and Westerly, easy access to Green (in the less traffic-y direction)... There's no reason big stars can't stay in Providence/Newport hotels and be limo'd to the studio, or limo'd to Providence when wanting to enjoy the nightlife and enjoy to boogie.

Of course this would have had some spin-off effect if located in Providence such as staff eating lunch at local eateries and such, but I don't think we would have noticed day-to-day that much, and there will probably be a largely transient workforce that moves in for months at a time to work on projects, so it's not as if we're losing an influx of residents that a similarly large project in another industry would have brought.

Seems good for the state, and having a studio here, anywhere in the state, will ensure that crews keep coming to Providence.

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What is the deal with CT's Utopia project? That could be a peripheral reason for this location, as it will be close to that cluster.

Still, it would be nice to get less car activity in this state, and car is the only way to get to Hopkinton.

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That's bull. 20% tax credit for expenses related to construction? When they're building in the sticks so as to probably save money on the land? Why don't we sign an agreement to pay their utilities for 20 years too? That's nonsense. I can understand that it's worth bending a little bit sometimes, for the sake of growing a new job sector in the state, but come on. There is such an ABSOLUTE lack of vision and creativity in our state leadership. Not that I'm telling anybody anything that they don't know.

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