WELCOME to THE OFFICIAL TAKE -- who's knocking at the door of The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission. We're only going to talk about the projects and people we work with -.s-o-o-o-o-o you won't see anything here unless we're connected to it. But that's plenty...!
A big advance thanks to Memphis writers like The Commercial Appeal's John Beifuss -- and in future issues, we'll also be quoting Cool.Movies.Com's Jon Sparks and just everybody at The Memphis Flyer. You save us a lot of writing. ..but, of course, we're also adding our own little twists. Happy Reading.
Join us next week -- and remember to be nice to our "angels" who make this newsletter possible: The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission, Memphis ED, and Molly Willmott.
Best,
Linn Sitler & Sharon Fox O'Guin
The Commission's Movie Ladies
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Watch Out For Killer Hillbillies!
The folks at MTV New Media who filmed Craig Brewer's "$5 Cover" in Memphis last year are back again with a new web-based horror series "Savage County."
Memphis and the surrounding areas will be filling in for a small Texas town overrun by murder and mayhem. Using a mostly local crew, Director David Harris, one of the producers of "$5 Cover," was eager to return to Memphis for this project. The Commission has been assisting the project for months, finding and coordinating locations, housing, etc., as well as orchestrating the production's use of the State and local filming incentives.
Read more in The Commercial Appeal's John Beifuss article.
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Auf Wiedersehen, Memphis... Hello, Berlin!
After months of learning first-hand about Memphis as a top movie town and teaching us about Berlin's mammoth movie industry, Julia Donner, The Commission's first exchange film worker through the newly formed Memphis-Shelby County/Berlin-Brandenburg Alliance, has completed her assignment and returned home.
Julia spent three months at The Commission learning about local production, incentives, film festivals, and more. On July 7th, the City Council passed a resolution recognizing and encouraging the Alliance with Berlin-Brandenburg as a way to build our film industry and share with them our uniqueness.
Her visit was made possible through the efforts of Alliance founders FedEx executive Tom Schmitt and Film Commissioner Linn Sitler; Memphis "host parents" Gail and Karl Schledwitz, and Memphis ED.
Learn more about Julia's time here and the Alliance by reading The Commercial Appeal's John Beifuss article.
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Tennessee Brewery Is Backdrop For Young New Artists
Nashville photographer/music video director Kristin Barlow was lured to Memphis once again -- this time by the mystique of downtown's old Tennessee Brewery as a filming site!
Owned by film-friendly Monica Aur, the brewery's gritty, urban feel was just what the director had envisioned for the music video of newly -signed artist "Love and Theft."
While in Memphis, Kristin also focused on musician James Otto as the subject of a Beale Street still photo shoot.
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Memphis: One Degree Closer To Kevin Bacon!
Earlier this month Shelby County Corrections Facility Director Andrew Tabor and his film-production savvy staff once again opened the cell doors(!) to film commission clients.
This time the facility was the site of a day-long (and a long day!) country music video shoot entitled "Guilty." The video starred The Bellamy Brothers and The Bacon Brothers (yes - that Bacon!). The video also featured former home-town girl Shannen Doherty.
The prison shoot was led by Nashvillian-turned- Memphian director Laura Lyness, long-time Memphis producer Geo Holmes (Beale Street Studio), D.P. Sean Bloemer (Beale Street Studio) -- all wonderfully supported by a majority Memphis crew.
The video is now airing on CMT, check it out here!
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Briarcrest Christian Academy Becomes Temporary "Training Camp" For New York Giant Eli Manning
Memphis location manager Martin Lane-- with the help of the film commission's Sharon Fox O'Guin-- found just the right filming location for Eli Manning's commercials for Reebok's Speedwick athletic sportswear: Briarcrest Christian Academy's football field.
Manning -- joined by the Giant's wide receiver Domenik Hixon --spent a day filming three tv commercials at the school's east Memphis location.
Read more in Matt Woo's Commercial Appeal article.
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Memphis' Godfather Of Indie Filmmaking Brings His Latest Film To Perth!
Director Mike McCarthy is in Australia right now premiering his most recent film (and Commission assisted project) "Cigarette Girl" at the Revelation Film Festival.
Mike recently had a screening of the film for crew and friends at Malco's Studio on the Square. Among those at the screening were (L to R) actor J. Lazarus Hawk; actress Helen Bowman; actor Don Meyers; actress (and McCarthy spawn) Hannah McCarthy; actress Ivy McLemore and actor James Buchanan.
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Memphis' Own Morgan Jon Fox Joins Fellow Local Filmmakers With Top 25 Honor
Digi-Coop co-founder/award-winning filmmaker Morgan Fox is recognized as one of "25 Indie Filmmakers to Watch" in this month's Filmmaker magazine. Long a generous mentor to other filmmakers, Morgan himself was selected to be part of The Memphis & Shelby County Film Commission's Production Training Program --learning on-the-job to be an assistant director on this past year's "$5 Cover."
Read more in John Beifuss' CA article.
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Local Producers Band Together To Form New Indie Film Company
Producers Nick Case and Ryan Watt have banded together to fill a niche in Memphis' Indie film world. They have opened a company to try and help local Indie Filmmakers who normally Produce, Direct, and write their own films.
They are hoping that by filling this gap, it will free up these local filmmakers to not only concentrate more on the creative, but to raise their projects to the next level.
Read more in John Beifuss' CA article.
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Film Commission Brought An "Indie Heaven" To Local Screenwriters
This past weekend local screenwriters and aspiring screenwriters alike had a chance to have their treatments reviewed by visiting director Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy") and producer Mike Ryan ("Forty Shades of Blue," "Choke," "Junebug") at an all day FREE workshop at Malco's Paradiso Theatre!
This two-day workshop was funded through the following public-private partnership: The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission; Memphis ED; Malco Theatres Inc., Fed Ex, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
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All Aboard!
Join Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton...Film Commissioner Linn Sitler...Music Commissioner Johnnie Walker...Music Foundation President Dean Deyo...and a host of V.I.P.s to welcome The Disney Train to Memphis! It's at the station (Central Station, that is) August 4th and open for boarding from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. And it's all a promotion for past film commission client Robert Zemeckis' ("Castaway") upcoming film, "A Christmas Carol," starring Jim Carrey.
There will be live events, a 3-D theater, carolers, and SNOW! Fun for all ages and a chance to have a real Disney experience in Memphis! FREE! And a BIG thanks to MATA's Allison Burton and her staff for helping to make all the fun possible!
www.christmascaroltraintour.com
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