Friday, September 25, 2009

The Hollywood Heist of Massachusetts

In a most offensive way, as this photograph led the Globe home page earlier this morning:

There are few details about the movie, known as the “Untitled Wichita Project,’’ with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz and some fake plane wreckage.
There are few details about the movie, known as the “Untitled Wichita Project,’’ with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz and some fake plane wreckage. (Wbz-Tv )

That's odd; the "crash" in Pennsylvania didn't look anything like that.

Here is what YOU GET, citizen, for the PRIVILEGE of HOLLYWOOD taking HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of DOLLARS of TAX LOOT (as services are slashed).

"Enthusiasm for the movie shoot was muted by the cinch-tight security around the set and surrounding neighborhood. Streets in the area were closed to all but resident traffic, and police stood sentry, quizzing drivers.... In recent weeks, the movie’s crew has taken over Gaslight brasserie in the South End and the Worcester Regional Airport.... film industry is already getting “big tax credits’’ for film work done in the state"

And to inconvenience and loot you, citizen?

Those are YOUR TAX DOLLARS ALSO FUNDING POLICE DETAILS for a MOVIE!

Cops have NOTHING BETTER TO DO, huh? NO MURDERS, RAPES, ROBBERIES, or DRUG DEALERS to nab or solve, huh?

Related:
Hollywood Helps Mass. Workers

Yup, getting 16 cents back for every buck you give 'em, Masser!

Also see
: What Is Wrong With Hollywood

Slow Saturday Special: Day at the Movies

I don't want to go to the movies anymore, and I sure don't like them coming here.

ONCE AGAIN OTHER INTERESTS are MORE IMPORTANT than the citizens the politicians allegedly "serve."

"Hollywood action to roll in Bridgewater cornfield" by Jenna Russell, Globe Staff | September 25, 2009

BRIDGEWATER - It might be the sleepiest street in the quietest corner of this low-key town 30 miles south of Boston. But Hollywood came to Curve Street yesterday, setting up camp in a cornfield at the end of a dusty dirt road.

It was high-octane Hollywood, too: Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, fake plane wreckage from a fictional jetliner crash, and a staged explosion, set to detonate tonight after midnight, expected to shoot flames and a mushroom cloud of smoke 200 feet into the air....

Sort of IN YOUR FACE about 9/11, isn't it? Just wait, it gets worse.

Officials with 20th Century Fox have released few details about the movie, an “action comedy’’ scheduled for release next summer and known, mysteriously, as the “Untitled Wichita Project.’’ According to the Hollywood Reporter, its plot follows “a lonely woman whose seemingly harmless blind date turns her life upside down when a superspy takes her on a violent worldwide journey.’’

I find NOTHING FUNNY about BLOWN-UP AIRPLANES!

NOTHING AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

In recent weeks, the movie’s crew has taken over Gaslight brasserie in the South End and the Worcester Regional Airport, which was reportedly used as a stand-in for the Wichita, Kan., airport, with props including imported copies of that city’s newspaper....

A source close to the film production said the reasons for choosing the cornfield in Bridgewater included its size and the maturity of its crop.....

So now we are also out some food?

Given the fat Massachusetts tax incentives that have recently lured a steady stream of Hollywood talent, celebrity sightings in the suburbs have become almost everyday fare....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Add the plans to build a Hollywood East megacomplex in Plymouth, and the day may come when movie crews and starlets don’t warrant a second glance....

Nope.

Elsewhere in the town of 25,000, enthusiasm for the movie shoot was muted by the cinch-tight security around the set and surrounding neighborhood. Streets in the area were closed to all but resident traffic, and police stood sentry, quizzing drivers....

Cranberry farmer Stan Kravitz, chairman of the Bridgewater Board of Selectmen, said he expects the town to take in as much as $150,000 in exchange for its participation, including $40,000 to compensate the Fire Department, additional payments for police details, and a donation to the town’s senior center, which was used as a base camp away from the set....

There was no place to gather and gawk, and for almost everyone except the Bridgewater firefighters who will help extinguish the staged blaze tonight, no chance of seeing the stars.

Still, some dared to dream....

Oh, I believe it, what with all the s***heads we have here in Mass.

*****************

Wichita’s mayor, Carl Brewer, said yesterday that he was doubtful the essence of his city could be captured in Massachusetts. He urged filmmakers to reconsider, and said he would be glad to show them around the real Wichita - the largest city in Kansas with 361,000 people, and the self-styled “aviation capital of the world,’’ where the largest employers are Boeing, Cessna, and Raytheon Aircraft. “It’s not too late,’’ he said.

Hey, we got a
Raytheon!

The mayor’s administrative assistant, Becky Fields, was looking on the bright side:

“At least it’s Boston. It could be a whole lot worse. It could be Des Moines, Iowa....’’

Uh-oh!!! LOOKS like an APOLOGY to DES MOINES, IOWA is in ORDER from the WICHITA MAYOR'S OFFICE!!!!

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There is more than the latest Tom Cruise movie, folks.

"Studio project secures big loan; $550m deal will aid construction on Plymouth site" by Christine Legere, Globe Correspondent | September 25, 2009

Well, if THEY CAN GET LOANS why do they need ANY TAX LOOT at all?

PLYMOUTH - A team of California film executives who came to Plymouth two years ago with a plan to build the first full-fledged production studio on the East Coast announced yesterday that they have secured a $550 million loan to begin construction on Plymouth Rock Studios later this year.

Plymouth Rock Studios said Prosperity International LLC, an Orlando-based firm, has agreed to be the direct lender for the project.

“This is a huge private sector vote of confidence for the industry here in Massachusetts,’’ said Nicholas Paleologos, executive director of the Massachusetts Film Office. “This project is going to have a dramatic impact in the long run. It turns Massachusetts from a seasonal production state to a full-blown year-round production state. That’s a quantum leap forward.’’

They even have on office IN GOVERNMENT looking out for their tax loot subsidies!

According to a statement from Plymouth Rock, the studio “must provide the lender with acceptable security in the form of a bank instrument issued from a major bank’’ as a condition of the loan. Prosperity International principal Michael Burgess said yesterday that representatives from his firm and the studio would probably make a joint announcement detailing the financial arrangements in the next week or so. “This is an extremely large project as far as Prosperity is concerned, but the funding will be provided over a period of time,’’ Burgess said.

After they get the money, Plymouth Rock Studios executives say their next step will be to purchase Waverly Oaks Golf Club, the 240-acre target site that carries a price tag of $16.5 million. The deal is set to close in November, about the same time construction on a $50 million access road to the facility will get underway. Studio construction is scheduled to begin in earnest in the spring and the studio’s executives say they are hoping to open for business in spring 2012.

Plymouth Rock has estimated the venture will create more than 2,000 high-income jobs. Plans call for the studio complex to include 14 soundstages, a 10-acre back lot, production and post-production facilities, a theater, and an “amenity village’ that could include a grocery store, pharmacies, and hair salons. Planners will provide space for a major hotel. The facility will allow producers to make movies and television shows, from start to finish, on the site, studio developers say.

Promises, promises.

“This is a seriously large deal in a terrible economy,’’ said Plymouth Rock’s real estate partner, Bill Wynne , who praised the company officials who came up with the studio plan. Plymouth Rock has spent about $11 million on engineering studies and plans that were needed to secure local permits, as well as on material required for its 1,000-page environmental impact study.

Before construction on the studio can begin, the state must sign off on the environmental impact report, which was submitted Sept. 15. Wynne said he hopes state environmental officials will agree the company’s proposed measures for protecting the environment are sufficient and approve the report before the end of this year. That might be optimistic because the Eel River Association, a local group, has expressed concern over the proposed wastewater treatment plan. The organization says the discharge of water into the Eel River Watershed could degrade water quality.

Related: Hollywood S***s on Massachusetts

If the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs agrees with Eel River Watershed advocates, studio officials could be asked to provide more information or to adjust their treatment plan. While the local Planning Board has already signed off on a so-called master site plan for the project, more specific information on each of its components will be required as building moves forward.

“This whole project is going to come to life in the next month,’’ Wynne said. “We obviously had to focus on the capital. Now that we have access to the money, we can start to implement the visions, goals, and dreams we’ve talked about.’’

Plymouth Rock Studios has had its share of obstacles during the last two years, starting with problems over murky titles on the 1,000 acre Plymouth property it originally targeted. The site was abandoned in summer 2008 in favor of Waverly Oaks.

Plymouth Town Meeting representatives gave the project a crucial endorsement in October 2008, approving property tax breaks as well as a zoning change necessary for studio construction. In June, the state denied $50 million in infrastructure funding, causing a delay.

See: Lights, Camera, CUT!

Robert Bliss, spokesman for the state Department of Administration and Finance, noted yesterday that the film industry is already getting “big tax credits’’ for film work done in the state.

Yeah, notice how the Globe a) leaves that for the end, and b) OMITS the TAX REVENUE that is GOING INTO PROFITABLE HOLLYWOOD'S POCKETS!!!!

I call it AGENDA-PUSHING in the interest of SPECIAL INTERESTS.

That's what I call it.

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