Ideal Locations Drawing Hollywood to Tennessee
Published Apr 07, 2005
Man filming
Independent film projects are percolating all across Tennessee. Whether the script calls for a rural setting, mountains or metropolitan areas – Tennessee has locations to accommodate any scene.
David J. Bennett, executive director of the Tennessee Film, Music and Entertainment Commission, says there’s a creative vibe that’s appealing in Tennessee. Recent interest, he says, is “a shining example of great film talent with a host of independent activity happening across the state.”
The old Tennessee State Prison continues to be an ideal location for filmmakers in need of a prison setting to suit their scripts. Two Tennesseans were just such a pair; the independent film Prisoner, by Robert Lynn and David Alford, was in production at the prison during the spring and summer of 2005.
The state of Tennessee assisted the local director by working to provide a free location, production housing and transportation.
“The Department of Correction has been very helpful and cooperative in allowing us to utilize the space and providing a production house, which is very costly for filming,” says Bob Raines, project manager for the Tennessee Film, Music and Entertainment Commission.
In East Tennessee, Utah-based Vineyard Productions built an old-time town setting in Venore for their first film in a series – The Work and the Glory. The film was released in March to a few theaters in the Nashville and Knoxville markets, and the company is now working on its sequel, which is yet to be titled.
Film House in Nashville oversaw the production of Two Weeks, an independent project starring Sally Field, in the spring of 2005. Additionally, The Secret Life of Daltry Calhoun was shot in Columbia, directed by Katrina Bronson, daughter of the late actor Charles Bronson.
“We try to give folks the best opportunity to see what our state has to offer. If the script calls for the blues, there’s Memphis; if it calls for country music, then there’s Nashville and so on,” Raines says. “We take them [film crews] around and show them the different places we have to offer, and even help with booking hotels and providing other services.”
Story by K. Dawn Rutledge Jones
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