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Pittsburgh named a top city for filmmakers to live and work (post-gazette.com)

Pittsburgh has seen a boom in movie and television production over the last decade, and now the city is getting national recognition.

MovieMaker magazine on Tuesday released its annual list of the best places to live and work for entertainment industry workers. The publication “focused on the art and craft of movies and cinematic TV” creates two lists, one for big cities like Boston and Washington, D.C., and another for small cities and towns.

The Steel City moved up this year from No. 4 to No. 3 on the second list, ahead of places like Tulsa, Okla., Savannah, Ga., and Providence, R.I. New Orleans ranked No. 1 and Santa Fe, N.M., No. 2 on the small cities list.

By: Joshua Axelrod

Continue Reading at post-gazette.com

Georgia’s film and video production bouncing back due to stronger COVID-19 protocols (wsbtv.com)

DeKalb County, Ga. — It’s been a long struggle, but those involved with Georgia’s TV and movie productions say the industry is beginning to spring back to life within the state.

Channel 2 Anchor Jovita Moore spoke with Ryan Millsap, the CEO of DeKalb County-based Blackhall Studios about the reasons why he sees the industry beginning to recover from the pandemic-induced shut down.

“You know, it’s going incredibly well. The Producers Guild who put together all of the COVID protocols has done an incredible job keeping everybody safe and healthy. The transmission rates inside the industry as a whole are under 1%, which has allowed the production crews to keep cranking,” Millsap said.

Millsap said everyone involved with productions here in Georgia has a stake in keeping things operating safely.

By: WSBTV.com News Staff

Continue Reading at wsbtv.com

Burnt out but booming: Canada’s TV and film sector plows ahead during the pandemic (cbc.ca)

For Debi Drennan, the film business is a family affair. The Toronto-based makeup artist has been working in the industry before the days of The Littlest Hobo. Her sons, Christian and Tyler, followed her into the business, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re all as busy as ever.

Christian, a key grip, just wrapped The Man from Toronto starring Kevin Hart. Key rigger Tyler recently jumped from working on Netflix’s Sex and Lies and is now on Station Eleven.

Drennan herself was one of the first to return to work after Ontario’s first coronavirus lockdown, as part of CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries.

By: Eli Glasner

Continue Reading at cbc.ca

Cincinnati has become a bona fide place to see the stars — and we don’t just mean at Mount Lookout.

Cincinnati came in at No. 13 on MovieMaker Magazine’s 2021 Best Places to Live & Work as a Filmmaker list, making it the fourth straight year the Queen City earns the honor. The city moves up one spot from its No. 14 showing in 2020.

The magazine highlights Cincinnati’s downtown skyline, low cost of living and Ohio’s 30% motion picture tax credit as chief among the reasons for the city’s emergence as a stalwart that has lured films such as 2015’s Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara; 200’s Traffic, starring Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro; and 1988’s Rain Man, starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.

And of course, Cincinnati’s would-be honorary movie mascot is actor Bruce Willis, who has filmed at least four times in the Queen City. Willis was on location for 2020’s Hard Kill (billed as Open Source during the shoot), 2019’s 10 Minutes Gone, 2018’s Reprisal and 2016’s Marauders.

By: Allison Babka

Continue Reading at citybeat.com

COVID-19 pandemic causes 25-year low in L.A. filming (latimes.com)

A boost in production in the fall was not enough to keep 2020 from being one of the worst years for filming in Los Angeles in a generation.

On-location filming in the L.A. region produced just 18,993 shoot days in 2020, down 48 % from 36,540 shoots days in 2019 — the lowest level in over 25 years, according to a new report from film-permitting group FilmLA.

During the fourth quarter, production picked up considerably, reaching 7,348 shoot days, but was still down 25% compared with the year-earlier period, the report said. A shoot day is defined as one crew’s permission to film at one or more locations during a 24-hour period.

By: Anousha Sakoui

Continue Reading at latimes.com