‘Maestro’ Among Surge of Productions Using Incentives, New Facilities in Massachusetts
variety.comTodd Longwell When people discuss busy U.S. production hubs outside of Los Angeles and New York, they tend to namecheck Georgia and New Mexico.
But since Massachusetts enacted a 25% film and TV credit in 2007, the commonwealth has quietly established itself as another top destination for Hollywood, attracting a large volume of high-profile projects, including the franchise-spawninghit “Knives Out” and best picture Oscar-winners “CODA” and “Spotlight,” as well as current awards contenders such as Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro” and Alexander Payne’s comedy-drama “The Holdovers,” starring Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa.
The most significant impact on the local production community has been from the influx of streaming projects, including the series “The Perfect Couple,” starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber, for Netflix, the second season of Julia Child bio-series “Julia” and the comedy feature “The Parenting,” starring Brian Cox, for Max. “The streaming phenomenon happened in such a big way.
We’re so much stronger now,” says veteran location manager Charles Harrington. “We’re six to eight crews deep, where we were three or four deep before, and the gaffer that was a best boy has now done three big movies.” The state’s production infrastructure has also grown to meet the demand with a pair of new production complexes launched under the Marina Studios banner.
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