Winston-Salem Magazine ‘Filmmaking in North Carolina’

Feature Writing

Filmmaking in North Carolina

Autumn will bring more than falling leaves and football to the Triad this year as independent filmmaker Bill Olsen of Hickory and his entourage arrive in Winston-Salem and Kernersville for 10 days to two weeks of filming in October.

Olsen’s movie, “Summertime Blues,” is a feature-length comedy about two Boston youths who become involved in a jewel robbery and flee south with a punk rock band. Other filming will take place in Boston and Virginia.

“We chose Winston-Salem for filming ‘Summertime Blues’ because it looks like Boston,” says Olsen, who is co-writer and director of the film.

“We plan to use some of the scenes we shoot around Winston-Salem as part of the Boston segment and some for around here. We’ll be shooting downtown, in residential sections, in spots along I-40, everywhere.”

“Summertime Blues” is Olsen’s second feature-length film. The first, titled “American Voyeur,” was filmed in Hickory for less than $1 million and distributed nationally in 1982 under the somewhat more colloquial title, “Getting it On.”

Olsen’s $1.6 million budget is modest by Hollywood standards. But while movies may not yet be classified as big business around here, North Carolina Film Commission Director Bill Arnold estimates that filmmakers have brought $355,000,000 to the state since the commission opened for business as part of the Department of Commerce in January 1980. “The actual expenditures from our office have not exceeded $50,000 in any year we’ve been in operation,” he adds.

North Carolina’s film commission began with a December 1978 meeting between Thom Mount, who at that time was vice president in charge of worldwide production for Universal Studios, and Governor Jim Hunt.

Mount, a Durham native, told Hunt about the growing trend among Hollywood filmmakers to shoot on location.

After his meeting with Mount, Hunt asked Arnold—who at that time was director of travel and tourism for the state—to study the feasibility of creating a film commission for North Carolina.

“We spent quite a bit of time looking at other film commissions,” recalls Arnold. “We found everything from 100-member advisory panels to operations that were little more than a title tacked onto an existing tourism office. Our conclusion was that if we set things up right, a film office could generate substantial economic benefits in North Carolina.”

As if to illustrate the accuracy of Arnold’s study, the production company for “Being There,” a major motion picture starring Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine, arrived in Asheville at about that time to film at the Biltmore House.

“The Travel and Tourism office was marginally involved in helping with the production of `Being There,’” says Arnold. “The total budget was $8 million, with $2 million of that spent directly in the Asheville area. The things Thom Mount had said became patently obvious, and Hunt decided the time was right to create the commission.”

The film commission’s first attempt to “see a film all the way through” was “The Mating Season,” a made-for-TV movie starring Luci Arnaz and Laurence Luckinbill. “It was a relatively low-budget production,” says Arnold, “but it brought quite a bit of money into Highlands, where it was filmed.”

While filming for “The Mating Season” continued, Arnold made several quick trips to Asheville’s Biltmore House where Tristar Films had begun production of “Private Eyes,” a $5 million comedy starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway.

In the four and a half years the North Carolina Film Commission has been in operation, 33 films have been produced, at least in part, in the state. The most notable include:

“Brainstorm,” a production starring Natalie Wood, Christopher Walken and Louise Fletcher that brought $6 million to Research Triangle Park, Southern Pines and the Outer Banks where it was filmed.

“Stroker Ace,” a Universal-Warner Brothers production starring Burt Reynolds. While filming in Charlotte, the production company spent about $1 million.

“Reuben, Reuben,” a $3.4 million film that earned actor Tom Conti an Academy Award nomination last year.

While the promotional efforts Arnold aims at filmmakers typically emphasize climate, geography, and available labor, the state’s biggest draw may be its commitment to cooperating with film crews.

“One of our key selling points is that we’ve got the governor behind us,” explains Arnold. “That means when we call the Department of Transportation to shut down a road, or ask to use a state park, we get immediate cooperation.”

A case in point is “Rituals,” a five-night-a-week $14 million syndicated serial that brought a production crew of 40 to the Elon College campus in late July. The “Rituals” production company was turned away from several Virginia colleges and one North Carolina school because of its “steamy” plot. With Arnold’s help, the producers were able to strike an agreement with Elon to use their campus.

“We were looking for a college small enough to have been endowed by a single family,” explained Richard Firth, director of publicity and promotion for the production. “We also needed the Virginia tie-in because parts of the story are set in D.C., and our characters had to be able to come and go easily. The North Carolina film office let us know they really wanted us, and that was nice. We’ve had the full cooperation of that office and the college. It’s made our work much easier.”

“We did have some misgivings about the story line,” says Elon College’s Director of Community Relations Tim McDowell, who had a small speaking part in an orientation-day segment. “But they’ve given us lots of assurances that the show will have to be acceptable to air during prime time. Besides, they’ve covered up all the signs on our buildings with signs reading “Haddon Hall.” Nothing is really going to be that recognizable unless you’re really familiar with the campus.”

“Of course having 40 people come onto campus for several days is disruptive,” says McDowell. “But it’s a great experience for the students who are here to be able to see all the work that’s involved in a production like this. They’ll be renting the campus again about every three months as the seasons change, but as long as they don’t want to show up during exams, we’re glad to have them.”

As of mid-July, 169 stations had agreed to carry “Rituals,” including Greensboro’s WFMY.

By far the biggest film-related spending in the state is by international movie producer Dino De Laurentiis, who decided to locate his United States studio complex in Wilmington, despite heavy wooing from Charleston, South Carolina.

The facility is now under construction and when completed will have 11 sound stages, a commissary, a carpentry shop, a prop shop, dressing rooms, editing rooms, a screening room, a special effects shop, lighting and grip shops, a scenery dock and transportation, make-up and wardrobe areas.

De Laurentiis’ first North Carolina production was “Firestarter,” a $15 million film based on a Stephen King novel and starring David Keith and Drew Barrymore. Stephen King’s “Cat’s Eye,” a humorous suspense thriller is currently in production.

“Year of the Dragon” will be shot in Wilmington beginning this fall, with De Laurentis producing and Michael Cimino of “The Deer Hunter” and “Heaven’s Gate” fame directing.

Based on a novel by Robert Daley, “Year of the Dragon” is a story of Chinatown street gangs that has casting agents scouring the state in search of more than 1,000 people who can pass for Chinese. According to Shirley Goodman of the Employment Securities Commission’s Winston-Salem office, an early August casting call in Winston-Salem turned up 110 applicants hoping to number among those chosen to work as extras for $50 a day plus meals. Charlotte, Raleigh, Jacksonville, Goldsboro and Fayetteville were also targeted for casting interviews.

The state’s most prolific filmmaker is Earl Owensby of Shelby, whose studio turns out several low-budget features each year. “We help Earl some with his films,” says Arnold, who estimates that in the past ten years, Owensby has produced about 22 films.

A number of small independent filmmakers around the state, including Winston-Salem’s own Tim Collare, Jane DeKoven and Joanna Hudson, produce a handful of films each year, often working on a shoestring budget.

“Before our office opened, you could count the number of films produced in North Carolina by someone other than Earl Owensby on the fingers of one hand,” says Arnold. “Of those, about the only ones anybody’s ever heard of are “Thunder Road” with Robert Mitchum and “The Swan” with Grace Kelly.

“Our first year, we helped with 11 films, we’ve done 22 more since then, and we’ve got several big motion pictures in the works right now. Of course, we’ll never become another Hollywood. But North Carolina is becoming known in the film community as a great place to work. And since most productions spend roughly a third of their budgets on location, we’re certainly glad to have filmmakers in our state.”