NewEnglandFilm.com

Email news to news@newenglandfilm.com. 

Postproduction has begun on feature film "Slingshot," directed by Jay Alaimo and starring David Arquette, Thora Birch, and Julianna Marguilies and shot in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Two cunning and manipulative drifters venture into Farifield County, Connecticut looking to seduce wealthy and lonely housewives.

Pre-production has begun on comedy "Victor in December," directed by Doug Tirola and produced by Bob Balaban, and filmed in Westport, CT. A young man is obsessed with seeing life through the eyes of his favorite book, The Great Gatsby, which he believes F.Scott Fitzgerald based on his town.

Peter and Bobby Farelly are directing an adapted screenplay by Lowell Ganz, based on the soccer-fever novel "Fever Pitch" by British author Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy). A man who is fanatical about the Boston Red Sox (Jimmy Fallon) meets a girl (Drew Barrymore), who must develop her own relationship with the object of his obsession."Fever Pitch" has just wrapped its shooting in Boston. They filmed for 20 days in Fenway Park and are now in Toronto.

Tripeg Studios opened a state-of-the-art production facility on October 22. The 16,000 square foot facilities include three sound stages, special visual effects shop, post-production suites, set construction, makeup/dressing rooms, cafeteria and much more. Also featured is a multi-talented team of scriptwriters, producers, graphic designers, editors, music composers and directors, and pyrotechnic and special effects capabilities, including an on-site CT-licensed pyrotechnician. For more information, visit http://www.tripegstudios.com/ or contact Andrew Gernhard at 203-603-9386.

The longtime-in-the-works "Memoirs of a Geisha," based on former Brookline author Arthur Golden’s bestseller, has begun filming in Los Angeles under the direction of Rob Marshall (Chicago). Steven Spielberg will serve as the film’s producer. The movie is a joint project of Sony’s Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks, and Spyglass Entertainment.

Robert Altman shot "Tanner 88," a TV series for The Sundance Channel filmed during the Democratic National Convention July 20-22, 2004. The show stars Gary Trudeau, Michael Murphy, Pamela Reed, and Cynthia Nixon.

A scene was shot at the Tweeter Center on June 24, 2004 during an Aerosmith concert for a feature film called, "Be Cool" starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman and directed by F. Gary Gray.

On September 9, the Massachusetts Legislature gave its approval to a provision in a supplemental budget requiring state agencies to study the creation of a tax credit to encourage film production in the Commonwealth. This provision was vetoed by Governor Mitt Romney. However, with a new legislative session beginning in January 2005, several legislators have expressed an interest in filing legislation that would implement the tax credit. Senator Brian P. Lees (R-East Longmeadow) stated that he is very interested in examining this issue further and it is likely that similar legislation will be filed for the next legislative session.

Also, House bill 4863, "An Act Prohibiting the Recording of Certain Productions," received initial approval in the Massachusetts Senate on October 21, 2004. This bill would criminalize the act of filming a motion picture on a video camera, or other ecording device, from inside a movie theater. This bill must receive approval in the House of Representatives before it can be placed on the Governor’s desk for his signature.