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A team of California film executives who came to Plymouth two years ago with a plan to build the first full-fledged production studio on the East Coast announced yesterday that they have secured a $550 million loan to begin construction on Plymouth Rock Studios later this year.

Plymouth Rock Studios reached a milestone yesterday with a $550 million construction loan for its proposed $1 billion film, television and digital studio campus in Plymouth.

Cranberry farmer Stan Kravitz, chairman of the Bridgewater Board of Selectmen, said he expects the town to take in as much as $150,000 in exchange for its participation, including $40,000 to compensate the Fire Department, additional payments for police details, and a donation to the town’s senior center, which was used as a base camp away from the set.

The STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE reported yesterday that Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approve of the film tax credit—which, since 2006, has resulted in a dramatic increase in film and television production in the state. The poll, conducted by Suffolk University, showed that 64% favored the film tax credit, 20% opposed it, and 16% were undecided.

Columbia Pictures and director David Fincher have set the core cast for “The Social Network,” a new film about the formation of Facebook. Jesse Eisenberg will play Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; Justin Timberlake will play Sean Parker, the Napster co-founder who became Facebook’s founding president; and Andrew Garfield will play Eduardo Saverin, the Facebook co-founder who fell out with Zuckerberg over money. Production will begin next month in Boston.

Hollywood hunk Tom Cruise gave Hub fans an unexpected treat yesterday by turning up in the South End to film scenes for his latest flick at Gaslight restaurant alongside A-list hottie Cameron Diaz.

When set designer Jay R. Hart walked into the Putnam Hallmark store in Webster Square Plaza last week, the store’s marketing director–Daniel B. LeBlanc–learned first-hand that a big budget film can deliver a blockbuster economic spinoff for local businesses.

Forget the Sundance Channel. Those who love watching independent and foreign films on a big screen in a real movie house are going to have a new venue right in Boston’s Theatre District.

As the film industry booms in Massachusetts, it’s creating a ripple effect across many businesses.

A step by step analysis of the first four years of the Massachusetts film tax credit—contrasting the cost to the state vs. the benefit to the state’s economy.

Hollywood honey Cameron Diaz surprised the Boston Celtics this morning when she turned up to get her hands dirty at the team’s beautifying project at the Young Achievers Pilot School in Mattapan.

Having famous people come to town is fun…and it’s good for business, too, according to the state Department of Revenue – which estimates that 13 movie projects filmed in 2008 resulted in $452 million in direct spending in Massachusetts.

It will be lights, camera, and action in The Next Page when an independent filmmaker shoots “Minutes to Live, The Hitman,” inside the cafe on Saturday, Sept. 12. The movie theme centers on several groups of people who discover the end of the world is coming while meeting in common settings like a bar or restaurant.

Local businesses will likely see a bump in sales because of the influx of 100 to 150 employees and 44 extras (plus spectators) in town for the filming.

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz will be shooting scenes from a Twentieth Century Fox movie in a cornfield off Curve Street in Bridgewater later this month. And some of the town’s police and firefighters will be tapped as extras in the film, which does not yet have a name, Twentieth Century Fox Assistant Location Manager Hyunsoo Moon said. “It’s exciting. It puts Bridgewater on the map,” Selectman Mike Demos said.

“Wheel of Fortune’’ has rolled into Boston this week to tape 15 shows. “Boston essentially gets free commercial time as a destination,’’ said James Rooney, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center, “That has huge value. The “Wheel’’ is also expected to give Boston’s economy a bump: The show is hiring 200 workers in Boston for security and police support for the production. Overall, city officials estimate that “Wheel of Fortune’’ will spend at least $1 million here directly this week, according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

The construction phase in Worcester employs about 80 people, said Larry Clark, a scenic painter for 20th Century Fox. The crews are building a bar, a Transportation Security Administration inspection area, a gift shop and a coffee shop.

Revenue for Powderhouse, which has created TV series for cable channels including the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC, is expected to nearly triple to $12 million this year, from $3.7 million in 2006. Its ranks have swelled to its current 60 people, up from 35 three years ago. And Powderhouse recently tripled its office space to 14,000 square feet.

A Los Angeles company that represents high-rise owners interested in seeing their buildings on the big and small screens has set up shop in the Hub. Skyline Locations was lured by the growing Massachusetts film industry that’s sapped business from the West Coast thanks to the state’s new tax incentives that took effect three years ago.

Viewpoint Creative, a locally-owned advertising agency, has been producing ads for channels like HBO and ABC in Needham for more than 20 years.