News and Events

As the office tower builders pack it in, another crop of developers is waiting in the wings. One group wants to make Massachusetts Hollywood East.

Thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue and few demands on town services. That’s what Plymouth’s financial consultants say the town can expect from the proposed Plymouth Rock Studios project.

The project includes 14 sound stages, a back lot, a hotel and an education center.
Consultants say the project would likely generate more than 3,000 jobs and $168 million in wages.

Plymouth Rock Studios says an Oct. 15 jobs forum for people interested in working at the proposed film studio is booked to capacity.

Hollywood hasn’t come to town quite yet, but the hundreds of people who flocked to Plymouth South High School last night are ready and waiting for its arrival.

It’s not every day that a major Hollywood production is filmed on the North Shore. But with Matthew McConaughey, Michael Douglas and Mel Gibson in our midst this summer, it becomes clear those days are becoming more common.

Unanimous planning board support for a movie and television production zone on the Waverly Oaks golf course property surprised many of the more than 100 residents who have followed the process for months.

The Orpheum Theater stage saw a lot of acts during its heyday from 1912 to 1958, when it closed its doors, but none like the band that took the stage on Sunday.

Almost two thirds of state voters polled last month say the tax credits for production companies are a good thing.

Plymouth Rock Studios officials wowed planners and residents and did it without special effects, stunts, song or dance.

The folks in the movie business aren’t kidding when they refer to Boston and its environs as Hollywood East. But this is hardly a new phenomenon. As pointed out in Paul Sherman’s new book “Big Screen Boston”.

Plymouth Rock Studios intends to build a major movie and television production studio at the site of the Waverly Oaks Golf Club, but the plan hinges on town meeting’s approval of a zoning change in October. Studio founder David Kirkpatrick said. “We’d like to start construction next spring and be open for business in September of 2010.”

Leading stars Mel Gibson and Robert De Niro have some new cast members to welcome on board in their upcoming thriller Edge of Darkness.

Tuesday night the restaurant, which opened this past April, played host to the cast and crew of Bjort Productions’ new feature film “The Joneses,” which wrapped shooting with one of the movie’s most climactic scenes set in The River Merrimac’s second-floor dining room.

Eight movies already have been at least partly filmed here in 2008. So maybe now, instead of simply charting celebs’ every move in the entertainment news, you want a firsthand peek at them.

A Hollywood-type movie studio in Stoneham? It’s possible, says Gary DeCicco, a Nahant-based developer who says he wants to buy the dormant Boston Regional Medical Center in Stoneham and convert the 40-plus-acre property into a studio and soundstage for movie productions.

Welcome to Southie-wood. Developer Tim Pappas is floating plans to build an L.A.-style movie production complex on a vacant lot he owns at the corner of West First and E streets.

August 3, 2008 NECN’s “This Week in Business” hosts Paul Guzzi and Nick Nikitas discuss the impact of the film tax credits with Massachusetts Film Office Executive Director Nick Paleologos.

Boston has been home to more than 400 movies and television shows. Add to that the seven major movies that have been shot in Massachusetts just this year alone — and suddenly it doesn’t seem so crazy that Boston fancies itself Hollywood East.


“It’s been wonderful for the city and it’s great for us,” said Lisse Grullemans, who, as assistant to the vice president at Barneys, has coordinated pulls for about eight costume designers for everything from Ricky Gervais’ “This Side of the Truth” to the Kate Hudson/Anne Hathaway comedy “Bride Wars.”