The staid and historic image of Plymouth could soon be tempered by a decidedly modern attraction: a $488 million film and television studio with 14 sound stages, a 10-acre back lot, a theater, a 300-room upscale hotel, a spa and 500,000 square feet of office space.

The school’s Media Laboratory has launched the Center for Future Storytelling with a 7-year, $25-million commitment from Plymouth Rock Studios, better known as “Hollywood East” in Plymouth.

In league with a handful of former Hollywood executives, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory plans to do something about that on Tuesday, with the creation of a new Center for Future Storytelling.

For the latest mob drama set in South Boston, billed as an “Irish Sopranos,” producers of a SpikeTV pilot program knew exactly the look they wanted. Dark and dingy. Hopeless streets. Think “Mystic River” or “Gone Baby Gone.”

Government incentives to bring film companies
to the state is money well spent.

Two made-in-Massachusetts films attracted a lot of attention, namely the South Boston-based “What Doesn’t Kill You” and “The Maiden Heist,” starring Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, and William H. Macy. And the benefits of filming in Boston were touted at a sold-out seminar dealing with tax credits.

With a national economic recession well underway and a Bostonian tradition of documentaries and independent films rather than blockbuster thrillers and romantic comedies, the question remains: does Massachusetts have what it takes to become a big star in the film industry?

Actor Roy Souza, a Boston native and a SAG member since 1995, is jubilant about the recent boom. He notes that it is not just high-profile projects that have flocked to Massachusetts but also small-scale indies. He recently completed significant roles in the low-budget We Got the Beat, shot in Worcester, and Lasse Hallström’s Hachiko: A Dog’s Story, starring Richard Gere.

Town meeting members listen attentively during the special town meeting at Memorial Hall on Monday night. They approved the tax break and zoning changes that will allow the $400 million Plymouth Rock Studios project to go forward.

It took a couple of years to get the question to Town Meeting but only a few minutes for Town Meeting to answer.

Town Meeting easily passed two articles last night that will allow Plymouth Rock Studios to move forward with the construction of a $400 million film studio on a 240-acre golf course, after months of negotiation between local officials and studio executives.

Massachusetts has enjoyed a renaissance in movie production in the last two years because of aggressive tax incentives that the Legislature created.

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.