Hollywood East Update 1-20-11

The success of the blockbuster movie The Fighter has placed Boston in the movie industry limelight once again. Massachusetts is gaining more and more popularity every year and is growing strong. The development of Hollywood East is a slow one, yet it is in the works. Are you curious about what the east coast has up its sleeve next? Be the first person in your area to know what’s hot right now in MA. Check it out.

Boston Ruit

What’s a “ruit”, you say? Why it’s a drinking game. Leave it to my home state of MA to reap the benefits of creating a TV show in its honor. This is not your average Beer Pong. Ruit requires two teams and a pyramid of ten cups on either side of the table. The opponents must throw a ping-pong ball (without bouncing it) into one of the opponents’ cups so one of them must drink it. This drinking game is very popular in the Boston area where many of the locals take the game seriously enough to execute their own tournaments. People in every state will soon be able to get in on the action.

Boston Ruit is currently in pre-production with Bostonian Productions. Shooting will take place on site at “The Greatest Bar” in the heart of downtown Boston. Executive producer Keith Winer claims that the contestants “are both seasoned professionals who make a living winning tournaments and college kids who play in their dorms all the time and who come out to compete with the best of the best.”

Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy

Val Kilmer has been working on this screenplay since 2005 and the movie is finally slated for a 2013 release. Kilmer has been spending time with top researchers at the Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston to gather information for this upcoming film in which he will play Mark Twain. The trailer is available now on You Tube. I checked it out and I must say that Kilmer’s crew is certainly capturing the look of the times with their style of filmmaking. I am hopeful that this movie will be as entertaining as it is unique in style and rich in history. Keep your eyes open for Kilmer’s one-man show based on his screenplay this coming spring!

Ted

Creator of Family Guy Seth MacFarlane will be making his film debut with the new film Ted- a comedy about a man and his teddy bear. This will be a $65 million Universal film shot in the CGI style of Alvin and the Chipmunks only with an R-rating. One of the stars in Ted will be- you guessed who…Mark Wahlberg. Production begins February 2011 and a release date has not yet been confirmed. This movie should be very interesting to say the least!

The Diner

This film will also be shot in New England and will be released by Wild Beagle Productions of Andover, MA. Patrons at Harry’s Diner are about to encounter quite the situation. Four people enter with a duffel bag that they plan to hand over to a shady character but things go terribly wrong. Casting for this film has just begun. Hopefully we’ll get an update soon. Wild Beagle Productions also made the movies CO2 (2010) and 27 Down (1974).

Boston Casting

Boston Casting is booming with business. They are currently looking for a talented family to star on the show Trading Places. The family will switch lives with another family and will spend some time in the Middle East. There is another upcoming show called American Caravan that they are currently casting for and are looking for young adults adventurous enough to spend four weeks traveling across the Middle East. Boston Casting is also responsible for the casting of the upcoming film Ted.

Plymouth Rock Studios

So, what’s the scoop? We’ve been hearing about this $550 million development of this huge facility in Plymouth, MA for some time and its potential to become a huge asset to Massachusetts. The openings of new employment opportunities are expected as well as many businesses, retail stores and restaurants surrounding the studios. There are also expectations that it will draw in many Hollywood filmmakers due to the tax break.

There have been very few public updates about the facility and the information that we do retrieve is the result of our own research. The studios are still in discussions with prospective businesses that want to stake their claim on new sites at the facility. Heritage Floor Covering of Sandwich has been hired as the official go-to floor covering company for the site and Premere Color printing company has plans to reserve their spot for business. Construction is currently at a standstill due to funding. There have been a few offers for financial support as well as an undisclosed company from the west coast that is interested in some of the space. Studio officials told the press that it would be easier to get West Hollywood to hop on the bandwagon once construction of the facility is underway.

How do you find more information on movies in New England? Doing some online research will help you get in the loop. Check out the Hollywood East Connection site as well as casting websites and look up the names of area movie studios and visit their websites. Keep your eyes open...Hollywood East is young but it's about to explode! As always be sure to get Dish Network for a huge selection of movies in crystal clear high definition.

By: Michelle Lee Rodriguez