More movies in Mass?

Hollywood is slowly bleeding into other parts of the country, including my own stomping grounds here in Massachusetts. As I mentioned last year, a plan was being kicked around to build a moviemaking complex at a local decommissioned Naval Air Base outside Boston. That’s still in the works, but now another group is eyeballing a chunk of land on the South Shore for similar possibilities.

The state apparently has finally got their act together in regards to offering tax breaks and incentives for filmmakers to come here, but the area lacks sufficient indoor shooting space and post-production facilities. But that will change, if Plymouth ROCK Studios has their way. A former Paramount honcho (along with some other people with deep pockets) intends to build a 200-plus acre mutlimedia studio in Plymouth, with early plans that include a dozen soundstages, a 10 acre backlot, theater, offices, hotel, post-production buildings and an educational campus (comparable to Fox and Paramount’s lots in LA, Universal in Orlando and Silvercup in NY). The whole shebang will likely cost around $300 million and create about 2000 new jobs (not to mention the “multiplier effect” for local businesses and general kick to the state economy).

The lot is in a prime location, about an hour away from two different major airports and a stone’s throw from Cape Cod. But it’s also far from a done deal — besides a lot of “small town folk” concerns, the area would need a new highway exit built just to accomodate the new business flow. And bear in mind that, while money talks and the allure of a local taste of Hollywood is undeniable, Massachusetts is notoriously uptight — they just legalized tattoo parlors a few years ago, and residents still have to head down to Connecticut if they want to gamble at casinos.

And the weather still sucks…