I think it’s pretty funny that a video poking fun of Senator Nancy Cassis, which was originally only seen by a few hundred people, is now being seen by tens of thousands of people thanks to Cassis’ demands of citizen censorship. She obviously has no clue how media works.
Here’s what Fox 2 Detroit recently ran on air:
According to Mlive.com, actors Brian Dennehy and Fred Thompson have signed on for two of the leading roles in Alleged, a new movie on the historic Scopes Monkey Trial being shot at Crossroads Village in Flint starting Sept. 14. This well be the second movie that both Dennehy and Thompson have shot in Michigan since the passing of the Michigan Film Incentives. Last year Dennehy worked on the upcoming Meet Monica Velour, while Thompson is currently shooting the The Genesis Code in Grand Rapids.
According to Mlive.com, Variety magazine reported yesterday that the HBO is lookingat Metro Detroit as a place to film their one-hour drama series based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Middlesex.
“Since many neighborhoods in Michigan have changed little over the decades, finding locations in Detroit and the state to match places in the book could prove fairly easy.” – Variety
This would make the second show series to use Detroit, since HBO’s new comedy hit Hung is already set and shot in and around the metro area.
So it looks as though Michigan Senator Nancy Cassis‘ calls for censorship of citizens who do not agree with her policy has fallen on deaf ears. Writer/Director Billy Whitehouse is leaving his parody video of Cassis online and not allowing her preposterous claims that the satire in this video could lead to actually violence against her to deter him. Instead, Whitehouse is using his First Amendment rights to speak out against Cassis tactics in trying to kill the Michigan Film Incentives and thousands of local works jobs along with it.
The first of three studios planned for the Metro Detroit area, Unity Studios broke ground yesterday in Allen Park at an old Vieston plant. Once up and running ,the studio is expected to employ over 3,000 full-time and freelance employees.
While not a new studio, Metromode looks at one of metro Detroit most distinguished and import production facilities, Grace and Wild.
On the west side of the state, the Grand Rapids Film Festival has been underway this week.
Finally, If the GOP have their way and cap the film incentives then I’m sure North Carolina will gladly steal our projects and local talent away.
Variety Magazine has published three well written articles today on the booming Michigan film Industry:
- Variety looks at five productions shot in the Metro Detroit area over the past 12 months that have helped transformer the local Michigan Economy.
-Variety also has a report on how Michigan is quickly becoming known as the Midwestern Hollywood.
- Variety goes in-depth with the Michigan Film Office.
Finally, the rumor around town is that director Steven Spielberg is looking to shoot one of his next big budget movie based on Michael Crichton’s final novel Pirate Latitudes in Metro Detroit, including the possibility of using the vacant Pontiac Silverdome.
Anti Michigan Film Tax Incentive politician, Senator Nancy Cassis has demanded that the website SenatorDCease.com take down the political satire video that pokes fun at her. Apparently, the Senator went so far as to complain to law enforcement authorities and alleged that the video is “threatening.” However, we have found that nothing could be further from the truth since it was clearly trying to iterate the point that Senator Cassis is against local jobs in the film industry.
When did we lose our freedom of speech and ability to parody our politicians? What happened to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States?
It is important that all of us communicate the real facts and successes with Michigan’s Film Production Incentive and counter the misinformation being disseminated by Senator Cassis. – Billy Whitehouse, Writer/Director
Actors Terrence Howard and Josh Lucas talk to WXYZ on the set of the new thriller shooting in Detroit titled Little Murder.
Mlive.com Grand Rapids has a in-depth report on filmmaking’s impact to the local Michigan economy. They look at the Michigan Film Festival in Grand Rapids and talks to key people who will be on The Business and Finance of Filmmaking panel at the event.
“We see the bills come through on the audits. You wouldn’t believe how much these film productions pay for hotel rooms when they’re parked here for five weeks. It’s tens of thousands of dollars.” – Robert Schellenberg of Schellenberg & Evers, a CPA firm in Grand Rapids. [read more]
What I find when I look at the arguments is that there is no statistical way to prove in Michigan right now whether or not this program is successful — and that’s because the program is only a year and a half old,” – Robert Schellenberg of Schellenberg & Evers, a CPA firm in Grand Rapids. [read more]
The nice thing about the film industry is it doesn’t necessarily have to have bricks and mortar to build an infrastructure — the film industry is about people,” – Rob Visser, Berends Hendricks Stuit Insurance Agency Inc.’s [read more]
Though it may be her last term as a state Senator, here is a beautifully written piece on why Michigan Senator Nancy Cassis should never be elected to public office in any shape or form again in this.
Read: The Cassis Legacy: Discouraging Job Creation in Michigan
ABC’s new reality game show Crash Course premiers tonight. The show was shot on Detroit’s Belle Isle this past summer and features a contestant team form Royal Oak Michigan.
Also, the cast and crew members of the tween TV show The Wannabes have taken up residency in Howell, Michigan where the show is being shot this upcoming fall and winter.
Most, if not all, of the out-of-town cast and crew members are living in the same Howell-area apartment complex while filming lasts at least through early 2010.
Five members of the cast are school age, and will receive schooling of some kind during production. Producers are in talks with the Howell district to potentially enroll them in the district. [read more]
Hmm, I wonder if old Senator Nancy Cassis is counting all of the cast and crews’ personally daily spending and rent in her assessment of the Film Tax Incentives (which I’m sure will spill over into her nearby district)? My guess is she is not, but she should!
