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Filming To Begin Soon in Lackawanna County (Courtesy of WNEP-TV)
Wednesday, November 22, 5:24 p.m.
By Scott ********
A well-known actor was in Scranton Wednesday talking about filming a movie in Lackawanna County. Paul Sorvino is using $500,000 in taxpayers money to shoot the film.
Moderator cut: Provide a link instead of copying everything here, please
I hate to burst your bubble, but Sorvino's production was not lured in by THE OFFICE (which isn't shot in Scranton, either. Only location shots by New York crews, fed ex'd back to L. A.).
It was lured in by the cheap cost of production, its proximity to NYC, and by suckering out local taxpayers of 500, 000 (an unheard of number and one that will haunt the area for years).
This film won't make its money back, let alone repay Lackawana county the 50 grand they foolishly sunk into it.
Reality check: name one film Sorvino starred in (as in being the #1, top-of-the-marquee actor) that broke the top 100 in the last 20 years.
GOODFELLAS doesn't count, since he wasn't the top-of-the-marquee star. In fact, he's fourth billed under Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, and Lorainne Brocco.
I worked in the entertainment business. I'm not here to urinate on a parade, but unless there's at least a young, B-list celebrity involved with this pic, it's going to be a hard sell to increasingly fickle distributors, even as a direct-to-video release, domestically. Internationally, the film will be sold for peanuts and dumped straight to television and maybe even video - and probably only in a handful of European territories.
rather than spend the money on developing the area for current and future residents, Lackawana county just played roulette (Russian roulette, imo) and bet ont he wrong number, and will now face a 500 grand sink hole.
The only person who truly benefitted from the film is Paul Sorvino, top-of-the-marquee-billed star of such box office disasters such as: MISTRESS, VASECTOMY, and OFF THE WALL.
If you haven't heard of them, well there you go: I rest my case.
He's a great actor, but he's not A-list, and in a market where theaters struggle to keep audiences coming in (in lieu of downloads, DVD rentals, and pa ycable - which are denting the market and rendering theaters graveyards, as illuminated upon here. (broken link)
When I was an intern for Miramax (back when I lived in the hellhole that is New Yawk City) I was privy to how much they paid for their direct-to-video and overseas distribution/represenation (films they didn't have the rights to distribute in North America, but paid for the rights to sell the films abroad), and films with limited commercial appeal (like the one Sorvino is making with taxpayer's dough) might be lucky to get 100, 000 upfront.
This isn't CLERKS. Nobody will pony up the entire budget of the film PLUS extra. At best, the film will be able to make 1/4 of its cost with the typical domestic purchase, and if lucky, something between $10, 000 for non-Hollywood, independent productions with limited commercial appeal in desperate markets (read: Czech republic, Luxumborg, Indonesia, etc.) that will dump it onto video, and about $50, 000 if a bigger market like Germany, Belgium, or Japan want to pick it up.
I've cut out including back-end monies and residuals from such sales, since the film probably won't make it to many markets. The numbers I offer as an example is being realistic for an independent film produciton, directed by a man not known for directing - a man who is C list celeb in most parts of the world, and B list celeb in the U. S. - and under how the film can be marketed (tough sell).
Man, Lackawana county and its residents got raked over the coals on this fiasco - which they probably won't be able to find on the local video shelves a year after production has completed....
^^^^^ For someone who hates to burst bubbles, you spared no effort....ugh....
And yet.......now this:
Sorvino anticipates setting up movie/TV studio in Northeastern PA with perhaps six sound stages.......and yes, he claims it would cost 40% in NePa than in New York.
There's another reason the flying Sorvino like NePA; they have/had a home not far away in the Poconos and have been excited about Scranton for some time...admirers of NePA and its cities, in fact,...especailly Scranton.......and their admiration is hardly misplaced.....I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts......
NePa has been involved in films for along time, though not extensively..."The Bell's of St. Mary's"; "How Green was My Valley", e.g. had local scenes including Wilkes-barre's old train station.
Nearby Forty Fort was prominent in the production of slient films...many a western in those little hils....under the auspices of the original Black Diamond Studios...before Hollywood even got started.....or was even kown about...when NYC was filmdom's starter home....winter weather killed Firty-Fort's chances.......alas.....
^^^^^ For someone who hates to burst bubbles, you spared no effort....ugh....
Facts: Sorvino family's movie that is robbing Lackawana tax payers of over 500 grand - something they had no say on - for a movie that has no commercial value. Reality is brutal.
Quote:
Sorvino anticipates setting up movie/TV studio in Northeastern PA with perhaps six sound stages.......and yes, he claims it would cost 40% in NePa than in New York.
And it will end up being 60% less after he pilfers more of tax payer's dough to support his pipe dream. Someone call Don Quixote, he has a new Sancho Panza.
13 years ago - Sorvino's daughter was the A-list. Since then, she's paying the bills by appearing in low budget films produced for foreign markets. More than a handful haven't even been released in the U. S., which is too bad.
His son? Unknown commodity. Not a draw. Nepotism tends to turn off viewers of independent films; which, for all intents and purposes is exactly what this film will be (if it lands an American distributor at all).
While I like the studio idea, it won't offer up many jobs for Scrantonians. Really. ALL of the talent brought in will come from NYC. More New Yawker carpetbagging of the local community.
I'm sure Sorvino lays it on thick and somehow convince the simpletons with stars in their eyes that a "lot of money," will be "pumped back into the community," via local merchants profiting from services.
Outside of hotels and some eateries: it will only hurt the local economy because the number of actual local employs coming from such a facility will be negligable, at best.
He 'loves" Scranton so much he doesn't even live there. Hell, he doesn't even live in the Pocconos 90% of the year.
Quote:
There's another reason the flying Sorvino like NePA; they have/had a home not far away in the Poconos and have been excited about Scranton for some time...admirers of NePA and its cities,
More like "admirers of NEPA and its money." Had they actually "admired NEPA and its cities," they'd have lent their names to local charities and contributed to actual development within the region, rather than carpet bag every summer and keep to themselves in the Pocconos.
Quote:
in fact,...especailly Scranton.......and their admiration is hardly misplaced.....I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts......
That's why they are robbing the tax coffers of Lackawana of over 500 grand for a film that won't make that back?
Quote:
NePa has been involved in films for along time, though not extensively..."The Bell's of St. Mary's"; "How Green was My Valley", e.g. had local scenes including Wilkes-barre's old train station.
Location shoots don't count as an "industry."
Quote:
Nearby Forty Fort was prominent in the production of slient films.
And that was nearly 100 years ago.
All that this studio **** will do is profit New Yawkers who don't actually LIVE (as in spend over a half a year in the region) in NEPA, as they come in for a production and return home. Few will set up stakes here. Few will contribute to the communities, let alone the economies of the area, and Sorvino will probably try to convince the region and state to drop tens of millions of dollars into his pipedream - most of which would go into his pockets.
Pittsburgh, which is briming over with film professionals (which Scranton is not) - can't lure much in from Hollywood anymore (13 years ago it was 'Hollywood on the Mon,' and I was there to witness and participate in it first hand); Scranton will be lucky to get more carpet bagging, coffer-snatching scammers like Sorvino.
A Scranton filmmaker who has done more for the area without pilfering from the coffers - and actually employs locals, try Lance Weiler, who has been making films (without taking ANY taxpayer's money) in Scranton and other parts of NEPA for the last five years. He works on shoestring budgets and his films are released internationally. He hires local talent and uses actual NEPA locations that he rents with his own finances.
Of course, he doesn't have the ability to put stars in locals eyes because he's a local.
Sorvino ='s pilfering of NEPA only to benefit New York.
I offered the Forty Fort info as historic info for anyone who might not know of it. I think that the monikker 'silent' would imply ancient history...heh...
Overall a lot of money(untold fortunes) has gone from Scranton and from all of Pennsylvania over the decadess if not centuries......(Frick Museum, e.g.); I think the place would survive the attack of the Sorvinos........
Well, it was always nice to dream that Sorvino's efforts would eventually have a positive effect in luring people to our area. What you need to realize, DeeDee, is that our area has been shedding tens of thousands of residents for the past several decades, and this mass "emptying" of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area is exactly what has caused its economic decline. I'm latching onto any shred of hope at all that people from NY/NJ will hear about Scranton's upcoming film ventures and decide to relocate to the city, thinking it's becoming a more "chic" and "hip" place to be.
Contrary to you, who think all people from New York City with an interest in PA are "carpet-baggers", I see many of them as potentially pumping new life into our historic city. It was recently announced that the stately old white mansion on the corner of Jefferson & Mulberry near the University of Scranton campus, which has fallen into deep neglect in recent years, will soon be renovated into a bed & breakfast type of establishment by two NEW YORKERS. Many of the new upscale boutiques, cafes, and restaurants in Center City are joint-ventures between local residents and ex-locals who now live in...gasp...NEW YAHK! I don't want to see people from NY/NJ moving en masse to our suburbs and destroying our open space, as they've done in Monroe County, but our cities themselves have PLENTY of room to accomodate thousands and thousands more residents. I'm noticing a lot more NY/NJ plates popping up in the Hill Section as well, possibly indicating that some out-of-staters are investing in Scranton's soon-to-be hot real estate market, rehabbing properties, and then preparing to "flip" them for a hefty profit afterwards when property values rise significantly. Does that make them "greedy carpetbaggers?" Well, yes and no. Yes because they themselves are only out to make a quick buck and leave the city, but no because any way you slice it, the overall character and aesthetics of the neighborhood will be better off with one more restored home in its midst, along with one more tax-paying family.
I suppose I'm just looking at the "glass half-full" image of our area while so many others look at the "glass half-empty." If you want to truly see what a "scary, crime-ridden, low-valued" PA city is like, then head to the urban areas of Reading, Harrisburg, or even Allentown, and THEN come back to Scranton and claim that it has a "poor quality-of-life." The people around here truly don't realize how good they have it. For the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the state, we have among the lowest crime rates and some of the best private and public school districts. Even if the Sorvino projects turn up to be "a waste of taxpayer money", at least they'll help the city by bringing SOME media attention to our city; Mention the word "Scranton" in Manhattan, and you'll probably have clueless people abounding. Mention it after "The Office" and Sorvino's upcoming films better cement themselves, and you'll have more people in the Northeast who may be intrigued by the city and inspired to visit to "check it out." At this point, any news that can potentially restore Scranton's image is good news.
P.S. DeeDee, have you moved to PA yet, or are you still up in the Southern Tier? If you're moving down here, then feel free to ask me for directions to anywhere, as I'm pretty much a human-GPS system! LOL!
P.S. DeeDee, have you moved to PA yet, or are you still up in the Southern Tier? If you're moving down here, then feel free to ask me for directions to anywhere, as I'm pretty much a human-GPS system! LOL!
Thanks.
In spite of wanting to close the door of working in entertainment and seeking to quietly disappear in meaningless middle class existence with a normal job; on a project that had me in LA most of last month and the first few weeks of this month. Right now I'm back to helping retired relatives refurbis htheir home so they can sell it and get out of the abyss.
Thanks for your directions offer. I might take you up on it.
however, this Sorvino thing will do nothing.
Wanting to lure New Yawkers in who don't give a **** about the area and will do little to actually help it (b & B's a local economy does not make) and I'd bet dolalrs to the dime your song will change when you're paying New Yawk prices in little old NEPA.
To the contrary, Scranton should be doing what Pittsburgh did to revitalize itself. Of course, it won't. Nay sayers will buy into teh pipe dream and allow the "struggling" communities like Lackawana county to basically give carpetbaggers who won't offer substantial local jobs (like say manufacturing, etc.) because they are simply importing talent (who won't relocate to the area anyway - becasue they need to be near Madisson Ave., West 57th (TV row, etc.). Maybe a few token homes will be bought (and rarely inhabited), but the local working class wont' benefit, the poor will get poorer (and stuck with New Yawk prices) and the power shift will basically render Scranton anotehr Southern Tier of New York.
Remember - these are peopel who didn't give a **** about New York State. If they can't help their home turf, what makes anyone think they will be able to generate positive change in ANOTHER STATE?
It does irk me that people paint it like Sorvino is the second coming of Christ and anyone opposed to his obvious **** must want to keep NEPA "poor."
To the contrary - some of us have traveled the world and seen how "poor" countries (let alone cities and regions) revitalized themselves without buying into clear cut scams where the only people benefitting are those who don't even live in the area (and simply owning a summer home doesn't counstitute "living" in an area).
In fact, I think it's the opposite: people blindly buying into the Sorvino **** are into keeping NEPA poor, since handing over 500 grand to some schlep rather than use it to actually help the actual hardworking, real deal residents and their neighborhoods (and to lure in viable, long-term businesses) rejuvinate and thrive.
They might as well have plunked it down on the ponies at Pocono Downs.
At least I can promise I won't **** anybody of 500 grand to make my movies. I'll earn it myself. Seeing how his annual residuals from his long list of bit parts in bigger films should cover that bill - if Sorvno won't pony up that much money on his own, why sacrifice the working class's hard earned dollars to give he and his kids jobs, in lieu of spending a fraction of that to lure a manufacturing outfit in to provide several hendred jobs? How's that benefitting NEPA?
If Scranton/NEPA doesn't become the New Long Island (shudder) I could easily see myself sticking around longer than a year. It's up to the people in power wanting to play Sancho Panza to Paul Quixote, or wanting to summon up the PA spirit and rebuild themselves without destroying themselves (Pittsburgh, Philly, Harrisburgh).
I'm guessing I'll be headed to Scranton 'round late spring.
Just to let everyone know, I recently emailed the local casting company Furtune Casting regarding any local casting that may have been done.
They sent me an email back and stated that all the speaking and principal roles were cast out of New York. So much for local talent getting a shot. I thought they needed to do that based on Scranton giving them the money??
I found out the casting director in New York was Judy Henderson casting and called them, they indeed cast the film with New York Talent.
I have questioned many local talent and no one I spoke to was cast or herd of anyone cast local.???
I am glad I am not a Scranton Tax Payer as this would upset me if I was.
Just to let everyone know, I recently emailed the local casting company Furtune Casting regarding any local casting that may have been done.
They sent me an email back and stated that all the speaking and principal roles were cast out of New York. So much for local talent getting a shot. I thought they needed to do that based on Scranton giving them the money??
I found out the casting director in New York was Judy Henderson casting and called them, they indeed cast the film with New York Talent.
I have questioned many local talent and no one I spoke to was cast or herd of anyone cast local.???
I am glad I am not a Scranton Tax Payer as this would upset me if I was.
I'm still one of these "glass half-full" types I suppose. I have extended family in the Minooka section of Scranton and the Belin Village section of Moosic, and they're not at all upset that Lackawanna County contributed so much towards the new film office. In fact, most people, including myself, are still having this "wait-and-see" attitude with the Sorvinos. They do genuinely seem to enjoy the Electric City, so I'm doubtful that they're here just to take advantage of us. If this film "The Trouble With Cali", does happen to be a box-office hit, then just imagine what type of positive publicity that would bring to our small city. Sure, Scranton is being used a "stand-in" for NYC (Not Manhattan obviously), but a home on Clay Avenue is being used, along with some parts of Wilkes University, the University of Scranton, and various other spots in and around the metro. I'm sure we'll get some sort of "credit" for it, such as "Filmed in Scranton, PA" or whatever. Nevertheless, don't underestimate the spillover benefits that having a successful film office (as well as "The Office") can do to help get the name "Scranton" out to the NY/NJ crowd, some of whom may decide to visit the city, purchase a home, open up a business, etc.
Scranton has been the butt of cruel jokes for far too long; it's our turn to shine again!
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Wow! Fight nicely you two! LOL!
I don't want to see people from NY/NJ moving en masse to our suburbs and destroying our open space, as they've done in Monroe County, but our cities themselves have PLENTY of room to accomodate thousands and thousands more residents. I'm noticing a lot more NY/NJ plates popping up in the Hill Section as well, possibly indicating that some out-of-staters are investing in Scranton's soon-to-be hot real estate market, rehabbing properties, and then preparing to "flip" them for a hefty profit afterwards when property values rise significantly. Does that make them "greedy carpetbaggers?" Well, yes and no. Yes because they themselves are only out to make a quick buck and leave the city, but no because any way you slice it, the overall character and aesthetics of the neighborhood will be better off with one more restored home in its midst, along with one more tax-paying family. 
At this point, any news that can potentially restore Scranton's image is good news.
