Repost from cleveland.com:
City of Cleveland gets into the movie business with loan guarantees for three films
By Mark Gillispie, The Plain Dealer
March 09, 2010, 5:24PM
View full sizeDee Snider of Twisted Sister fame is expected to spend a year in Cleveland during production of his horror movie sequel, "Strangeland 2."CLEVELAND, Ohio --- While it's a long shot to visualize Mayor Frank Jackson someday walking the red carpet before the Academy Awards, the city of Cleveland is about to get into the movie business.A City Council committee on Tuesday approved $1.2 million in loan guarantees for three planned feature-length films produced by Nehst Studios, a New York-based production company that has established an office here.
The three films are "Cleopatra Smiles," a romantic comedy starring Vivica A. Fox; "The Kid Who Only Hit Home Runs," which is based on a popular children's book; and "Strangeland 2," a horror-film sequel starring Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider.
The city's guarantee is for 10 percent of the combined budget for the three films. This is the first time the city has made such a guarantee.
All three movies will be shot in Cleveland and its suburbs, said Nehst Chairman Larry Meistrich. Production will begin on the three films once all the details have been finalized, he said.
Cleveland Economic Development Director Tracey Nichols said in an interview that the city's commitment to Nehst was spurred by the Ohio Film Office's support for the company. Nehst could receive as much as $3.2 million in film tax credits from the state based on how much the company spends in Ohio and how many Ohio residents it hires.
"We felt we really have an opportunity to have this industry take hold here," Nichols said.
The studio will meet with Cuyahoga County officials today to seek a similar loan guarantee, Meistrich said.
Cleveland's guarantee, which does not require the city to put up any cash, would "burn off" if the studio raises enough money through foreign sales and marketing to pay off its completion bonds for the films, Nichols said.
Nehst has had a presence here since last year, when it opened offices in the Cleveland Convention Center.
The company will use the convention center as a studio for a sound stage. Editing for the films will be done in a state-of-the-art post-production facility being built at Ante Up Studios on East 36th Street.
Meistrich said his company picked Cleveland for its new headquarters after looking at locations that included Detroit, New Orleans and Newark, N.J. Jackson and state officials were eager to bring Nehst here, Meistrich said.
"They totally got it and understood it and have been very supportive all the way through," Meistrich said.
Greater Cleveland is ideal for moviemaking because of its lower cost of living and its ability to stand in for a number of disparate locations, Meistrich said.
"Within 40 miles of midtown Cleveland, you can find suburbs, ghettos, farmland, sports stadiums and a waterfront," Meistrich said. "That doesn't exist in a lot of places."
He estimated that at least half the cast and crew for the three films will be from Greater Cleveland. Meistrich said his company received around 2,000 e-mails from people looking to work on the films after a Plain Dealer story earlier this year. About 100 of those e-mails were from native Greater Clevelanders who now live and work in New York or Los Angeles, he said.
Nehst has already backed a film with Cleveland ties. "Running America," a documentary about two men's efforts to set the record for a cross-country run from San Francisco to New York, was directed by Clevelander Kevin Kerwin and produced by Kerwin's wife, Kate O'Neil.
Nehst also plans to shoot another film here, "Lilith," for which it has not sought public financing.
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