Troy entertainment group helps bring Hollywood to Michigan

by Ben LaMothe | Michigan Business Review
Friday June 13, 2008, 9:00 AM

Coming soon to a Michigan neighborhood near you: Lots of television and feature film production.

That’s what Jeffrey Spilman, managing partner the Troy-based entertainment group S3EG, expects in the coming months as more studios begin to take advantage of Michigan’s generous tax incentive package for TV and film production.

Anticipating an increase in business, S3EG has formed a partnership with Canadian production equipment provider William F. White International Inc.
“Up to this point when the producers have gotten here, they’ve found very little equipment to work with,” Spilman said. “There are some folks here who have some of that, but not enough to sustain a feature film.”

Under the agreement, which was finalized in May, S3EG will now have the exclusive right to provide White International equipment for productions in Michigan.

“We have three feature films’ worth of that equipment,” Spilman said. “We have all of the things that they need, except for cameras.”

The additional equipment gives S3EG an edge over all other entertainment groups in Michigan, Spilman added.

Bringing the equipment to Michigan for studios to lease is important because it is then subject to the 2008 Michigan Filming Incentives package that offers up to a 42 percent cash rebate to studios or individuals spending at least $50,000 in Michigan.

S3EG so far has secured agreements to supply production equipment for six filming projects across the state, he said.

Spilman is currently providing equipment and production space to Clint Eastwood’s production company Malpaso Productions for the feature film “Gran Torino,” which is being shot in Southeast Michigan.

“We set up our company to look for the services; we let them tell us what they need most when they come to a place like Michigan,” Spilman said. “We organize our services around that.”

Asked how he pitches Michigan as a shooting location to studios, Spilman said Michigan sells itself.

“In order to have a successful shooting community, you have to have good location,” he said. “We are talking about the natural beauty that Michigan has. If you want to shoot New England, go to the northern Lower Peninsula and you can have a New England; if you want an urban setting, go to Detroit.”

Spilman said he is also providing assistance for a film about the Middle East that is being filmed on the Sleeping Bear Dunes in Empire, west of Traverse City.

And while the film crews are here, they are spending money to stimulate the local economy, Spilman argued.

“These films are coming here and they’re renting our hotel rooms for six to eight weeks shooting and there’s a month or six weeks pre-production,” Spilman said. “On average they bring 100 to150 folks – that’s 60 nights of housing.”
And once filming wraps for the day, these 100 to 150 people have got to find something to do.

“Walk over to Somerset [mall] and you’ll see the crew are out there shopping on the weekend, spending money at local businesses,” he said. “At ice cream shops, beauty salons, hair cut places – they’re spending their money here stimulating the local economy.”

On set Spilman pulls out all the stops by ensuring the cast and crew is well fed, with comfortable housing arrangements and an experience on par with one they would have with a state more accustomed to feature films.

“We bring in L.A. catering and Michigan catering, so we’re providing L.A.-type catering, not roach coaches,” he said. “We actually (provide) huge trucks with kitchens in the back and make made-to-order food.”

Hoping to further cement S3EG’s place as the preferred choice for filmmakers coming to Michigan, the company plans to build a 100,000-square-foot studio in Metro Detroit. It will include four motion picture-capable sound stages, production offices and warehouses at a cost of between $10 million and $12 million.

There are currently no motion picture-capable sound stages in Michigan, Spilman said.

“The incentives get them here the first time,” Spilman said. “It’s the physical infrastructure and the human infrastructure that brings them back.”

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Contact Ben LaMothe at benl@mbusinessreview.com or (248) 374-49