10 West Manistee Michigan, Harold Cronk, Matt Tailford

Movies, Manistee Style with 10 West

by Chris Aliapoulios

10 West Studios sits on the shore of Lake Michigan in scenic Manistee Michigan – at the west end of 10 West Highway. On December 20, 2009, the snow was falling and temperatures on the studio set were 20 degrees F. It was the final night of filming Jerusalem Countdown, and the plan was to wrap around 4 AM, have a party, then take some time off for the holidays. A warm energetic esprit de corps embraced the Manistee studio, despite frigid temperatures.

10 West’s managing partners Matt Tailford and Harold Cronk both originated in the Midwest, and began their film careers in Hollywood. They moved back when the state’s film friendly legislation was enacted. Cronk said, “We started putting a plan together years ago as a team. We saw the incentives coming so we started getting everything in shape. We have always wanted to come back here and make our films.”

The studio opened late in 2008. Cronk told MMM, “The first eight months we were getting set up. Matt and I basically went out and found all of our vendors and educated them to the needs of the industry. Crew was one of the biggest hurdles. We had to convince LA producers that we had the crew here.”

Anna-Zielinski

To develop a crew base, 10 West Studios turned to the local community. Cronk said, “We put together a film crew training program with WSCC (West Shore Community College), which is a really a well respected community college in the state. They do amazing work. We got a federal workforce development grant and didn’t charge the students a dime. We had 34 students in the class. We had to turn away people. Of those 34, probably 15-20 of them have been working consistently on films since the program.”

Anthony Sprague, boom operator for 10 West explained, “They put us through 8 weeks of class, enough for entry level, and it has been on the job training ever since. Now we are getting paychecks. More money than you can make in anything else around here. The economy is really bad around here. This was so needed. Just to build up the community level of excitement and enthusiasm. Everybody is really excited. It‘s a great experience.”

After setting up the Manistee support base, Matt and Harold hustled to bring in their first feature film. Convincing investors that Michigan was not too risky, was a challenge according to Matt Tailford. “We had to fly out the director and the producer, and convince them we’d see them through from the initial meeting with the film office, through the application process, getting it done and getting the rebate.” The end result was a contract with Pure Flix to begin producing What If in the summer of 2009.

David-A.R

Cronk said, “Pure Flix liked what they were getting for their dollar. They liked the services, locations and facilities that we could provide, making their lower budget films look like much, much more.” Consequently after What If, Pure Flix brought two more films to Manistee, John the Revelator and Jerusalem Countdown.

David A.R. White lead actor in Jerusalem Countdown and cofounding partner of Pure Flix explained, “Last year we made 5 films, 3 in Michigan, and we are having a good time with it. The community really supports us and we have had a great time shooting, amazing production value and great locations. It’s been all the way around terrific.”

Michael Scott partner and producer with Pure Flix gave a synopsis of Jerusalem Countdown. “It’s an action, adventure, political thriller. Two FBI agents learn about a plot where someone is trying to bring seven nuclear bombs in to destroy the USA, and we are using Manistee Michigan to double for Baltimore, Chicago, and Virginia. It’s a race against the clock to stop these bombs from coming in. “

White, Scott and Pure Flix are hoping to return in 2010 to do more films with 10 West. Scott explained, “Right now we are going to wait and see how the rebate process goes, now that we are finishing up. Make sure it all works and everything happens. There’s a lot of chatter about the incentives. Is it going to go away? Is it going to change? That makes everybody nervous.”

Matt-Tailford

“It’s still hard for investors to be confident in their investment here in Michigan because of the uncertainty,” added 10 West’s Matt Tailford, who also plays a lead role in Jerusalem Countown. “I’m so glad that people like Drew Barrymore are coming here and making movies, but the risk for them is less. If they get the rebate, that’s great, but it’s not going to bury them if they don’t. The films that we are attracting just don’t have the overhead to keep out there for a long period of time. They are borrowing money to make their film, or the money has been given to them or entrusted to them and they want to be diligent and careful, so coming to Michigan seems like a scary proposition.”

10 West and Pure Flix have spent more than $1 Million and brought a host of big names around Manistee during their first three features. Kevin Sorbo, Kristy Swanson, John Ratzenberger, Debby Ryan, Lee Majors, Musettal Vander, Randy Travis, Jaci Velasquez, Nick Jameson and Carey Scott have all worked in Manistee during the past year. “It’s been exciting and a good thing for the town,” said Matt.

10 West is planning their own films too. Cronk told MMM, “We have had a kid’s comedy adventure film in development for quite some time. We are really excited to get that going. We were going to shoot part of it this fall, but we put that on hiatus when the Jerusalem Countdown project came our way.”

Future plans also include expanding the Manistee studios. 10 West will be adding two 10,000 square foot sound stages and a green screen. Matt Tailford said, “We are building as we go. The incentive is geared with a $2 Million cap. We are not going to get a whole bunch of the massive films here in Michigan. The producers are going to go to the states that don’t have caps for those. We are going to see films in the under $1 Million to $7- 10 Million range here. But this is the thing, those films, those producers, don’t want to pay $1200 dollar a day stage fees when they only need practical locations and a warm quiet place to do a build. That is what we are about up here.”

10 West and Pure Flix labored tirelessly in freezing temperatures as Jerusalem Code wrapped. Matt said, “You just have to roll your sleeves up and do it. These are not permanent jobs, neither is construction. There is no security in anything anymore. You have got to be a certain individual to do this business. The nights are killers and the hours are killers. You end up working 16 hour days for intensive periods of time.”

On break from the elements, MMM spoke with Dawn Butler in the 10 West Cafeteria. Dawn is a makeup artist. She has worked on all the 10 West films, both 50 Cent films in Grand Rapids (Caught in the Crossfire, Gun), Alleged, in Flint, and a bunch of smaller indie films. Dawn also serves on the boards of the Western Michigan Film Video Alliance (WMFVA ) and Media Communications Association International (MCAI ). Dawn summed it up: “10 West has a lot of potential and good plans. If they keep up this way, they are going to go far.”