Hollywood East
Encyclopedia
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
after the opening of the Disney-MGM Studios
Disney-MGM Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
(now called Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
) in 1989 and Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida is an American theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies," and it features numerous attractions and...
in 1990 in order to attract more filmmaking business to the region. While both are legitimate studios, they are predominantly theme parks, and although many film and television productions have used these facilities since before even the theme parks were built, Orlando was not able to retain the image of "Hollywood East." In more recent years, "Hollywood East" refers to the growth of the film industry
Film industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, particularly Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, but it has more specifically been used as branding for Plymouth Rock Studios
Plymouth Rock Studios
Plymouth Rock Studios was a proposed film and television production studio in Massachusetts. The studio had held a now-expired option to buy Waverly Oaks Golf Club in Plymouth as the site for the $650 million, development originally slated to be complete in 2010. The proposal included fourteen...
, a movie studio under development in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 2010. The name is a reference to Hollywood, California, the center of the American film industry, located on the west coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The term as used in New England was popularized in the press in 2007 as film and television productions migrated to the east coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
to take advantage of tax incentives put in place by several state governments. Old warehouses and office buildings have been used for filming due to a lack of infrastructure in the region, leading to several groups of developers coming forward with plans to build full service studios. Two notable developments in Massachusetts, Plymouth Rock Studios
Plymouth Rock Studios
Plymouth Rock Studios was a proposed film and television production studio in Massachusetts. The studio had held a now-expired option to buy Waverly Oaks Golf Club in Plymouth as the site for the $650 million, development originally slated to be complete in 2010. The proposal included fourteen...
, based in Plymouth, and SouthField Studios, based in Weymouth
Weymouth, Massachusetts
The Town of Weymouth is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, Weymouth had a total population of 53,743. Despite its city status, it is formally known as the Town of Weymouth...
were profiled in the Boston Globe in April 2008. More recently Plymouth Rock Studios has come into the spotlight after passing their Plymouth Town Meeting vote in October 2008 and announcing a partnership with MIT Media Lab
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
in November that was featured in the New York Times. The partnership is described as "a fusion between technology and the arts" that the studio and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
believe will come to define Hollywood East as a movement.
The Patriot Ledger, a newspaper based in Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
, has even created a special website cataloguing all news items related to the growth of Hollywood East. New England actors have been working hard to get media attention and public awareness on the benefits of the Massachusetts tax incentives for film studios and the possible development of studios.
Hollywood East Sign
One group of developers, Plymouth Rock StudiosPlymouth Rock Studios
Plymouth Rock Studios was a proposed film and television production studio in Massachusetts. The studio had held a now-expired option to buy Waverly Oaks Golf Club in Plymouth as the site for the $650 million, development originally slated to be complete in 2010. The proposal included fourteen...
, led by former Paramount executives David Kirkpatrick
David Kirkpatrick
David Kirkpatrick may refer to:*David Kirkpatrick , author of The Facebook Effect *David Kirkpatrick , American film producer, studio executive and screenwriter...
and Earl Lestz
Earl Lestz
Earl Lestz is the Master Planning Director of Plymouth Rock Studios, a new film and television studio being developed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Lestz was formerly President of the Studio Group at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles from 1985 to 2005. Lestz serves as vice chair on the Executive...
, licensed the rights to the iconic Hollywood sign from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in May 2008, and plan to build to a “Hollywood East” sign in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the future home of the studio. Various versions of the sign have been created by the studio, many of which are made out of natural materials to emphasize the studio's commitment to sustainability.