William Vance (Bill) Arnold, Jr., North Carolina’s first Film Commissioner, died Sunday, August 14, 2011, at the age of 75, at his home in Raleigh. Named to the post in 1980 by then-Governor Jim Hunt, served in that role for 26 years, helping to establish the state’s production credentials, until his retirement in September 2006.
Hannah Grannemann, Managing Director of PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, has been elected secretary of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT).
Four of the state’s leading film organizations are among the 325 groups tapped to receive grants from the North Carolina Arts Council in the 2011-12 fiscal year.
While Wilmington is the foundation of the North Carolina film industry, more productions are expanding their locations and filming throughout the state as the new tax incentive continues to prove its worth.
UNCSA Film School Alum Craig Zoebel is one of eleven filmmakers selected for the $1.5 million Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute.
After getting picked up for an 8-episode run by Showtime, the series “Homeland” returns to North Carolina to film.
After three years of a nearly limitless film incentive program, Michigan’s governor Rick Snyder instituted a $25 million total annual cap on the program.
At the 13th annual RiverRun International Film Festival, acclaimed actor Michael Shannon received the festival’s Emerging Artist award.
The CW Network announced yesterday it has renewed the drama “One Tree Hill” for a ninth season, ordering 13 new episodes for the 2011-12 season. The Wilmington-shot show will likely start production in June or July.
The news of the past few months has been filled with film and television productions announcing plans to film in North Carolina. Where before the lead story on North Carolina’s film industry was about the loss of business to other states, slowly a new picture seems to have taken shape: one of a hopeful, yet cautious, optimism that the state’s film industry is heading for a renaissance.
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