Donnybrook Production Services

Every once and a great while, the Philly Film Office ‘Hotline’ offers up some legitimate virtual body dragging.  In my case, it happened when a listing posted by Producer/Director Bernard Gray of Diamond Entertainment Productions caught my attention.  The post led me to reach out to Bernard directly, and it didn’t take me long to realize he was a sharp fella.

Bernard, along with his Diamond Entertainment producing partner Richard Harris, are currently developing a feature film script penned by local Philly Screenwriter David J. Greenberg.  “Angus” tells the story of Brian Brooks, a successful model who has grown tired of being treated like a piece of meat, and decides to make a go at a possible acting career…awkward & laughable/relatable moments ensue.

This actually marks my second go-round with Writer David Greenberg, as we optioned a script of his while I was staff producing at GK…& as for Bernard and Richard, I’m intrigued, and eager to see where the collaborative possibilities might lead.

Having spent a part of this past weekend helping out with some loose ends on the indie feature “Backwards”, as they were back in the saddle for some pick-up footage, I’m hearing rumors that the film is coming together quite nicely.  And while it was fun to get back into the field with a collection of the department heads & crew again, I’ll admit to being at least mildly distracted by NLDS Game 1 (the Fightin’s were also hosting the visiting Card’s down @ CBP).

While balancing my UPM-esque duties with my addictive Phil’s fever, I was reflecting on the growing collection of local philmmakers that are proud to set their sticks in the Greater Philly region.  The gents over at the South Jersey-based Kphat Productions always seem to be up to something feature-film related, and have begun to amass an impressive collection of company credits.  Meanwhile, the Producer/Director team of  James Madison &  Nic Reader seem to be ready to take their Expressway Productions moniker to the next level, hot on the heels of their successful short film collaboration “Runner”.  And with the likes of Ben Hickernell’s “Backwards”, the environmentally conscious indie darling “Future Weather”, and the horror treat “Alpha Girls” all bound to hit screens in the coming year, we could be in store for a potential hat-trick of Philly-based philm fare witnessing some much deserved exposure.

As I ramp up talks this week with the philmmakers behind the comedy “Angus”, penned by local screenwriter David Greenberg, I remain as optimistic as ever that Philly will soon witness its full potential as a viable and sustaining film market.

An interesting little tidbit, which some of you may know, but the Philadelphia Phillies are quite the sustaining club.  Established in 1883, the Fightin’s are the oldest, continuous one-name/one-city franchise in all of professional sports…now that’s quite an impressive claim.  And like their MLB namesake, the CoBL has a similar work ethic, and strives to adhere to a matched sense of continuity.

A recent example of this is a small victory for the City’s filmmaker community, which benefited by the renewal of the ever-so-helpful Film Tax Credit for at least one more year.  This was in large part due to the constant lobbying efforts of the Pennsylvania Film Industry Association (PaFIA).  The Association has worked tirelessly over the past 18+ months to be a unified voice for the Film & Video Production Industry in PA.  And while the victory was no doubt an impressive milestone, PaFIA’s efforts are a constant uphill struggle as they work to impact policy making in Harrisburg on the film community’s behalf.  To help in the effort, you can think about an annual membership…by doing so, you will become a part of the collective effort.  The Association has set the goal of reaching 1500 members this year, and currently sit at roughly the 65% mark, so help push them over the edge and join the effort today!