Advocate article by By NICHOLE DUPONT
January 6, 2010
The next time you have your coffee at the local diner, don't be surprised if Sarah Jessica Parker is at the table next to you. Thanks to the Berkshire Film and Media Commission, the county is now a visible and viable location for film production crews all over the world.
The BFMC had its official launch party on Dec. 6 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. In his launch speech, BFMC acting chair and Berkshire native William Beautyman said the commission hopes "that Berkshire County will play a more active role in filmmaking."
"In the 20 years that I have been the western Massachusetts representative to (the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), the number of major films that have been shot in our neck of the woods can be counted on one hand," Beautyman said.
Beautyman, who is the president of Limelight Productions in Lee, has much to gain from visiting production crews. So, too, do the thousands of Berkshire businesses. According to BFMC's executive director, Diane Pearlman, bringing Hollywood to western Massachusetts is a win-win situation.
"Fourteen films were shot in Massachusetts last year, bringing $359 million to the state," she said. "Yet not one was shot in Berkshire County."