This fall has been a very busy one for PropTarts. We were thrilled at the raising of the film tax incentive and have already noticed a buzz as local independent features begin to plan for 2010. There are many more films on the table than there have been in the past couple of years and we have been approached about several promising projects. After a long dry summer we finally got a taste of filmmaking again.
Sarah provided the props for Hellphone, a “micro-budget horror action filmwith comic elements”. The feature, written and directed by Jason Pierce (The Film Whisperer) and produced and shot by Stephen van Vuuren (SV2 Studios), is about a demon that possesses a cell phone in a small North Carolina town and begins to wreak revengeful havoc. The tag line says it all: hang up or die. www.hellphonefilm.com.
Sophia and Sarah both worked on the Advent Film Group, LLC feature production of One Good Man, starring local actors Burgess Jenkins, Mark Joy and Keith Harris. Sarah was production designer; Sophia handled set decoration and props. The Christian themed film about baseball and father/son relationships, employed professional department keys, who mentored a crew comprised of highly motivated interns from around the country. www.adventfilmgroup.com.
PropTarts has worked for several years with the International Civil Rights Center & Museum (www.sitinmovement.org) in Greensboro, NC. This fall, our display depicting the 1960 Greensboro Sit-In Woolworth’s lunch counter went to Washington, DC for the Annual Legislative Conference held by theCongressional Black Caucus Foundation. Exhibitors were rushed from the building as the secret service swept the building prior to a visit by the President. Let’s hope he got a chance to see our work.
We spent several days on a Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC shoot produced by Rabbit out of NYC, directed by Matthew Ogens (Confessions of a Super Hero) and DP’d by Dion Beebe (Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago). The spots featured local small business owners who are insured by BCBS.
We rejoined our friends at Cinema Partners for a promotional piece for 2009 ACC Basketball season. Twelve coaches, eleven priceless trophies and one basketball commissioner were artfully wrangled onto a locker-room set at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro. You can see our previous work on the ACC Football Kick-off on their website atwww.cinemapartners.com.
Sophia was lucky enough to art direct a network promo shoot for a Disney film, Old Dogs starring John Travolta and Robin Williams. The folks at Red Truck Films (www.redtruckfilms.com), who produced the shoot, even camouflaged the dumpsters to ensure the stars had a pleasant time in Raleigh at TrailBlazer Studios (www.trailblazerstudios.com).
Don’t miss Mississippi Damned (www.mississippidamned.com) at the Cucalorus Film Festival (www.cucalorus.org) on November 14 and 15. The feature, which shot in Ahoskie, NC, cleaned up recently at the Chicago Film Festival where it won Jury Award for Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress. Sarah was prop master for the film.
We are pretty sure that 2010 will be the year that film comes back to North Carolina and we look forward to being a part of it.
PropTarts, Inc. is a set and prop shop located in Burlington, NC.
Co-owners are Sarah Costello and Sophia Martinez Moore.
