The Alabama legislature is working to make Hollywood feel more at home in our state. A bill is making its way through the Senate in Montgomery to add incentives for people who make movies or commercials here in Alabama. APR student reporter Barry Carmichael spoke to one Mobile resident whose movie making experience including meeting the actor who played Luke Skywalker.
“I always wanted to be in a movie, and so I have provided weather services for a number of movies that were kind of down around fair hope," said John Oldshue. He built a career as a television weathercaster. But, along with that, the notion of working in Hollywood was there…
That part was a walk on as a rabbi in the film, “The Life of Chuck.”
"They put us on a shuttle bus and took us up to the place where the shoot was going to be, which was in Daphne, at a church," Oldshue recalled.
The movie was based on a novel by Stephen King and shot on location in the Mobile area. Oldshue says it’s not as glamorous as it sounds…
“And we sat in the church, and the scene was actually out in a graveyard. It was a funeral that was taking place. And so, yeah, there's a lot of waiting around there," he said.
John Oldshue may get more opportunities like this if Alabama Senate Bill one seventy-seven does what its sponsors hope it will do. Starting with changing the name of the Alabama Film Office to the Alabama Entertainment Office. The plan would include music production along with movies and commercials. And it would include three million dollars in incentives to bring future projects to Alabama.
“Unfortunately, we just lost one project to Kentucky that we worked hard on. But you know, you win some, you lose some," said Theresa Hulligan, with the North Alabama Film Office.
The state has some film incentives and most every state does. And you know, sometimes the production companies are looking for their best Investment. The motion picture website IMDB lists Huntsville as the location for shooting films and documentaries like "Alabama Rose," "Bizarro," and "When We Were Shuttle.”
Theresa Hulligan says fans of novelist Karen Kingsbury can stream an adaptation of her book, “Someone Like You.”
"There were segments of it that were filmed on Smith Lake in our territory," she said. "And it was a hit at the box office. It is now, I believe, on Netflix, a great love story. Just recently released from the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center, they had filmed some out there for a new movie. They have a lot of filming going on at the Space and Rocket Center.”
“Oh yeah, it was great. I think it’s going to be a really good movie," recalled John Oldshue.
We met him at the beginning of our story. He’s talking his work as an extra on the set of the new Stephen Kind movie, The Life of Chuck. Oldshue says that he’d like to build on his experience with future film projects, and that part of that experience was getting direction from film maker, Mike Flanagan, when Oldshue played a rabbi delivering a memorial service at a cemetery.
“You need to actually move your mouth because we’re going to be filming this shot, and you’ve got to look like you’re saying something to the congregation here and so, I got some stage directions from Mike Flanagan," Oldshue said.
And if legislation from Montgomery succeeds, there may be additional incentives to help him get that next part.
