It seems every time you turn around there’s a Massachusetts-centric film being released, whether it’s Ben Affleck’s crime drama Live by Night, the Boston Marathon bombing story Patriots Day, or Manchester by the Sea, writer-director Kenneth Lonergan’s quietly devastating drama about loss set on the North Shore.
In 2016 alone, according to the Massachusetts Film Office and its “Made in Mass” web page, 21 productions—including feature films, television shows, and documentaries—spent time in Massachusetts. Six of those filmed in whole or in part on the North Shore.
But it’s Manchester by the Sea, which was filmed in 2015, that’s shined the brightest light on the region’s filmmaking industry. It’s been an awards season favorite, with critics focusing on performances by Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, and Lucas Hedges, along with writer and director Kenneth Lonergan.
For local viewers, there’s added interest: watching locations you know personally on screen. Plus, Manchester by the Sea may be the one movie that conveys just how difficult a New England winter can be to live through.
How Massachusetts, and in particular the North Shore, became a hot spot for filmmaking is pretty simple. First, the topography is diverse and stunningly beautiful. Second, the state offers a tax incentive, first available in 2006.
There are lots of details in the fine print, but it basically breaks down like this: Qualifying productions that spend at least $50,000 may receive a tax credit that equals 25 percent of the salaries and costs of commercials, films, and TV shows shot in the Commonwealth. That means if you meet all the requirements, the production may save—and this is not a technical term—a veritable boatload of money in taxes. Credits may be used to pay down the production’s tax liability, sold through a licensed broker, or sold back to the state for 90 percent of their value.
Kevin Walsh, a producer on Manchester by the Sea, says the tax credit was important for the production. “Manchester is one of three movies I’ve made in Massachusetts, and it’s awesome. There are great crews. I grew up outside Boston and, selfishly, I can visit home when I make a movie. I wouldn’t be able to do that if there were no tax credit.”
Campbell McInnes, who with Mark Ciardi produced the upcoming Chappaquiddick, about Ted Kennedy’s 1969 accident, tells a similar story. “If there wasn’t a tax credit, it would have been very, very hard to come to Massachusetts,” he says.
Aside from shooting a few days in Boston and in Edgartown, McInnes says the production stayed north of the city. “We were based in Peabody, and we shot all over the North Shore. We were in Beverly Farms, we were up in Rockport, which doubled for Edgartown.”
He adds, “We really had a great experience. You can’t re-create the feel of a New England town on a studio backlot. I think the movie is so much stronger because coastal New England is a character in the film.”
The boost in Massachusetts’s profile has been a boon to local film workers, too. Chris O’Donnell, the business manager for IATSE Local 481, the union that represents technicians and craftspeople, says membership has increased from about 350 people to nearly 900 since the tax incentive went into effect in 2006. Though the union represents New England, he says the majority of the members are Massachusetts residents.
Those workers are essential to making the best movie possible, says Walsh. He’s used the same local gaffer (head electrician) and sound mixer on each of his movies as producer, including Manchester by the Sea. “With any movie or any endeavor, you have to have the right team,” he says. “And when you have the right team, you can make really good products. If you don’t have the right team, you can’t. In Massachusetts you can find the right team.”
The incentive program has detractors, however. Former Governor Deval Patrick proposed capping the tax credit, and Governor Charlie Baker tried to eliminate it. Neither happened, which is good news, says Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante, who represents the 5th Essex District and is chair of the Joint Community Development and Small Business Committee.
“What I love is that the credit benefits a broad spectrum of cities and towns across the Commonwealth,” she says. “It’s not just focused in biotech or tech hubs. It gets to my district, Rockport, and Gloucester. It creates jobs for people in that middle skills gap. It allows carpenters to work on sets, restaurants to prosper from meals being ordered. It aids tailors who are good at costume design.”
The tax incentive has made a big difference to Kai Quinlan, a location manager on Manchester by the Sea, Chappaquiddick, and other films. She credits it with supplying steady work, which has enabled her to purchase a home. She also clears up a common misconception about film work.
“One of the misunderstandings is that [film work] is a hobby or a part-time gig,” she says. “But this is all I’ve done for the past decade, and it’s a full-time job. Like any contractor, you could have a break between gigs, but they may overlap. In the locations world, we’re looking to train more people.”
She also describes the way a film production quietly injects money into local economies. “On Chappaquiddick we needed to shoot a beachfront lawn, and the owners would only let us shoot if we protected it. So we ran down to the local hardware store in Beverly and bought $471 worth of plywood [to cover the lawn] for a half-day shoot,” she says.
On any film, each department has stories like that, and they spend money at local businesses because they need to keep the show running.
But there are downsides to shooting in Massachusetts. During the winter of 2014-2015, Quinlan was scouting locations for Manchester by the Sea during the interminable snowstorms that blanketed the East Coast. “I was telling the director things like, ‘That will look great in the spring. There’s a beautiful house behind that 13-foot snowbank,’” she says with a laugh.
For Walsh, the weather ended up being a plus. “The story called for snow, and we were trying to shoot sooner. By the time we got to some of the scenes during the thawing, we added snow digitally. The weather played into the story nicely, and the inconvenience wasn’t too bad.”
Spoken like a true New Englander.