Making movies locally?

PITTSFIELD -- With a major movie production recently taking place in New Lebanon, N.Y., and a 60-acre movie studio complex under construction in South Windsor, Conn., the region's movie industry professionals are promoting the idea of building the region's film industry labor pool and attracting more movie-making business to the area.

At The Colonial Theatre on Monday, Amy Zuckerman, founder of Valleywood -- the driving force behind the effort, extolled the wealth of film-making talent in Western Massachusetts, and announced an upcoming conference, called Film Tech, to help that talent connect with others and raise money to promote the area for movie-making opportunities.

"These are the kind of opportunities that move the creative economy here forward," said Megan Whilden, Pittsfield's director of cultural development. "It's very exciting that all of this energy is here."

Larry Jackson, of Amherst and a former movie studio executive, described how Mystic, Conn., was impacted economically after he brought the production of the 1988 movie "Mystic Pizza" to the town.

Aside from being the breakout vehicle for Julie Roberts and Annabeth Gish, it ended up quadrupling tourism for the area and pumping up business at the pizza shop, Jackson said.

"The movie audience craves seeing other parts of America," Jackson said. "There is a great craving for something that isn't police cars careening down the same L.A. streets.

That's why I moved back here [to New England]. We can train and educate people in these skills and make it more feasible to make movies here."

Jackson, now a film instructor at New York University and an independent producer and director, has served as senior vice president for production at Samuel Goldwyn Company and vice president in charge of production at Orion Pictures.

Film Tech is billed as "a business and professional development exhibition and showcase" from 5:30 to 8:45 p.m. at the Colonial. It is targeted at anyone seeking contract work, jobs or internships in businesses that support the film industry. There is still room for exhibitors at the conference. Registration is available at www.appilistic.com/
_admin/FilmTech.

Admission to the exhibit hall is $15 for the general public and $10 for students. Admission to the program is also $15 and $10 for students. Admission to both is $20 and $15 for students.

Jackson will be a speaker at the Nov. 9 event at The Colonial. Also featured will be Eugene Mamut, owner of the Animagic Museum in Lee and a digital optical producer who won an Academy Award for his special effects work in "The Predator." He also worked on films like "Ghost Dad," "9-to-5" and "Dirty Dancing."