BEVERLY, MASS. (WHDH) - A special spot in Beverly where music has been coming to life since the 1950s may soon become the place where movies are made.
“Somehow, I came up with the idea to maybe building a movie studio here,” said Bill Hanney, owner of the North Shore Music Theater since 2010. And now he wants to take it from the stage to the screen.
“Boston, Salem, you can go anywhere to get exterior shots, but nobody has an infrastructure now to support major Hollywood makings,” he said.
The property is on a whopping 26 acres of land, and right now the theater is only using 6.
“We have plans to build 4 to 5 studios, all the production buildings for post and pre production, a small back lot,” he said.
Hanney says money is not a problem, especially since the film tax credit was made permanent in Massachusetts, luring even more movie makers to the state.
He’s already in talks with people in Hollywood and says city and state officials are all on board.
“Everybody supported it because, number one, the economic development and money coming in from a movie is huge… this is a money maker for the state and for all the communities, Beverly, everywhere,” he said.
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