Trident Tech ‘Enterprise Campus’ to house film studios

A movie studio complex is in the works for the Lowcountry. Tentatively called Trident Studios of South Carolina, the complex is slated to occupy 10 to 15 acres of Trident Technical College’s forthcoming Enterprise Campus, a 38-acre parcel owned by the college and adjacent to the college’s main campus in North Charleston.

The complex will consist of six studios, possibly ranging from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet, according to Trident Technical College President Mary Thornley.

The studios could be used for producing television programs and commercials in addition to movies, said Kaye Lingle Koonce, the college’s senior vice president and general counsel.

Studio construction could begin during the 2006-2007 academic year, Thornley said.

However, S.C. Film Commissioner Jeff Monks refrained from saying when the construction would get underway, adding that the S.C. Film Commission is still talking with private investors and Hollywood entities to make this project a reality.

“This is our first shot at a movie studio, and we want to make sure we get it right,” Monks said.

Monks would not say how much the studio complex would cost, adding that a price tag depends on how much investors are willing to invest.

He also refrained from putting a dollar figure on the studio complex’s potential economic impact.

However, Monks did say the studios would make the Lowcountry “the focus” in South Carolina for film and television crews and their suppliers and serve as the beginning of a film industry cluster.

EUE Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, N.C., generates an annual economic impact of about $160 million on the Wilmington area, according to a study conducted 10 years ago by William Hall, director of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington’s Center for Business and Economic Services. The studio supports about 10,000 jobs. Because North Carolina’s film industry is not as vibrant as it once was, EUE Screen Gems Studios’ economic impact has changed little over the past decade, Hall added.

As for what it can cost to build a movie studio complex, Frank Capra Jr., president of EUE Screen Gems, is building in Connecticut a complex comprising motion-picture studios, a science and entertainment center and a multimedia complex for $1 billion.

Enterprise Campus

The state’s desire for establishing movie studios is illustrated by the speedy creation of the Trident Technical College Enterprise Campus Authority Act. Legislation for the campus was introduced in April, passed in May and signed into law by Gov. Mark Sanford in June.

The purpose of the campus is “to promote and enhance the economic development of this state through the location and development of the film industries and high-technology businesses and industries,” the act says.

Most of the businesses on the campus will be related to the film industry, which is knowledge-based, technology-driven and known for high wages. This is the economic ideal espoused by experts ranging from South Carolina financier Darla Moore, for whom the University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business is named, to the consultants at AngelouEconomics, whose much-publicized report advised the Lowcountry to develop a “creative industries” cluster. A film industry could be the nucleus of that cluster.

The Enterprise Campus also provides Trident Technical College room for expansion. Thornley envisions moving the college’s Film, Media and Visual Arts department, which enrolls about 400 students, to the campus; other related technology programs could follow.

Industry generator

In addition to helping South Carolina develop its own film industry, the movie studio complex most likely will make it easier for the state to lure more Hollywood productions.

Typically, when a Hollywood production sets up shop in the state, it will spend between 33% and 50% of its entire budget in the community in which it is filming, according to Monks.

That means big bucks for local economies. For instance, actor-director Mel Gibson’s 2000 feature film “The Patriot” spent $215,000 a day for the 153 days it spent filming in South Carolina. The movie generated more than $33 million of revenue for the state’s economy.

Land and incentives

In addition to the available land next to Trident’s main campus, the state’s film-production incentives have helped draw interest in Trident Studios of South Carolina from Hollywood and private investors from around the country, Monks said.

Productions that film in South Carolina get up to a 20% cash rebate on employee wages and up to a 30% cash rebate on supplier expenditures if they spend at least $1 million in the state.

The 20% wage rebate applies to all crew, cast and extras who earn less than $1 million and whose wages are subject to the state’s withholding tax. The 30% supplier rebate applies to all goods and services the production company acquires from a S.C. supplier and on certain out-of-state expenses such as camera rentals and film.

Additionally, all production companies spending more than $250,000 in South Carolina are exempt from sales and accommodations taxes and are eligible to use state-owned properties for location shots free of charge.

Local actor and filmmaker Clarence Felder, who with his wife Chris Weatherhead owns the Folly Beach-based film production company Moving Images Group, has said what S.C. needs to launch its own film industry is a “red barn,” a facility large enough for a soundstage and a movie set that South Carolina film-production companies could rent.

Dennis Quick is senior staff writer at the Business Journal. E-mail him at [email protected].