No "Holly" In Preston's Woods

Filmmakers doubt Utopia could survive in area

By Stephen Kurczy

“I deal with Hollywood people every day and I know how they talk and how they B.S.,” said filmmaker Andrew Gernhard, of the grandiose promises made by Utopia Studios Ltd.

“If they were serious, they would let you know everything,” Gernhard said of Utopia’s failure to comply with the memorandum of understanding set out by the town of Preston and Utopia Studios. “It’s typical Hollywood.”

“If you told me Sony, or Warner Bros. or Universal than I would say ‘yeah,’ because they have an established core. Unless Utopia is thinking about building and then letting themselves be bought out.”

Gernhard’s suspicion was expressed two months ago by First Selectman Robert Congdon, soon after the Hospital Advisory Committee ended exclusive negotiations with the town.

As the manager of Tripeg Studios in Hamden, which has been used by Court TV and the National Geographic Channel since opening in October 2005, and the producer of the first movie ever made exclusively in Connecticut, “Predator Island,” Gernhard knows filmmaking. He also knows that nobody wants to do it in Connecticut.

“To put it into perspective, maybe one or two major movies shoot one scene in Connecticut once a year,” Gernhard said. “If this is such a hot commodity, why hasn’t “somebody else already done it?”

Tripeg has three studios, which are occupied two weeks out of every month.

“That’s good for around here,” Gernhard said.

Sonalysts Studios in Waterford has three film studios. Toronto, which Gernhard describes as a movie-Mecca, has three studios in the entire city. Screen Gems in North Carolina, the largest production studio east of Hollywood, has nine.

“That’s a lot of studios,” said Richard Lucas, professor emeritus of communication at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and the executive producer for Gernhard’s most recent film. “I’m not exactly sure that the area can satisfy that sort of business demand.”

Harsh winters and the mere fact that Hollywood already exists are reason enough to keep most film production in California.

Gernhard has gone out of business twice. If Utopia Studios wins the bid for the former Norwich State Hospital property, it would bring more films and filmmaking to Connecticut, which would translate for more business for Tripeg.

“We would love to see it,” Lucas said. “All the better for Tripeg studios.”

Gernhard said he’d be the first person to apply for a job at Utopia.

“I’m just afraid this is just a pipe dream,” Gernhard said.