Movies like “The Blues Brothers,” “The Untouchables,” and “Risky Business” are iconic in part because of where they were made – Chicago. But all too often a movie that is set in Chicago isn’t filmed 
here. The new 450,000 square-foot Cinespace Chicago Film Studios should help change that.
World Business Chicago worked for more than a year on the proposed new studio project, coordinating communications between the development team and city/state agencies that were part of the discussions. The end result was recently announced by Governor Quinn: $5 million in capital grants for the new state-of-the-art studio space. Formerly Ryerson Steel, the site is located on Chicago’s southwest side and has plenty of industry insiders talking about shooting in Chicago. “With this new stage space available, we are the complete package – a truly world class film destination” said Governor Quinn.
The current project is actually just the first installment. Cinespace plans to purchase the remainder of the nearly 50-acre Ryerson site in phases. The studio will be the largest production lot in North America outside of Hollywood and comes on the heels of an Illinois Film Office (IFO) report that says the $161 million spent in Illinois - and the more than 8,000 jobs created - in 2010 broke all previous records for TV and film production spending in the state.
The new space is currently housing production of the upcoming Kelsey Grammer TV drama “Boss” and has also hosted production for portions of “Transformers 3” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” The new studio space will have the capacity to house up to six film or TV productions at once, which would translate into thousands of jobs. According to Betsy Steinberg, managing director of the Illinois Film Office, the new space completes the picture so to speak. “We’ve always had great crews here as well as the tax credit, but this studio space is the final piece of the puzzle that will allow Chicago to offer producers the full package.”
Parts of the new space are still under construction will be completed in the next few months.
Illinois currently offers filmmakers a 30 percent tax credit for money spent on Illinois goods and services used during filming. According to Illinois Film Office figures, since its inception in 2003, the tax credit has brought more than half a billion dollars in revenue and more than 10,000 full-time jobs to the state.
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Photo of Transformers 3 film shoot in Chicago, CC By yooperann on Flickr
