‘High School Musical 3′ gets its own reality event
Producers of “High School Musical 3″ are planning a reality TV show that will be filmed in Murray and broadcast on ABC in August, ahead of the movie’s nationwide release.
“The reason it’s going to be shot here is because I want to, and we’re going to shoot it at Murray High School,” producer Bill Borden said Friday at a board meeting of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
The board voted to award Derby Productions Inc. a tax-rebate incentive of up to $279,908 to defray the cost of producing the show, which will be similar to “American Idol,” the reality-competition show on Fox.
Borden said a casting search in Florida and Los Angeles yielded young talents who will be brought to Murray to film the “High School Musical”-themed competition. Contestants will be booted from the twice-a-week show until a winner is chosen.
Most filming will take place between June 1 and July 2.
The grand prize will be a recording contract and a chance to sing during the closing credits of “High School Musical 3,” which is being shot at East High School in Salt Lake City and should reach theaters in October.
Borden also received a tax-rebate incentive of up to $500,000 to film “Big Eyes,” a movie about painter Margaret Keane. Her husband, Walter Keane, claimed her popular paintings of children with oversized eyes were his work.
Filming of the $10 million movie, starring Kate Hudson and Thomas Hayden Church, will start this month and run through September. Utah’s portion of the filming will last 30 days and employ a crew of 110 people, whose salaries will average $2,000 a week.
In asking GOED for financial help, Borden said the incentive would be critical to the movie’s success. He said the award will permit producers to shoot for 36 days instead of 25, allowing for a higher-quality film.
“We wouldn’t be able to make ‘Big Eyes’ the way we want to make it if we didn’t have the $500,000. It’s just that simple,” Borden said.
Borden was accompanied by Maryann Hughes, vice president of production planning for Walt Disney Pictures, the production company developing “High School Musical 3.”
Hughes said Utah is unlikely to attract bigger-budget movies unless the Legislature increases the incentives it offers film companies. She said all but a handful of states now compete to land movie productions, a massive change from 2002, when Louisiana became the first state to offer “viable production incentives.”
“Quite frankly, the availability and the amount of production incentives becomes a critical factor in determining whether or not we actually make the film and where we are going to make the film,” Hughes said.
GOED Vice Chairman Jerry Oldroyd said his group will discuss whether incentives Utah can provide filmmakers are adequate or whether the $500,000 cap for individual projects in the Motion Picture Incentive Fund should be increased next legislative session.
“Our incentives are strong, but in a very limited area,” Oldroyd said later, adding “$500,000 makes it very hard to go out and get” bigger-budget movies.
Tags: 10 million, american idol, big eyes, bill borden, board meeting, competition show, financial help, grand prize, kate hudson, margaret keane, murray high school, office of economic development, quality film, reality tv show, salaries, salt lake city, tax rebate, theaters, thomas hayden church, walter keane