The timing was unfortunate but the blizzard made cancellation Wednesday of an advance screening of “The Chicago Code’s” first episode inevitable.
The screening would’ve been held at the Kerosotes Icon theatre at 7 p.m. for the police and 8 p.m. for the 150 AFTRA actors who had roles in the series, their friends, DGA members, talent agents and casting directors
Eric Chaudron, AFTRA’s executive director, and Kathy Byrne, director of TV/theatrical contracts, invested a lot of time and energy arranging the premiere with L.A.-based Fox TV and AFTRA executives.
The 13-episode series starts airing Feb. 7 on Fox/32.
Rockit club owner Billy Dec graciously offered to host an after party, after the pre-show reception was cancelled. Dec joined AFTA for his appearance one of the episodes.
AFTRA plans to hold another event around the series in the next couple of weeks, says union spokesperson Linda Swenson. The next screening might include “Code” star Matt Laurie, who was expected to attend Wednesday’s reception. Dec says he’s still up for hosting an after party.
“CODE” CREATOR SHAWN RYAN, a Rockford native, had this to say about filming the part cop story, part city corruption in Chicago, in a recent interview with Macleans.com.
“When it came time to film, we got incredible support from both the city and the state, which is crucial in this day and age. We were able to film in some pretty amazing places in Chicago, able to use the city trains for filming and get them stopped and started when we needed to, which is something that would be very difficult to do in New York or Los Angeles,” he said.
“I do think this show has an epic grandeur, the way that it’s shot, the locations where it’s shot, the stories that we tell, they’re big and they’re brash, much like Chicago itself, I think.”
WE HEAR … the “Shameless” L.A. crew, 56 strong and including PAs, second ADs, prop people and the like who were brought in from the Coast, were shooting on a frozen lake in one of the Forest Preserves last week. Perhaps it was an effort to keep the budget in check that neither hot coffee nor craft service were provided at the location. Complaints, we’re told, fell on deaf ears.
FOUNDATION PROMOTED senior motion designer Kyle Shoup to associate creative director. He joined Foundation last summer from Lift, along with CD Curt Cooper, producer Lusia Boryczko and 3D/2D motion designer, Jesse Willis.
CHICAGO’S PRIZE WINNING SHORT, written, shot and finished for the 48 Hour Film Project last summer, will screen at the March 10-12 Miami Film Festival, as one of the 10 top winners from among the 80 participating 48 Hour cities.
RDS executive producer Mitch Apley headed the Chicago team. The 8-minute short, “Everything Tastes Better,” won 10 prizes in the local competition. If it wins at Miami, it gets a coveted slot at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
FILM WISCONSIN. Newly elected Gov. Scott Walker (R) couldn’t have tapped a better candidate than Dave Fantle for deputy secretary of Tourism for the Wisconsin Dept. of Tourism. He has moved to Madison after a 7-year stint as VP/PR of VISIT Milwaukee.
Fantle was a tireless key founder of Film Wisconsin, which initiated the state-legislative incentives and ran the film office. He said the opportunity to serve new tourism secretary, Stephanie Klett and Gov. Walker, a huge supporter of Wisconsin’s film industry, was “an opportunity of a lifetime.”
The Wisconsin legislature is expected to announce the state’s restored film tax incentives, which previous Gov. Jim Doyle effectively killed by putting a $500,000 spending cap on the incentives. —Ruth L Ratny
