Central Illinois will boast the largest and best-equipped production facility outside of Chicago when Heroic Age Studios opens in Mount Zion next year – one that will “attract cost-conscious productions to the area,” says Eric Hector, studio founder and co-owner.
“We will offer the combination of Illinois tax credits, Downstate’s lower cost-of-living and new and unique food and lodgings options, to make us a competitive location,” he adds.
“If you build it, they will come,” says Dean Williams, president of the Central Illinois Film Commission. “The new studio should be a great addition to the state’s film industry and economic boon to Downstate Illinois.”
Mount Zion in Macon Country is a three-hour drive due south of Chicago, near Springfield.
Hector, creative director, has owned Heroic Age, a full-service video production, art and equipment rental company since 1992. In the late ‘90s he partnered with Tim Lynn, DP/editor, the studio’s production manager.
About 18 months ago, Heroic Age acquired the 18,000 sq. ft. former Mount Zion Grade School, originally built in the 1930s, on a two-acre plot of land, through private funding. Conversion started last fall.
The studio will be located on the 6,000 sq. ft. first floor of the three-story building. The cafeteria and gym are being converted into a 35×70-ft. sound stage with a ceiling height of 16-ft.
Fully-loaded, full-service facility 
When completed, it will have a 20×30-ft. green screen; 16x30x20-ft. curved white cyc wall; 14×14-ft.loading door, full lighting grid, recording studio with ADR booth, 24×34- screening room with Red 4K laser projector, multiple edit suites. It’s on the list to be one of the first to own a Red 6K Dragon camera.
Heroic Age Art Center/Art Collective, with 13 spaces, is on the second floor. Two spaces are currently occupied and a variety of art studios, exhibits and instruction are in the process of moving to fill the other spaces.
The third floor will be a unique studio attraction: on-site lodging for out-of-town production people and crew members.
Plus — the studio offers a 10% discount to productions based at their facility that source the majority of their crew and gear from Heroic Age.
“In order to get everything that we will offer under one roof, you’d have to go to Chicago,” Hector says.
Heroic Age modeled after comic book/movie companies
“It’s our goal that the sound stage and its related facilities and equipment will make us even more of a haven for producers of all sorts,” Hector says.
A Mount Zion native, Hector is an artist who began his career with Marvel Comics, starting Heroic Age as a comic book art company in 1992. He was an early adopter of the now-industry-standard use of Photoshop to color comics, a service he provided to DC, Dark Horse, and other comic book publishers.
When he partnered Lynn, they made Heroic Age a video production company. It was modeled after Dark Horse, which expanded from comics into film and animation with properties like the Hellboy franchise.
They also have several original comic book and movie properties in development, and the copyright to some 100 characters.
