Cinespace to create on-site production incubator

Based on the success of DePaul’s Cinema School teaming up with Cinespace for on-site stage and classroom space, the studio is moving forward with plans to open the doors of a production incubator this fall.

Tentatively being called “Stage 18,” the training center will be situated in a 20,000 sq. ft. historic, single-story building at 16th and S. Rockwell that’s part of Cinespace’s 50 acre campus.  

Dating back to the late 1800s, the building was once used as a stable for the horses that carted the finished steel products around the city.

Building rehabbing is scheduled to start in October, “although the actual start date will depend on how many pilots we’ll be filming here this summer,” says Alex Pissios, Cinespace president. 

“We’re in a holding pattern until mid-May when Hollywood greenlight decisions will be made.” 

Stage 18 will welcome all area colleges with film studies programs, as well as organizations like Jeff McCarter’s Free Spirit Media training for minority high school students.

“We plan to bring these young aspiring filmmakers together under one roof, where they will be professionally trained as part of their school studies,” Pissios says. 

“The synergy of having them under one roof will be unreal.”

Cinespace is the first studio in the US, and only one of two studios, to open its stages and facilities to college film students.

Pissios’ notes that since DePaul started its studio location program two years ago, its School of Cinema’s enrollment shot up 67%.