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By NANCY McCAULEY BRANSTETTERSpecial to The Oakland PressWhile talk swirled about building movie studios around Michigan, Harold Cronk and Mathew Tailford quietly built 10 West Studios in Manistee, in the northwest part of the state.“We repurposed seven dry dock marine buildings, and now have a 150,000-square-foot, fullservice studio with plenty of parking space for semi trucks, multimillion dollar camera, lighting and equipment packages and are ready to roll,”Cronk said10 West Studios has a strategic allegiance with HD Studios of Farmington Hills. That means HD Studios will process and edit the film for 10 West Studios and then transfer it to a high definition format.“We are very excited to work with Harold and his team. We have the only film lab in the state so we will be very involved with their productions,” said Ginny Hart, HD Studios’ vice president of sales.It’s been a long journey for Cronk, who started as an art teacher in northwestern Michigan. He used his summers away from the classroom to work on film productions. He convinced his wife to move to Los Angeles in 2005 to break into the movie business.It didn’t take long for Hollywood to notice Cronk. In 2006, Cronk won the Best Director award at the Beverly Hills Film Festival for a film he shot in Michigan called “War Prayer.” That award opened some important doors for him.“I signed a multipicture deal with Origin Entertainment and the first of those projects will be a children’s comedy adventure film, shot right here at 10 West Studios,” Cronk said.The filmmakers want to work in their home state and bring new opportunities to their local community of Manistee.“Manistee is just beautiful,” Cronk said. “It’s known as the Victorian Port City. The downtown main street has amazing architecture and looks like a Hollywood back lot. With the support we have from the local community, shooting here will be a delight.”Cronk and Tailford partnered with Jeff Seng of Seng Marina to convert the yacht storage building into 10 West Studios.“It made perfect sense. The economy has taken a toll on yachting, so this is a great use of space,” Cronk said. “And we are very close to the water should we need it for a scene.”Infrastructure and crew base are two critical issues for any production looking to make a movie in Michigan. While a scramble is under way to build studios in southeast Michigan, Cronk believes he has both covered. 10 West offers both waterfront and ironworks stages from 15,000 to 45,000 square feet with ceilings from 30 to 55 feet.For film crews, 10 West Studios has partnered with West Shore Community College to use a federal grant from the Department of Labor and Economic Growth to create an eight-week film training course. The first class will graduate at the end of the week and will be ready for summer production work. Former students will work as grips, gaffers, trades and production assistants at the studio with cinematographer and 10 West Partner, Henry Joy of northwest Michigan.“The only cost to these folks is their time and energy. Most are unemployed or underemployed people who will soon have new careers. We want to support the community and they are supporting us,” said Cronk.Cronk said he believes this is the time Michigan filmmakers must get a foothold in the film industry. Looking ahead 10 years, Cronk said writers and actors will flourish on the coasts, but if homegrown movie makers will stay in Michigan and make their films here, the industry will flourish in the state.“I am from Michigan and am committed to this state. We won’t be those filmmakers that take the 40 percent state rebate and run back to L.A.” said Cronk.“We are here to stay. Our goal is make sure filmmakers have a great experience here. We want them to leave our studio smiling and happy.”
