FLINT: COMEDY FEATURE “Tetherball,” a feature comedy that was initially scheduled to shoot in Ann Arbor switched to Flint when the producers found more of the locations they needed in the story about four underdog telemarketers who find glory revisiting their favorite playground activity.
The comedy, a NitroBlitz Production, is directed by Christopher Nickin; executive producers are Rick Dawson, who wrote the script, and Joel Reisig of NitroBlitz Productions.
“Tetherball” is shooting in Flint now until the end of October. It stars Andy Dick, (“Newsradio”), Dustin Diamond (“Saved by the Bell”) and Dawson.
Production services are being provided by Flint-based full-service Manifest Productions, owned and operated by Clemon Crum. Once they learned “Tetherball” would be funded, Crum and executive assistant Jeff Swerdan mobilized resources to find both the locales and the talent that would support the filmmakers’ needs.
DETROIT: STUDIO MOVES Unity Studios is temporarily relocating to a corporate office at Detroit’s Tech Town business incubator and abandoning plans to build a production studio in Allen Park.
Led by former Hollywood film executive, Jimmy Lifton, Unity Studios and the Lifton Studio for Media Skills, which trains Michigan residents for film industry jobs, has opted out of its lease.
A spokesman said the company wanted to be in Detroit where the bulk of the film action is. The owners, however, started an eviction process in May, citing missed rent payments and unmet requirements.
