The City of Allen Park has hired S3 Entertainment Group to operate and manage the city’s burgeoning film center. The company will begin overseeing operations immediately.
Jeff Spillman, CEO/managing partner of S3 Entertainment Group, will use his veteran status as a producer and financier and his Los Angeles connections to draw new features and film business to the location.
S3 Entertainment Group LLC opened its first facility in Ferndale and has been focused on building the industry’s infrastructure by offering financing, training through the FIT (Film Industry Training) program and production assistance on films.
S3 Entertainment has offices in Ferndale, Michigan; Los Angeles, California, and Atlanta, Georgia.
The company opened S3 Studios in February, 2010 in Madison Heights. That location offers a 25,000-sq. ft. sound stage and is a full-service film and television studio, which has helped grow its capabilities as a major supplier for the region.
Spillman co-produced “The Irishman” and has producer credits on “Gran Torino” and the TV series “The Wannabees”, one of the first television series to be shot and produced in Michigan, by a Michigan crew.
The City of Allen Park is fast-becoming a film production destination after targeting the site located on Southfield Road, south of I-94 in 2009, a former Visteon automotive plant.
State and local officials, business owners and the public attended a press conference to announce the deal, which was to kick start the film industry in the region.
According to a statement from city officials, the facility is a film-friendly, low-cost production center with multiple stages and production space. Six new businesses are slated to rent space.
Possible new tenants include the Center for Film Studies, which is moving operations from Madison Heights, and Global Renaissance Entertainment Group, currently in negotiations to purchase and operate 104 acres at the site.
Current tenants include the Lifton Institute for Media Training, Unity Studios and the Stautzenberger Institute, which moved from Livonia in December.
More details will follow as this story unfolds.
S3 Entertainment’s phone is 248/547-7334.
