Construction of 7,500-sq. ft. of office space for Stage 18 at Cinespace Studios, the area’s first media and entertainment incubator, will start shortly and is expected to be finished within the next four months.
When completed, says Angie Gaffney of Black Apple Media, co-founder of Stage 18, “We will have a variety of small to large office suites, some open shared office space, conference rooms, a kitchen and cafeteria.”
Stage 18 will include a stage when the 12,000-sq. ft. facility is totally completed in late summer. Offices will be adjacent to the stage, located in Cinespace’s Center Building at 16th and Rockwell.
Stage 18’s mission, says Gaffney, is to provide space for work, programs and events that will help filmmakers to create projects and take them from script, through production, and ultimately to pitch the project to potential investors.
“Everyone will have access to Stage 18 services and programs,” Gaffney says, by becoming a member and paying a tiered-scale monthly membership fee. The level of membership will correspond to the space they occupy.
Monthly membership fees are $250 for general access; $450 for a dedicated desk; $750 for a small private office and $1,000 for a large private office.
Applications for membership began last November and 64 applications been received to date. “We’re aiming for 200 members who will have some kind of occupancy within the facility,” Gaffney says.
Also: Cinespace is completing construction of two new, giant 22,000-sq. ft. stages in the South Building. One will be a set for writer/director Steve Conrad’s Netflix series, “Patriot,” and the other will be a new set for NBC’s “Chicago Med.”
