It looks like a major feature film starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin has the green light to begin production in Massachusetts as soon as next month – including some shooting in Shelburne Falls. The film, called “Labor Day,” is based on a 2009 novel by Joyce Maynard. It follows a single mother and her thirteen year old son as their lives are altered when they pick up a bleeding stranger in their small New Hampshire mill town.
Governor Deval Patrick says the production’s choice to shoot in Massachusetts is thanks in part to film production tax credits, which first went into effect in 2006. He says the credits have helped grow the number of feature films shot in the state, which in turn help to boost the state’s economy.
“It brings a lot of jobs, keeps a lot of people in the arts employed on a more regular basis instead of quite as episodically as in the past, and it’s great. It also calls attention to the state.”
Mary Vilbon, executive director of the Shelburne Falls Area Business Association, says that particularly after the damage done to the town and local business during last year’s Tropical Storm Irene, she’s pleased to have the film production providing economic stimulus to Shelburne Falls.
“We’ve seen some trickle effect already with the number of people from the actual movie company who have been in town doing the planning for the movie by eating in our restaurants and shopping in our… galleries and shops.”
Vilbon says she can’t give many specifics about shooting locations or dates, but says the film will begin shooting sometime in June.