The film rolls in the background while the plows roll forward in the foreground. G-Star School of the Arts and the G-Star Studios is building the largest state-of-the-art motion picture sound stage in south Florida which is also one of the largest in the entire state.
Greg Hauptner, G-Star Founder and CEO/CFO, signed the construction loan with Orion Bank on Friday, September 25th. Architectural firm Saltz-Michelson is working with the Dooley Mack construction company while Carlton-Fields performed the legal work. Thus the three-year-long process will soon sprout a shiny new and versatile, 45 foot high, state-of-the-art sound stage.
Similar in size to the Warner Bros. Los Angeles facility; G-Star’s will be the singular sound stage in the world that converts to a theater for live performances and movie premieres. Special waterproofing and drainage for hurricane-type scenes and a dynamic smoke elimination system for forest fire-type scenes will add to its unique capacity. An impressive two-story atrium area beckons theater/premiere receptions with wet bar and variety amenities ambitious to global visitors. Adjacent to the sound stage is G-Star’s stand-alone Key West-style house with changing rooms, full bath, kitchen and business/computer rooms that double for use as a green room for major movie stars and their staff.
The new sound stage will combine with the already existing 93,000 sq. ft. G-Star Studios movie studio complex on its 10.5 acre lot. This impressive facility fronts the heavily-traveled Congress Avenue where major donors may see their names in lights!
Over 40 feature films, music videos, commercials and major magazine photography shoots have been produced on campus. The new sound stage will expand and increase G-Star’s local feature film production from its current budget of up to the $10 million range to the $25 to $50 million range. Physically, the sound stage will be similar in size as those in LA used for the filming of Jurassic Park III, The Incredible Hulk I & II, and where Two and a Half Men and Desperate Housewives are shot today.
G-Star School of the Arts for Motion Pictures and Broadcasting is a charter high school. Its academic mission heralds a 96% graduation rate with 95% of its students attending colleges with premier film programs such as USC, UCLA, NYU and FSU. G-Star’s artistic mission is to build a film industry to employ its students post college graduation, thus returning their exemplary resources full circle back home to Palm Beach. A new scholarship program created by G-Star’s Foundation for Arts and Education which funded the school’s first feature-length film this summer entitled It’s a Dog Gone Tale: Destiny’s Stand. Star talent included Golden Globe and Tony winner Barry Bostwick and Ron Palillo, star of Welcome Back, Kotter and 150 TV shows and feature films; LA and NY film industry professionals including Academy Award winner Bobby Moresco, Co-writer & Co-producer of Crash and Million Dollar Baby and Dean Lyon, Special Visual Effects Supervisor on all three Lord of the Rings movies; plus 125 G-Star current and past students during their summer high school and college breaks. The G-Star Foundation’s goal is to fund up to four feature films annually, thus creating a self-sustaining film industry at its Studios located in Palm Beach County. The new sound stage grand opening is slated for April, 2010 featuring the world premiere of Destiny’s Stand.
For further information regarding the G-Star School or the Arts or its Foundation, please visit www.gstarschool.org or www.gstarfoundation.org.
