"Big Stone Gap" evidence of burgeoning filmmaking industry in Virginia
Here's a follow-up to the story I wrote last week about my trip to the Virginia Film Festival to see the premiere of "Big Stone Gap."
Turns out, filmmaking is a growing industry in Virginia, thanks to our proximity to Washington D.C., and the fact that you can film everything from foggy mountains to the sandy beaches in our state.
"Big Stone Gap" was filmed in about three weeks in Big Stone in October-November 2013.
In the year since, the town has worked to get grant funding to open a visitor's center and be prepared for the movie-inspired tourism. A visual postcard will be on the DVD version of the movie encouraging people to come to the town and see the place that inspired a screenplay, four novels and a movie.
My favorite line from the story is:
"To have a movie filmed in your state that's titled after the name of a town is like winning the film production lottery." - Andy Edmunds, director of the Virginia Film Office.
