Stephanie Garry, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, December 14, 2008
Curtis Graham, left, sets up a shot of Prime of Your Life through the stained glass at Dan Richardson’s St. Petersburg home Saturday with Kelly King, center, and Joe Boylan.
ST. PETERSBURG — Out on the bay, two kayakers are paddling.
Along Coffee Pot Boulevard, an elderly woman whirs by in a motorized scooter.
Cars stream past a Tudor house, the people inside gawking at the lights and cameras and crew.
"This is the Hudson," electrician Matt Darwin, 30, jokes, nodding at the bay.
"I thought it was the East River," replies Jayson Matteucci, 32.
Yes, onlookers, it's what you think it is. These people are making a real movie, and what's more, a film set in the Northeast — theoretically, New York. Shot right here in sunny St. Petersburg.
Granted, it's a low-budget independent feature that's more likely to land at your local Blockbuster than your local theater.
But it has all the parts: a fedora-topped director yelling "Cut!", a skinny actress balancing on high-heeled boots, and a film student asking, "Have you been fed?"
"It's a big production," said producer Cliff Gephardt, 38, of St. Petersburg. "It's not two guys with a Handycam."
The film is called Prime of Your Life, a romance/comedy/drama about a woman who finds herself through a series of cons with a man she met at a friend's funeral.
Nicole Abisinio, executive producer and an actor in the movie, hatched the idea of filming in Florida after reading 200 scripts and falling in love with Prime three years ago.
Originally from Sarasota, she wanted to prove that Florida could compete with Western states as a movie-making destination. She said Florida doesn't offer the tax incentives that other states use to lure film crews.
That the film needed a New York aura didn't stop them. They've been shooting at places around Tampa Bay that have an urban feel: Bella Brava, Munch's Restaurant, the Garden restaurant and bar, Sarasota's News and Books, a Clearwater pawn shop, the bus stop by Williams Park.
For Saturday's scene, they were at Dan Richardson's $3.5-million Tudor-style mansion, a stately brick structure that evoked cold weather climes.
The cameramen tried to avoid shooting the palm trees. Abisinio wore a fluffy, fur-lined coat as the lead character alongside Ryan Donowho, formerly of The OC. Working in a chilly breeze, Abisinio said, "it still beats filming in zero degrees all the time."
Richardson, 57, snapped photos of the hubbub and showed pictures of the original house, built in 1924, to admiring neighbors.
Pausing from practicing a scene, Donowho stood still as a woman with long curly hair showered him with hair spray.
He's not quite sure what cities he's been to in the whirlwind production. They've shot for about 21/2 weeks and have another week planned.
"I just kind of wake up and go where they tell me to go," Donowho said.
He has lived in New York for a decade and figures there are enough people who know the city to spot any anomalies. The producers hope the film will be the last word to convince the skeptics.
Behind a red brick wall, director Kelly King watched the scene play out on a flat-screen monitor. The crew ducked down as filming began. Scene 65. Take 2. Snap!
The couple walks out of the house, flirting and fighting, for the umpteenth time that day. They get in the car and slam the doors.
"Cut! Thank you," the director shouted.
Stephanie Garry can be reached at (727) 892-2374 or sgarry@sptimes.com.
[Last modified: Dec 13, 2008 10:43 PM]
937249
SHOW_AD
Loading comments...
Subscribe to the Times
Click here for daily delivery of the St. Petersburg Times.
News
