Written by on Sep 3, 2014. Posted in On Location

New Florida film studio to begin development in Miami from October

Work on a new film studio facility in Miami, Florida, is to start in mid-October, several weeks later than originally planned. City authorities hope that the Miami Entertainment Complex (MEC) will attract more shoots on the scale of Dolphin Tale 2 and long-running TV drama Burn Notice.

A building in Miami’s Media and Entertainment District is set to be retrofitted and the MEC facility will offer producers two 15,000-square-foot sound stages, as well as office space and editing suites. EUE/Screen Gems Studios signed an agreement earlier this year for an initial ten-year lease of the property.

“The MEC is such an important project for the Omni district, the City of Miami and the region, that we have painstakingly planned the construction to ensure its completion by the end of the summer in 2015,” said Pieter Bockweg, executive director of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, owner of the building to be adapted, in comments to Miami Today.

“We are excited to be narrowing down a date in October for the groundbreaking event and look forward to announcing that date in the coming weeks.”

The MEC development could help elevate the production appeal of Miami and the state. Florida is having trouble attracting high-profile features and TV productions as it has no money to fund its formal filming incentive, which offers a base rate of 20%. The industry has been lobbying for a boost to the fund for the past few years and was most recently turned down in May.

EUE/Screen Gems also manages a major studio facility in Wilmington, North Carolina. The site hosted Iron Man 3 but here the production industry also faces an uncertain future as state authorities have downgraded the filming incentive from next year.