This is not Jed Clampett’s cement pond. The new high-tech special-effects water tank and the massive “Dream Stage 10” that houses it on the lot of EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington is open for business and ready to create movie magic.

Studio executives anticipate producers in California and elsewhere will hear the water’s roar and locate big-budget projects here.

“We have a lot of curiosity and interest from producers,” said Bill Vassar, EUE/Screen Gems executive vice president.
The water tank is the centerpiece of the new 37,500-square-foot building on EUE/Screen Gems’ North 23rd Street property. It was filled for the first time last week as executives proudly unveiled the column-free sound stage, which has a concrete floor and resembles an aircraft hangar or large warehouse from the inside.

The 50-by-50-foot 90,000 gallonwater tank is built into the stage but can be drained and covered over for productions that don’t require water-related scenes. It can also be expanded out 10 feet to a 300,000-gallon capacity, adding more than 4 feet in depth.

An advertising and promotional campaign for Stage 10 is currently under way in Los Angeles, Vassar said. Vassar and state movie industry representatives detailed the sophisticated film and television production stage to about 120 producers and studio executives.

“They want to know what’s out here,” Vassar said. 

Vassar would not put a price tag on Stage 10. Deadline Hollywood Daily recently pegged the studio’s investment at $15 million. The sound stage is the third largest in the U.S. and the special effects water tank is one of the biggest in North America, said David Beavis, special effects coordinator.

Beavis echoed the sentiments of others involved in the North Carolina film industry by saying additional incentives to film in the state would draw more big-budget productions to facilities like Stage 10.

“They would die to be working in a place like this, but it all boils down to money and finding ways of making it work,” he said.

Stage 10 should also serve the purpose of attracting major
productions with budgets so big that location suitability, not expense, is the primary factor.

“I would hope this will probably get one or two ‘A’ productions that almost don’t care. They have a budget to make their film and they will go where they want to,” said Beavis, who just finished providing special effects for the Durham-filmed movie “Main Street.”

Beavis said EUE/Screen Gems hopes to lure “big blockbusters” of the “Terminator” and “Spider Man” variety.

“Once this gets well-known, I hope it will attract that kind of production, and if the politicians can see their way clear to create a little more incentives, that could tip the scales to this facility,” he said.

Chris Crowder, EUE/Screen Gems project manger, oversaw planning and other logistics for the Stage 10 construction. The building was completed ahead of schedule to allow for productions to film here in the summer.

“It has gone very smoothly. There haven’t been many days where there hasn’t been something going on over here,” he said.

The square footage of the building and its 45-foot ceiling allows for the creation of whole city streets or whatever vision the production calls for, Crowder said.

“There’s 13,600 amps of electricity in here. When I called Progress Energy and told them what we wanted, they told me I was mistaken, that there was an extra zero,” Crowder said.

Stage 10 has the capacity, if needed, to consume more electricity than New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

“This is as good as it gets. I think the big draw aside from the tank is just its size,” Crowder said. “I’m very happy with what has happened here. The city and the county are very happy with what this means as far as what it can bring to the community, as far as jobs. It can bring vitality.”