M ike Camoin en visions making a movie that brings Albany the same kind of fame Mystic, Conn., enjoyed after the release of Mystic Pizza starring Julia Roberts.
`It’s a two-hour commercial (for Mystic) that aired around the world for free,` Camoin said. `That’s pretty hard to do.`
That’s why Camoin is taking a patient approach to having his movie, `Grazing Miss Albany,` produced. He doesn’t want to rush things and be stuck with a less-than-stellar project, because he knows he might not get another chance. Before the recession hit, Camoin said, he had attracted the attention of a `major distributor` as well as a talent agency on the West Coast that recommended some `A-list actors.`
`Then the market crashed, and I had to go back to the drawing board,` Camoin said.
So Camoin keeps his eyes and ears open for potential investors and partners in the film while keeping busy with other projects at Videos For Change Productions, a company Camoin launched at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Incubator Center in 2002. The business moved to downtown Albany in 2006 and has made a documentary series on the Adirondacks called `Inside the Blue Line.` Camoin is also excited about a documentary called `An American Life: The Journey from Violence to Hope,` which tells the story of Schenectady’s David Kaczynski, who identified his brother, Ted, as the Unabomber.
But `Grazing Miss Albany` is clearly Camoin’s passion.
Camoin wrote the script, which he calls `a family feud over faith and food.`
It centers on two estranged brothers, Patrick and Francis. Patrick owns a family diner, while Francis is a priest suffering a crisis of faith. Francis shows up at the diner one day, but instead of mending fences with his brother, he delivers the news that their mother willed the diner to his church.
The movie is a family picture, Camoin said, and he’s been told that there’s something in it for everyone.
One of the people who had praise for the film was Larry Jackson, who happened to be a lead executive on `Mystic Pizza.` Camoin met Jackson pretty much by chance when Camoin went out to western Massachusetts to check out the vibrant film scene out there. Jackson was giving a talk, and when Camoin realized he was involved with `Mystic Pizza,` he made sure to grab a few minutes with him.
Jackson is now a consultant on `Grazing Miss Albany,` and Camoin hopes that’s not the only thing the film will have in common with `Mystic Pizza,` a film he studied while developing his business plan at the RPI incubator.
He wants the movie to project an image of Albany that will make people want to come here, just as `Mystic Pizza` did for Mystic.
`Albany just oozes with such negative drama that’s stranger than fiction,` Camoin said. `That’s a multi-million dollar problem for businesses that want to attract workers here.`
While other major movies have been filmed in the city recently, most notably `Salt` and `The Other Guys,` those films didn’t spotlight Albany, instead passing it off as another city, Camoin said. His plan is to showcase Albany and hopefully stem the brain drain that goes on.
`I know a lot of talented people who have left the area because there’s not paid work for them,` he said.
With any luck, the movie will provide some paid work in addition to enhancing Albany’s image, he said.
`It’s a whole snowball factor,` Camoin said.
What he’s looking for, Camoin said, is `one prominent businessman to step up and put people to work.` Anyone interested in the movie, whether as a fan or an investor, can visit www.grazingmissalbany.com or the film’s page on Facebook.
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