The Elks Opera House has become a favored venue among independent filmmakers, reports Prescott Film Festival promoter, Helen Stephenson. Following the wrap of her recent Best Fest film series, Stephenson received a flurry of laudatory letters from many of her participants. Among them, Russell Gray producer of the award winning film, “The Mulberry Tree.”

“The Elks Theatre is an amazing venue!” said Gray, a self described festival veteran. “It’s a filmmaker’s dream to have a movie screened at such a wonderful movie palace.”

Gray said the opportunity to explore Prescott during his extended stay allowed him to learn about the town’s rich film history. “While having a drink at The Palace, I was staring at bullet holes in the ceiling, admiring pictures of the Earp Brothers and reading news accounts of Junior Bonner and Billy Jack. Simply brilliant. I will be re-telling that exceptional moment for years to come!”

Gray predicts that the Prescott Film Festival has a bright future and is “poised and ready” to take its place among the premiere destinations on the national festival circuit.

Film Office Activity

The City of Prescott Film Office reports that a recent national automobile commercial filmed by Square Planet Media in and around downtown grossed nearly $14,000 of combined employment and sales income. Not included in the tally was a $1,200 donation to the Prescott Downtown Partnership to extend the flower basket program to North Cortez Street and South Montezuma; crew shopping expeditions on Whiskey Row which according to a PDP report included several large art purchases; and permits taken out through non-city organizations like ADOT and Prescott National Forest.

Fittingly, the story had a Hollywood ending. When the commercial’s director was told that one of the middle school students in attendance at the shoot was a show biz hopeful, he arranged for the youngster (with her mother’s permission) to sit in the front seat of the company’s $1 million custom-built Mercedes camera car and control the shots.

And that’s a wrap from “Everybody’s Hometown.”