It is no easy feat to embark on a project, especially one with no concrete investors that will potentially change the dynamic of one of the nation’s most historic cities. Indeed it takes big men with much more than big sticks to herald a big project, and these are some of the industry’s greatest.
Thanks to a team of eight men and one woman, Plymouth, MA will soon be experiencing a new phenomenon that the media has officially dubbed, “Hollywood East,” or the construction of a virtually self-sufficient production studio called Plymouth Rock Studios (our article here). The head of this project is Chairman and Executive Managing Officer David Kirkpatrick, former president of Paramount Pictures. Winner of Golden Globe, Emmy and Independent Spirit Awards in the field of production, Kirkpatrick made history in the motion picture industry when he became the first person to hold two chief production jobs: one at Walt Disney Studios and the other at Touchstone Studios. He has managed over 200 movies ranging from Forrest Gump to The Little Mermaid as well as the Indiana Jones and Star Trek series. His relationship with actor Eddie Murphy in the 1980s also marked the most successful exclusive collaboration between actor and studio in the past 50 years. Of all the motion pictures Kirkpatrick oversaw, just under 400 received academy award nominations while 163 received wins.
Despite his years of experience in the production industry, Kirkpatrick is not alone in the Plymouth Rock Studios project. He is backed by eight individuals whose resumes span from companies such as Paramount and Wells Fargo to the Boston Celtics. Kirkpatrick’s arsenal of industry gurus includes: Chief Executive Officer Earl Lestz, a former President of Paramount Studio Group who transformed the company to the powerhouse that it is today; Executive Vice President of Planning and Development Bill Wynne, previously the CFO of Pacific Scene, a Southern California-based development company and largest borrower of Wells Fargo bank; Chief Financial Officer and Head of Government Relations Joseph G. DiLorenzo, previous CFO and Senior Vice President of Administration; Chief Business Officer Bob Almond, Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Full Armor Corporation and Managing Partner of Micah Development LLC; Executive Vice President of Operations Rae Ann Del Pozzo, Senior Vice President of Studio Operations at Paramount Studios and only woman on the executive board of Plymouth Rock Studios; Chief Technology Officer Alex Puatu, Vice President of Studio Systems at Paramount Pictures; Executive Vice President of Community Affairs Kevin O’Reilly, CEO of Creative Strategies; and last but certainly not least Senior Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs Timothy Hadley, former employee of Haydley and Holmquest P.C., a Boston-based law firm.
With more than 169 years of combined experience, Kirkpatrick and his production posse have been overseeing the construction (both physical and metaphorical) of Plymouth Rock Studios, and, upon its completion in late 2010, will supervise the operations of the largest studio in the northeast.
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