Tour of EUE/Screen Gems Studio in Wilmiwood

Bad enough that I live on an island called "Pleasure Island" which always sounds like a bad porn movie to me, but the movie studio here in Wilmington is referred to as Wilmiwood by the crew.  Here is the link to their website:  EUE/Screen Gems Studio


Here I am standing outside one of the studio sets that we (my daughter and I) toured on Saturday. (I am not quite as round as the picture implies though). I was amazed at the number of people there for the tour, almost all from out of town and as I found out later, HUGE fans of the main series they have been filming there for nine years -- One Tree Hill on CW.  Because of CW regulations, we weren't allowed to take pictures on the sets.  It was great fun to do the tour and listen to the very perky young tour guides describing some of the back stories and describing the process itself.  I was not aware of how much product placement there was in shows now!  Sponsors pay to see their products by name.   They told one story of Sunkist paying for product placement but they included sooo much in the series that Sunkist mgmt. had to tell them to do less!!! They also only use internationally recognizable brands as rabid fans like to recreate the effect and many of the movies or shows are international.  They told of one man from Europe who chastised them for using Harris Teeter products (a SE US food store chain) as he had to fly from Europe to get the products!


The EUE/Screen Gems Studio  is the biggest studio outside of LA in the US.  It has a water tank in one of the studios that is big enough for two submarines to be submerged!  That one is the third largest in the world.  There are ten buildings where they can create sets.  They do a large number of movies and were home also to Dawson's Creek which ran for many years on CW.  An incredible number of stars have come to Wilmington to film as we saw on a trailer that they showed us in the screening room which  is used to watch the daily takes.  I just had NO idea!!


We also took a look inside at some houses as I really want to fully relocate down here to North Carolina!  Now is a good time to buy for sure.  Our agent said that foreclosures and short sales have killed the market down here.  So we shall see what the future holds.  Some day my dear husband may actually come down here to join me!!