Looking for a new place to live.

Hey Gary, looking forward to your return.

Yeah, the moving thing is something that we've kicked around for a while and this past weekend my wife indicated that it might be time to do more than kick it around. :)

We'll see how it goes. Barry's really got me looking at Wilmington now. I'm more small town than big city anyway.
 
Chris, I have to ask a friend who's thinking of moving back to North Carolina... she's thinking about more inland (sorry John) so you avoid the biggest hit of a hurricane... that's why I have to ask her what the name of the town is...

But they have a film festival... college with a film program... I think the film festival is still pretty much run by the family of Vince D'Onifro (bad spelling)....

Its the River Run Festival...

Hey John there's a place in Missouri that has a 65 acre lake on the property... you could have your own private ocean... I think the total for the lake and 500 acres 1.5 mil... a little steep for me... unless Universal likes my work so much on these small shoots they'll give me a big time check... knock on wood...
 
You're missing out on Austin(do the research), but I appreciate your desire to not live in TX if its not you're calling.
 
the only thing i know about austin is from what i've seen from "the real world: austin".

those cast members sure did take a beating from the austin bar-goers!
 
If your view of the world is through American television, then all I can say is put down the remote, get out and see the world through your own eyes. Until you've done some travelling, especially overseas, your perspective on the world will be limited to the American marketing machine. Get out my friend and quit believing the TV crap....I guess I'm supposed to dislike some areas of the country but its always nonsense once I've been there myself.
 
I told my wife about your Austin suggestion and her response was a horrified look and the word "Fireants." It was a very M. Night moment. :laugh:
 
Kresto,

I'm twenty miles north of Charlotte - relocated my family here just about three years ago. My wife and I both work from home - me about 100 days a year, she telecommutes (10am - 6pm) for an institutional investment firm based in Orinda, CA.

We lived in San Francisco, Oakland and Alameda prior to moving here. We looked at the following criteria in this order nationwide:

Cost of Living
Public Schools
Cultural Amenities
Filmmaking Infrastructure

We paid over $800 a month per child (we done got three) for private schools in California - our eldest daughter now goes to first grade in a neighborhood school that's off the charts test score-wise. We pay $270 a month to send both of our twins to a church-based pre-school three days a week.

I'd never worked more in film and television prior to moving here. I'm set to DP an independent feature this year, just wrapped a four-month Discovery Channel project and am set to DP Wild Wheels for forty weeks starting this Wednesday (hello SoCal peeps Jan 11 - 22).

Greensboro was mentioned in an above post as a major low/no/student filmmaking community. Naturally, we are proud to have the new NBC series Surface based in Wilmington now. Just about everyone I worked with on Driver X went on to work that show.

Of course, Wilmington is home to Screen Gems - one of the largest permanent studio facilities outside of LA and NY.

Oh, and John is moving here.

I grew up in the OC, so I know a little about beaches. I surfed the Wedge and San Onofre growing up and (surfing aside) will tell you that SoCal beaches have nothing on the beauty of those found in the SouthEast.

Long, flat stretches of spotless, naturally occurring sand (not imported like Santa Monica) goes on for miles. Venture fifty miles one direction or another and you'll find lowland estuaries, swamp and the amazing IntraCoastal waterway. Imagine the little berms of sand with the little fences straining to keep it back - like at the beginning of JAWS, and you'll have an idea what most of our coast looks like.

Charlotte has an symphony, opera house and all the major Broadway road shows come here. This place is home to BofA (not in SF anymore) and Wachovia among others, so if you work in finance, Charlotte is hard to beat. Technology is going like gangbusters in the Triad and our neighboring town Kannapolis is being remade into a multi-billion dollar bio/gene tech campus as we speak.

If you like the mountains, they are about two hours west by car from Charlotte and less from Raleigh and Greensboro. Nothing like the dramatic divide that we're used to out West, but beautiful in their own way. Many families maintain a second home at the beach or in the mountains for summer or fall (leaves fall just around Halloween) getaways.

Oh, and did I mention that John is moving here?

e
 
Gee, thanks for taking the time to make that great post! I've got to admit that when I started this conversation I was leaning towards staying put, but now I think I'm getting more excited than my wife is.

Kannapolis is being remade into a multi-billion dollar bio/gene tech campus as we speak.
Click to expand...

That's going to be a huge point for our family. Microbiology / Biotechnology was my wife's major in college, but there's not much call for it around here. She'll be thrilled.

I do have one point of confusion though. Is John planning on moving there too? :huh: :laugh:
 
Where'd you get that idea? We used the following resources when we were looking for our own slice of Mayberry.

www.greatschools.net - this allows you to look at demographics, scores, teacher / student ratios and so on. Useful on many levels.

[COLOR="yellow"]www.realtor.com[/COLOR] - hard to argue with hundreds of search returns for 2000 s.f. (and much larger) homes within commute distance of Charlotte under $200k. For searching, use these good zip codes.

Concord (my town) is 28025
Wilmington town center is 28402

Here's some propaganda on Murdoch's technology campus at the old Cannon Mills (RIP).

Feel free to drop us a line if you have questions about the NC!

e
 
haha, i was only kidding man. anyone who believes crap on mtv is foolish.
i've been 'round the world, from italy to NC to AZ and now here. sorry to stir any feelings, i'm sure austin is a wonderful place.
 
hey man there's " austin city limits" (in a sammy davis jr voice) it's a really smoking concert program, you should watch it baby!
 
I am Krestofre's wife.

The sound stage is almost enough to convince me when combined with the distance from the ocean and that it sounds like the husband would be very happy. :D

Being the stay at home sort of wife, here are some of the activities I would enjoy.
1. someplace to walk/hike/bike on a daily basis
2. caves - preferably not a tour with a few lights and a fake Indian. A "Cavern of Sonora" type might have me packing. COS is in Texas if you are in driving range and haven't gone. They have lovely cave bacon.
3. art museum, theater, history museum, aquarium, zoo, someplace to see the stars (be it high hill or man made), orchards, nature center, state park, refuge.
A high percentage/All of these would elicit a larger scale packing response. A museum with weaponry would fascinate FIL, but not do much for our 2 yr old :P .
4. A little China type Chinese food restaurant or a fairly authentic Thai place.
5. ocean/possibility that my husband might scuba dive with me at some point
6. salt water type fish tank store, will drive a few hours. Pet Warehouse isn't quite the same. I'd like aqua cultured (aka tank bred/reproduced) live stock

I would be happy on acreage, I'd like a couple sheep and horses.
I like small town living, if it is with in a drive to entertainment.
I would like a larger city, if the crime rate wasn't too high :P A suburb is good, too.
 
Questions, then. NC has a 6 - 8.25% state income tax + the state and local sales taxes (with come to about 7% in toto).

Does the cost-of-living and cost-of-business offset that?

Also, has NC finally given up on the idea that once an NC resident, always an NC resident? (Meaning, even if you move, they still expect tax payments from you...and will collect the back taxes if you ever come back again. A lot of military folks got slammed with that...)
 
GenJerDan,

Those are good questions on the taxes. I've only been here a short time - definitely haven't tested the come and go query for myself. Our taxes are 7.25% in Cabarrus County.

Our car insurance dropped from about $200 a month to $250 a quarter. We had $150k / $300k coverage there, $300k / $500k here. Our 800 s.f. starter home in Oakland sold for $355k, we bought 2300 s.f. in Concord's historic district for $212k. Up until Katrina wrecked two crucial East Coast pipelines, our gas prices were $.50 / gal less than San Francisco prices for the same grade.

Milk, meat, produce and booze are significantly more expensive here. Oranges come from California when Florida is a few states away. There are no wineries of distinction here - Biltmore Estate has some drinkable table wine.

People like them some brown liquor here. I'll be picking up some bottles of the Hangar One whilst I'm in California. Oh, the state runs the hard liquor stores (ABC) and you cannot buy anything alchoholic between 12:01a and 11:59p on Sundays.

e
 
In my pants!

Speaking of packages... I'm not going to be in Las Vegas for Wild Wheels... everything is in the OC, LA and lovely Chino.

e
 
overlandfilms said:
Oh, the state runs the hard liquor stores (ABC) and you cannot buy anything alchoholic between 12:01a and 11:59p on Sundays.

e
Click to expand...

Two words: Stump Liquor

Put $5* on a stump out in the woods, come back later and it has magically transformed into a bottle of yummy.

Or paint thinner, depending on your palate.



*Probably a lot more now...that was the 60's price. :grin:
 
Chris,

I was wondering have you still decided to move...

I'll be in California at least until the middle of March... then hopefully it'll be time to come back to Springfield...

But been getting a lot of work out here... doing this feature... I did post the below information on the MFAS site...

Looks like we have David Keith, Gary Busey, Kelly Hu and Lorenzo Lamos all signed... the rest of the cast or the lead roles are unknowns...

Except are female lead got a gig on Lost right after we casted her...

Then my friend (the producer of the film we're working on) emailed me an said her attorney has half a million if we can raise the another half... but I've always sucked at raising money... that would be to a family film...

So who knows... when I live in California I get no work... then when I want to get out of California I'm offered jobs...
 
You should definitely consider moving to Montana! It's great up here although it may seem like an odd choice. There are some great new film incentives that were recently pushed through by our new governor. There's also no sales tax and the schools are absolutely great. Bozeman is roughly 36,000+ (rough estimate) so it's not too big nor too small.

To go through your list Quillen:

1. LOTS of places to walk and bike! There's no lack of outdoors around here. I don't know if you guys ski but there is a local ski resort 15min from town and it's pretty cheap.

2. I'm not entirely sure about the caves. I know there are some famous caves with guided tours (Lewis and Clark Caverns). I know of a few small caves that are only accessable via hiking. I don't know how deep they go though so spelunking may or may not be an option.

3. We have a great local theater and the University has a "Shakespear in the Parks" festival every year. Great fun. Bozeman is also home to the famous "Museum of the Rockies". There's a big section devoted to Paleontology/dinosaurs so the museum has attracted some of the best experts in the field. They even teach at the Univeristy. They usually rotate exhibits in their upstairs level ever few months or so. I've seen everything from indians to cars to WWII weaponry etc. Honestly a first rate museum. They even have a lecture hall/theater with padded seats you can get (would need to discuss terms) if you have a movie you'd like to play for the public

4. We have several chinese places. We don't have anything super authentic though. Actually, we have a place called the Mongolian BBQ (if I remember correctly) that's rather authentic and only serves a variety of noodle type dishes.

5. No ocean, sorry =)

6. I honestly don't have any idea

If you want sheep and horses this is the place to come to though! The great thing is that you can live out in the country fairly easily around here. We live just outside city limits and drive in for school/shopping etc. Not a whole lot of crime around here. It's a really nice community and has all sorts of diverse stuff due to the local University.

Just an idea anyway =)

EDIT: Forgot to add that the University has a well known and VERY popular film program. There's also a yearly local film fest that attracts some important people. Also have a local symphony etc.
 
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