Wilmington N.C. ? (life, living, filming?)

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
Anybody here have knowledge of what it is like to live as a filmmaker / artist in and around the Wilmington, North Carolina area? I am looking to move out of this frozen iceland here in northern Minnesota in a couple of years, considering Wilmington being it is about the same size as Duluth MN and has a film studio-- hoping maybe it is nice place to live, and also has a good selection of acting talent in the area because films and TV shows are made there? Any advice, info? I do think I should plan on visiting Wilmington in the near future, maybe this autumn. How is the heat index (humidity plus heat)-- and how many months out of the year is the heat/humidity indeed unbearable and what do locals do about it? (I have heard it is really bad in North Carolina, truth?)
randall
 
Wilmington is pretty nice. It's a small town, but just about everything you need is here.

The weather is fantastic for april/may and sept/oct/nov. Gets a little cold in Dec-Mar. And June-August is just stifling. I'm from Vegas, I thought I knew what heat was, but it's astonishingly oppressive. We shot the "drill sergeant" scene for our Sound DVD out in front of the Battleship North Carolina on a sweltering, sweaty, humid July day, and I have never experienced heat like that. 90 degrees + 90% humidity spanks 115 degrees of Vegas heat any time, it's brutal.

There's some great crew and some talented actors here. People are usually excellent to work with. But it's a small town. This isn't Los Angeles or New York.

There's no snow, I can't imagine what it'd be like coming here from Minnesota... I mean, I griped about the winter, but -- we're talking about a winter where the usual lowest low is about 29 degrees ABOVE zero. So for a Minnesotan, you probably will still be wearing t-shirts in weather like that.

It rains a lot here. We get about five feet of rain a year. Outdoors shooting is weather-dependent; you never know if it's going to be cloudy or sunny or raining. Vegas is sunny like 340 days out of the year, so adjusting to this outdoors weather has been a bit of a challenge.

The surrounding area is lovely, it's a lushly forested area just a few minutes from the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape Fear River. The downtown looks like 1700's London. There's plenty of variety, from seedy alleyways to blighted crime-ridden housing projects to upscale gate-guarded million-dollar home communities to massive plantation estates straight out of "Gone With The Wind".

Wages are really low. If you need a day job, I don't know how people manage to survive considering housing's reasonably expensive and wages are dirt cheap and insurance is horribly expensive.

Oh, and hurricanes. The area usually gets smacked by a hurricane on average about once every four years or so.

It's a college town, UNCW has something like 15,000 students so they're a major chunk of the population. Film is one of the fastest growing majors at the university.

Now, with all that said, I don't really know all that much about this area, in that I've only been here a couple of years and I spend a tremendous amount of that time on the road. David Jimerson or Michele Seidman would be far more appropriate to ask your questions about the film community, crew base, and actor base.
 
Randall_Oelerich said:
...I am looking to move out of this frozen iceland...
Click to expand...
1230602915.jpg

...and the Family Callaghan is moving up to said frozen iceland next month.
 
Well, what are you looking to do, with respect to film, when you get here?

If you're looking to hire for your films, you'll find a tremendous pool of friendly, energetic, good people who will do great work for you. Treat them well and you'll get fantastic work. And everyone knows everyone, so you can always get a recommendation for whatever you need

If you're looking to be hired, you've got a tough slog. Your best chance is as a DP or a sound guy. There are usually some acting opportunities, though the pay may be very little to nothing. If you're looking to be hired as a writer or a director, there's almost no chance, unless you're good friends with someone, and even then, it's almost always handled in-house.

As for Wilmington itself, I felt at home immediately here and expect to be here for a long, long time. I love warm weather, and almost never find the heat and humidity unbearable. (The only time it happened was right when we were shooting the Sound DVD. If you look very carefully at a couple of shots, you'll see a bit of evidence of the 100-year record temps we had at the time.)
 
On the plus side for humidity, if you like the ocean, the humidity is awesome. In California you get out of the ocean and you're instantly freezing to death. Over here, you don't even have to dry off. It's like a nice wet blanket...

... just don't try working in it. Ugh. So take the day off and go to the ocean... :thumbsup:
 
I had to laugh, because up here in Duluth MN the water in Lake Superior is typically 35-45 degrees even in the summer, so when there is no ice even in much of winter you have to jump INTO the water to warm up, since the air temp here during much of winter is -10 to -35F. We have beautiful beaches here, but Lake Superior is one giant bucket of ice water!

Barry_Green said:
On the plus side for humidity, if you like the ocean, the humidity is awesome. In California you get out of the ocean and you're instantly freezing to death. Over here, you don't even have to dry off. It's like a nice wet blanket...... just don't try working in it. Ugh. So take the day off and go to the ocean... :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Barry for all the insight on Wilmington. I think I am definitely going to visit the city by the end of this year. I have a year long sabbatical to start soon, a good chance to visit and scout out Wilmington as a place to live and do writing and filmaking.
 
Thank you David for the info, good to hear direct from filmmakers who live in the city, much better than googling. My reasons for moving to Wilmington would be for a warmer climate of course, I have paid my dues living in the icebox known as Minnesota for decades, and northern MN at that. Brutal. 1 out of every 2 days here there is snow and ice. But wherever I move I also would like it to be an area conducive to writing and making indie films. I will not need a day job in Wilmington--I make my living off my laptop--so if the city appeals to me I would be moving down sometime in the next 1-3 years. My hope would be to be in an area where I could find cast/talent and crew to get some indie feature films made. Wilmington seems to be a mini-Hollywood but without the megatropolis concrete sprawl of LA which I could never stomach. I know they say that 90% of crimes happen in 10% of a city (true here in Duluth MN-- every fricken violent crime which is rare happens in about a 4 square block area)-- any suggestions on what part of Wilmington to avoid when walking about or house hunting?
~randall
 
Last edited:
29F as a low? OMG. We are out in shorts and sandals at that temperature. I have actually seen it snow here a few times in July. Even in the heat of summer which actually can be brutal (90F plus humidity to take a sauna in) for a few weeks, it can change so fast depending on if the wind shifts to blow in off the lake which is always close to freezing temps. I think the winters in Wilmington would be marvelous for a Minnesotan, just enough coolness without all the fricken shoveling and slip sliding from snow and ice!
 
Last edited:
CallaghanFilms said:
...and the Family Callaghan is moving up to said frozen iceland next month.
Click to expand...

What part of MN are you moving to, and more importantly why? Are you moving to Duluth? Drop me a PM if so. Maybe we could help each other out on a short film (I am filming a 15 minute short this summer, and another this autumn).
 
North Carolina invoked painfully mixed feelings for me.

I 'moved' there (to Apex, in the Research Triangle) in late 2007 for work related reasons. I've wandered back and forth between there and San Diego since (and elsewhere). My family (the one I made, not the one I was born with) are back there though, so, I always have to head back that way. I think it'd best summed up in saying that I LOVE San Diego... I don't love North Carolina in general. I'm in San Diego at the moment and the ONLY reason I'm looking forward to going home is the family.

However, if you do the corporate video thing, RTP is your mecha.
 
Randall_Oelerich said:
What part of MN are you moving to, and more importantly why? Are you moving to Duluth? Drop me a PM if so. Maybe we could help each other out on a short film (I am filming a 15 minute short this summer, and another this autumn).
Click to expand...
My wife lived most of her life on Lake Superior. The kids and I plotzed over the area last year (first time there for us).

Florida has run its course; plus we want to be close to family with "wee Callaghan #3" on the way. Half of her family lives in Superior, WI... & the rest hang their hats on Park Point (Duluth).

21 June is my last day as a Floridian (and after better than a decade now, I am all in all as close to "native" as one can be in Orlando). It will be a big adjustment period (understatement of the day)...but then again, I grew up in western PA. It's the kids who are in for a shock (native Floridians that they are).
 
You will have four months of paradise when you move up here to Duluth. Followed by 4-5 months of hellish winter (unless you are into ice fishing and snowmobiling), LOL. Buy the biggest bad ass snowblower you can get-- nuclear power packs if possible.

CallaghanFilms said:
...21 June is my last day as a Floridian .
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top