Jonathan M. Black is like one of those action movie stars on a quest. His mission? “I want to bring big studio films to Connecticut.
” Black started Chair 10 Productions , a new film production services company in Fairfield County, to make his dream a reality. The company doesn’t just see Connecticut as a great location to shoot movies — something the state has been known for since the days of silent films — but as a way to create local jobs, utilize the many film professionals who are already based here and grow the film industry on the East Coast. Black started Chair 10 with his wife Lauren, who grew up in Newtown.
The couple has been in the TV and movie business for over 25 years, he as a producer of over 50 feature films, including the recent “Odd Man Rush” and “She’s in Portland,” and she as a producer of TV reality shows. They moved to Connecticut from Los Angeles three years ago to find a “forever home” and raise their child, but they also wanted to build a new business here where they can showcase local movie production opportunities. They’ve done a smaller project already — one of those ubiquitous Connecticut-set Christmas TV movies — but Chair 10’s first major effort is “Summerhouse,” currently filming in Fairfield County and set to wrap on June 20.
The film was written and directed by Ed Kaplan , based on his own experiences as a young man in the 1960s. “Waiting to get drafted into the Vietnam War, college grad Ned Stern spends .
