Ferndale entertainment group scouts
Dream Cruise for film-ready vehicles

By Jeremy Selweski
C & G Staff Writer

FERNDALE — Classic car owners are not usually a shy bunch: They proudly display their prized possessions like high-powered trophies of the road, and they’ll gladly gab your ear off about all the time and work they’ve put into customizing their dream ride to perfection.

And for these folks, the annual Woodward Dream Cruise provides an oasis of possibility every August — a chance for them and other like-minded automobile aficionados to show off their wheels for all the Motor City to see. But for those who want to put their classic on display on a much larger scale, the movie industry’s recent pilgrimage to Michigan could be the opportunity of a lifetime.

That, in a nutshell, is the perspective taken by Jeff Spilman, co-founder and managing partner of Ferndale’s S3 Entertainment Group. All weekend long during the Dream Cruise, Spilman and other members of the company were camped out on Woodward in the hope of finding 500 to 1,000 classic vehicles that ooze star power and charisma for their new subsidiary, Cars4Movies LLC.

Spilman was able to meet that goal, and it came as no surprise to him that more than a few car lovers jumped at the chance to have their pride and joy immortalized on film.

“The response from the public was really great,” he said. “It went even better than we expected — we’ve got about 650 total cars signed up already. By the end of the Dream Cruise, folks came out looking for us. … One guy I talked to summed it up well: ‘What better trophy can I have than seeing my car in a feature film?’”

As a brand-new project — the Cars4Movies imprint was just officially created on Aug. 13 — Spilman and company knew they had an ideal opportunity at the Dream Cruise for getting things started with a bang.

“It was a whirlwind of a weekend,” said Doug Vanni, director of registration for Cars4Movies. “We saw quite a flurry of people, but the timing worked out really well. We wanted to have a presence at the biggest showcase of old cars in Michigan.”

S3 was set up in the area of 13 1/2 Mile Road and Woodward, displaying T-shirts and a giant banner that read, “Make your car a movie star.” And even amid the chaos of the Cruise, they were able to get their name out there in a big way.

Launched to coincide with the recent statewide tax incentive plan that has lured Hollywood filmmakers to Michigan this year, Cars4Movies aims to provide production companies with hundreds of options to choose from when searching for the perfect car.

At their offices in Ferndale and Los Angeles, S3 Entertainment Group provides filmmakers with a number of different services and resources, such as production equipment, catering, location assistance and tax credit management, as well as help with post-production, casting and even special effects.

“We want to be the one-stop shop for the film industry in Michigan,” Vanni said.

Recently, S3 has done work on a number of high-profile movies being filmed in Michigan, including Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino”; “Youth in Revolt,” starring Michael Cera, Ray Liotta and Steve Buscemi; “Prayers for Bobby,” featuring Sigourney Weaver; and the upcoming “The Butterfly Effect 3.”

With Cars4Movies, the only criteria for potential vehicles is that they must be at least 15 years old, because, as Spilman explained, “if they’re any newer than that, production companies can just get them from dealerships.” At the Dream Cruise, S3 were not only seeking out classic beauties from the ‘50s, ’60s and ‘70s.

“We’re looking for all vehicles in all conditions, not just show cars or cars in mint condition,” Vanni said. “On film, they will have all different uses: Characters could be driving them, sitting in them, or they could just be used as a backdrop piece. We want to be ready for the demand when these filmmakers come to town.”

Though no projects are lined up yet, Spilman said that at least one major studio has already shown interest in Cars4Movies. Currently, they are in the process of cataloguing all the cars they discovered for their online database, which will soon launch in the form of the Web site www.cars4movies.net.

“I have a lot of confidence that some of these cars will really end up being used in movies,” Spilman said. “I think we can become the premier resource for cars for movies across the globe, not just in Michigan.”

Spilman is thrilled by the state’s tax incentive plan, strongly believing that even beyond his own company’s endeavors, it will have a positive impact throughout the state by encouraging filmmakers to utilize the people, products, companies and services of Michigan.

“It will have a real trickle-down effect, stimulating Michigan’s economy, creating jobs and improving business,” he said. “This whole incentive will benefit everyone.”

But to make sure that happens, Vanni said, it takes companies like S3 to reach out to film studios.

“You can put a tax incentive system in place, but if you don’t have the infrastructure to support it, you wipe out the motivation of that incentive,” he said. “Companies like us are here for when (filmmakers) are scrambling to find all the pieces they need to make their movie work.”

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Selweski at jselweski@candgnews.com or at (586) 218-5004.