TAUNTON — Silver City or Dead City?
The former is Taunton’s common moniker. But for two and a half days last week two locales in the city were populated by wannabe zombies — film extras to be exact — as scenes were shot for the popular TV series “The Walking Dead: Dead City.”
The original “The Walking Dead” series ran 11 years on the AMC network. The scenes shot in Taunton will be used in the first episode of the second season of the “Dead City” spin-off.
Exterior scenes were shot in a rear, isolated section of the sprawling and dilapidated Whittenton Mills industrial complex on Whittenton Street.
Interior shooting was done inside building number 12 of the former Reed and Barton silversmith manufacturing site on West Britannia Street, which is also located in the city’s blue collar Whittenton neighborhood.
Three parking lots at the latter location were included in the private-property, rental arrangement for a number of film production equipment trucks.
On the set in Taunton
In both cases, police officers working paid detail assignments kept curiosity seekers from getting too close to the actual movie sets.
“When it comes out it will look like it’s just one location,” said Scott McGinnis, one of two facilities managers at the West Britannia Street site.
“It’s like a well-oiled machine,” he said of the production crew, adding that “they’ve been great to work with. They’re very easygoing.”
Unlike the 42-acre Whittenton Mills, the 14.5-acre former Reed and Barton multi-building complex now has a number of businesses as tenants.
McGinnis says none of those tenants were inconvenienced as result of the filming of the popular, post-apocalyptic television show.
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Where else are they shooting?
Taunton is just one Bay State municipality that, from now through July, will accommodate scores of “Dead City” TV crew workers, actors and zombie extras decked out in Civil War garb.
Other cities and towns that have been mentioned by people associated with the project include Randolph, Lowell, Fitchburg and Chicopee.
Why film in Taunton?
The respective property owners of Whittenton Mills and the West Britannia Street industrial-and-commercial complex received letters of interest in January from Stalwart Productions LLC, which is part of Randolph-based Stalwart Films.
The letter noted that Stalwart, as part of the “Dead City” project, is “working closely” with the Massachusetts Film Office.
That Department of Revenue program was established in 2005 to entice film and TV project companies to work in the Bay State. It offers incentives including production and payroll credits and a sales tax exemption.
Two movie production projects that both filmed scenes in Taunton in 2008 took advantage of those incentives.
These included director Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” — which recreated a German concentration camp exterior near a Whittenton Mills building — and “Surrogates” with Bruce Willis, the latter of which shot scenes on the grounds of what once was known as Paul A. Dever State School.
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Jay Pateakos, Taunton’s economic development director, said Stalwart Productions contacted his office in February to inquire about the logistics of hiring police and fire detail personnel.
He says they also had to enlist the cooperation of the Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant for permission to temporarily turn off power to certain light poles.
When Pateakos started to post information on Linkedin about the process of applying for work as a movie extra, he said the response was hot and heavy.
“It was the biggest response we’ve gotten. A lot of people love the original show,” he said.
With Clarion Hotel a shelter, crews had to stay elsewhere
Pateakos, however, noted that because the Clarion Hotel is now fully utilized by the state to house homeless and migrant families, all production film crew members — who were scouting locations in Taunton weeks before the start of filming — had to find lodgings outside the city.
“It’s unfortunate that we have a hotel and can’t utilize it,” he said.
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Will Taunton State Hospital be next?
But Pateakos remains optimistic about future professional film projects coming to the Silver City. He said there’s been some interest in future use of the partially-vacant Taunton State Hospital on Hodges Avenue.
“Hopefully we offer solutions so that people come back and remember Taunton as a community that was welcoming to them,” he said.
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Whittenton Mills demolition delayed for TV crew
Pateakos says one of the interconnected buildings at Whittenton Mills will be demolished this coming week by Taunton-based G. Lopes Construction.
The large and vacant structure was badly damaged last December by a severe wind and rain storm. The city’s building department subsequently ordered that it be razed after structural engineers deemed it to be unsafe and a public safety hazard.
Pateakos said the building section in question was originally scheduled to be torn down before the filming of “Dead City” but was delayed by two weeks to accommodate the TV project.
G. Lopes chief executive Joe Tutsch says his company has been hired by the city to level the partially collapsed building. Tutsch said the budget of $300,000 will also cover the cost of removing and trucking away asbestos-laden materials.
Property owner David Murphy collected $20,000 in 2008 for allowing the “Shutter Island” production company to film on his Whittenton Mills premises over the course of a month.
Murphy said he’s being paid more than that for the “Dead City” project but declined to disclose the amount.
14-year-old gets to be zombie extra
Dayshon Miles was one of dozens of zombie extras who got the chance to be in an exterior scene of “The Walking Dead: Dead City.”
“I sent in my name and photo three weeks ago,” the 14-year-old Norwood resident said. “It’s because I’m a fan.”
His mother, Latasha Miles, said it was her understanding that her son will be paid $120 for his eight-hour stint, which is consistent with the state’s $15 minimum hourly wage.
Caterer drives from California
It was Alan Mork’s job to ensure that no one working at the Whittenton Mills site went hungry.
Mork, 38, owns G.P.Catering — which provides cooked meals, salads and desserts to movie sets — in addition to a breakfast and lunch restaurant called Galero Grill, both of which are located in Los Angeles.
“We drove four trucks here,” he said, referring to his portable kitchens and full-time staff.
Some of his buffet choices included grilled chicken with artichokes and sautéed white fish. Mork said he was feeding as many as 250 mouths during breakfast 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and for lunch from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
He and his crew, he said, were staying at a Braintree hotel.
Mork said he’ll accompany the “Dead City” production throughout its travels in Massachusetts until it wraps up in July.
Efficiency, as well as quality, is elemental to getting the job done, he said.
“You have to design the menu for speed,” Mork said.
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