From Garden City to Tinseltown and Back

Young children are sometimes asked what they would like to be when they grow up. The question is usually rhetorical, as children aren’t really expected to know what they want to do for a career.

When Steven Feinberg was a youngster, he knew exactly what he wanted to do some day, and many years later, his childhood dream came to fruition.

Since 2004, the Cranston native has been the director of the Rhode Island Film and Television Office, a position he once fantasized about.  

“When I was offered the job, I recalled a moment when I was 8-years-old and I was riding with my folks to my grandparents’ house,” Feinberg said. “My mom was reading a newspaper article about the Great Gatsby being filmed in Newport, when I said, ‘maybe one day, I will be in charge of all the film and TV shows in Rhode Island.’”

On Aug. 10, Feinberg was acknowledged for the work he’s done in his dream job. The Rhode Island International Film Festival presented the 47-year-old with this year’s George M. Cohan Ambassador Award. The award, named after a Providence entertainer, recognizes “outstanding artists whose work, passion and drive epitomizes a level of excellence that reflects creatively on their Rhode Island roots.”

“I was incredibly honored and moved by the gesture and am grateful to the Rhode Island International Film Festival and everyone associated with the event,” Feinberg said.

At an early age, Feinberg exhibited a passion and aptitude for filmmaking.

“The first films I made all involved my neighborhood friends from Garden City,” recalled Feinberg. “I wrote and directed the movies and we all gathered to screen them on garage walls in the backyard at night. We created our own makeshift drive-in theaters in our backyards.”

As a student at , and , Feinberg honed his skills by producing films of different genres, from live action to animation. His parents were always supportive of his efforts.

“I was fortunate that my dad saw my passion early on and was always available to help me with locations, operating a camera, and whatever else I needed,” Feinberg said. “My mom always provided me with a ‘gung ho’ attitude, so I was blessed.”

Feinberg loved to watch movies at the local cinemas, which at that time included the Garden City Cinema, Park Theatre and the Warwick Mall. To this day, Feinberg remains friends with Ed Rendon, who was the manager at both the Garden City and Warwick Mall Cinemas.

After high school, Feinberg followed his dream to UCLA and USC, where he studied film. Just prior to graduation, he was hired by 20th Century Fox to write a screenplay based on one of his ideas. For the next 22 years, Feinberg worked for Warner Brothers, Universal, Village Roadshow, Columbia-Tri-Star and other studios.

One of Feinberg’s projects was a movie named Fortress, which he wrote and co-produced. The sci-fi film starred Christopher Lambert. It was very successful internationally, as it was the number one opening film for France and Germany for several weeks in 1992. The film gave birth to a sequel, Fortress 2, which was released in 2000.

Throughout his career in Hollywood, Feinberg remained proud of his Rhode Island roots.

“My friends in Los Angeles always said I was an ambassador to Rhode Island, because I always looked at our state with very nostalgic eyes,” said Feinberg.

When Feinberg was offered a chance to return to his home state, he knew he couldn’t pass it up.

“When the opportunity was made available to live and work in a place I love and help others in the process, I jumped at the chance,” stated Feinberg.

One of Feinberg’s biggest coups in his new position was convincing the producers of the Showtime series Brotherhood to film in Rhode Island.

“They were juggling with the idea to film in Boston or Rhode Island for two or three days, and the rest of the show would be filmed in Toronto,” recalled Feinberg. “This was a common scenario as the television series Providence was only filmed in Rhode Island for one week, while the majority of the filming occurred in Los Angeles. I didn't want a repeat scenario.”

Feinberg had less than a week and a half to convince Showtime to not only choose Rhode Island over Boston, but to stick around for more than a couple of days.

“I worked extremely hard in a very short period to convince them that Rhode Island was film-friendly and we would do our best to equal the fiscal equation offered in Toronto,” said Feinberg. “Within that window, I had a contract signed between Showtime and our State. It was one of the most challenging weeks of my life, but the payoff was huge. We not only had one pilot, but three seasons of a critically-acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning series which employed full-time crew and talent and supported a variety of small businesses. Most importantly, it told Hollywood that Rhode Island was a destination for film and television.”

As they say in Hollywood, the rest is history. According to Feinberg, Ed Mazze, a professor of economics and former dean of business at the University of Rhode Island, did an economic impact study for the years 2005-2009 and discovered that the impact of the film and television industry in Rhode Island equaled more than 4,000 jobs and over $465 million in economic activity.

During Feinberg’s tenure, many TV series and movies have been filmed in Little Rhody. The transferable tax credit, equal to 25 percent of qualified expenditures, offered to studios that film in Rhode Island has been an effective incentive.

Most recently, ABC wrapped up production of the first season of Body of Proof. Wes Anderson just finished filming the movie Moonrise Kingdom, starring Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Owen Wilson and Harvey Keitel, among others. The motion picture was filmed entirely in Rhode Island.

Besides the tax credit, when Feinberg pitches Rhode Island as a great place for studios to set up shop, he emphasizes the convenience and intimacy of filming in a small state, as opposed to a big city. Two of his favorite sayings are, "Rhode Island is the smallest state with the greatest backlot" and "In the big city, you're a number... but in Rhode Island, you're a neighbor."

Although he’s met many famous people and worked on some amazing projects, Feinberg never forgot that his passion for film began as a child, making short movies with his friends in Garden City. Now, he’s paying it forward by helping young Rhode Islanders pursue their filmmaking dreams.  

Along with Sherilyn Brown, who is the Director of Arts Education for the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and the Arts Education Network, Feinberg recently created the Give Me 5 Film Festival.  It is geared to students throughout the Ocean State, so they can share their films with each other.“

It's not often that a student filmmaker from Woonsocket will meet with their colleague from Westerly, but we give them that opportunity,” stated Feinberg.

Perhaps someday those students will fulfill their childhood dreams, as Feinberg has.