Studio hopes to kick-start movie industry in South Mississippi

April 30--The thing that makes a building ideal for skaters also happens to make it ideal for making movies: A lack of center support beams.

That means the Harrison County Skate Park a valuable space for a burgeoning industry, much to the chagrin of Coast skaters and skateboarders.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Studios is set to take over the park soon, and managing partner Paula Lindsay -- who also owns the Pass Christian Soap Co. -- said they've already had to turn projects away.

"We've have so many people that have been calling us and they're ready to bring the films in," she said. "So we're excited about it."

The Biloxi School District has not yet approved the lease agreement, but Lindsay said her studio provided answers to any questions board members raised after the last meeting.

The other two partners are Hollywood veterans. Rob King as a longtime stuntman and has worked on many recent action movies, including "Skyfall," "Sons of Anarchy," and "Thor." Barry Rosen is an executive producer and has worked on "Girl in Progress" with Eva Mendes and several TV series, including "Highlander."

The three met last summer during the making of "Category 5," which was filmed in South Mississippi and included Burt Reynolds.

"I mentioned to them how cool it would be to get the film industry kick-started here," Lindsay said. "... And they said it's funny you should say that because that's exactly what we want to do."

She said the studio began to scout around for buildings and talked with both the county and city of Gulfport.

"We've been across the board looking for the perfect place to do this," she said.

They were surprised, though, at the lack of so-called clear-span buildings -- those without center beams. She said Hurricane Katrina took out a lot of warehouses and left them without many options.

"You would not believe how hard it is to find a building like that," she said.

That's a challenge the Mississippi Rollergirls are now facing. They can't get insured to play in a building with center beams, and player insurance is necessary in the high-contact sport.

"That was not our intention to take them out of that," Lindsay said. "It's just a really bad situation and I wish that there was something more that we could do for them."

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