By Kristen Levine, Reporter
Sterling has become one of several towns in central Massachusetts to feature in on-site filming for a remake of Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot,” slated for the big screen. While most of King’s stories take place in Maine, the author’s home state, Massachusetts has been tapped for moviemakers due to a competitive tax incentive. “Any project that spends more than $50,000 in Massachusetts qualifies for [a] payroll credit,” according to the official MAFilm website.
With this incentive, productions are offered a 25% tax credit on expenses, as well as sales tax exemptions. But it’s not just the tax incentive drawing filmmakers to Massachusetts and to Sterling in particular. Sterling’s rustic New England charm has been put to good use in the horror film, featuring locales like B-Man’s 140 Tavern.
“We found some locations in Sterling that were really great for the look of the movie,” said “Salem’s Lot” location manager Keith Adams. “There’s a nice variant of looks, and quite a lot going on in the town…We scouted the towns in the central Mass. area, selecting about 10 different towns for different parts of the movie. We really like Sterling; it’s been a really great experience.”
“Salem’s Lot” is set in 1975 in a fictional sleepy Maine town called Jerusalem’s Lot. The plot follows author Ben Mears returning to his old hometown to find inspiration for his next novel, only to discover it is infested with vampires. The film is being directed by Gary Dauberman, who cut his teeth on horror cinema with “Annabelle Comes Home,” as well as featuring as a screenwriter on 2017’s “IT” and the sole writer for 2019’s “IT: Chapter 2.”
“Salem’s Lot” has had two passes on screen before, with a made-for-TV miniseries in 1979 and again in 2004.
With Hollywood turning more of its attention to filming in Massachusetts, both for the monetary and location value, productions are finding small-town filming an accommodating and eager experience.
“Sterling has been a wonderful town to work with,” Adams said. “The Select Board has been very generous approving our [filming] request; we told them what we wanted to do, and they seem very excited about the filming in town. We told them it’s very likely they’ll be seeing more filming in the coming years…it’s been a very good situation for us.
“The police department was wonderful to work with,” he added. “[They were] very accommodating. It’s been a superior experience all-around for the production team.”
“Salem’s Lot” will be released by New Line Cinema on September 9, 2022.