MOE was the set for a major film production recently, shooting part of a TV series.
The six-part series, titled Videoland, is a romantic comedy set in the 90s. As the name suggests, part of the film revolves around a fictional video store called Videoland, and follows the exploits of a number of employees and customers. Needing an appropriate set in which to shoot, the film production company Pickelet Pictures, discovered Moe still has an active video hire shop – one of the few left remaining in the state. With that, Future Flicks, Moe was closed to the public in June to shoot a number of scenes. Store owner Ricky Dyt graciously gave up a number of weeks of trade to assist the filmmakers. This was no small-scale production either. Trucks, vans and cars carrying film equipment camped out in the store carpark for days on end, while on set, the interior of the store was transformed to take actors back to the 90s. No detail was spared – the store was painted light pink to match the style of the time, while every single DVD in the store was replaced by a video cassette. Don’t forget, there were no DVDs in the 90s. The company was also taking no chances. Every crew member wore a face mask, as the risk of losing even just one day to a COVID outbreak had the potential to derail the entire production. Locals were able to get involved as extras playing video store customers. The Express’ own Liam Durkin had a brief dabble in the film industry, playing the role of a customer returning and then browsing a video. As the writer discovered, filmmaking is certainly a time consuming task – it took four hours to shoot that one scene. Perhaps being a movie star isn’t all it’s made out to be. Videoland is now in the post-production stage, and will hopefully be available for streaming soon. You can meet the cast and crew via this You Tube video: youtube.com/watch?v=kQR6EtKszFg
