MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. (KMOX)--Missouri’s film tax credit lured St. Charles native and Director Eric Norwine from Hollywood to make his movie at Stage 27 in Maryland Heights.
Queen of the Base is based on the unpublished memoir by Zamzama “ZZ” Safi, an Afghan refugee now living in St. Charles.
“I was the first and youngest in Afghanistan who began translating for American forces in Eastern Afghanistan,” ZZ told KMOX’s Stuart McMillian.
ZZ risked her life to aid U.S. and coalition forces before escaping to the U.S. after the fall of Kabul in 2021.
“After three nights and four days of being tortured,” ZZ said. “I was able to outsmart the Taliban and come home and get together with my family.”
Filmmakers Ray Holt, Eric and Ben Norwine of Covered Bridge Studios are working with Danielle LeFever and Courtney Stewart of Silver Guardian Productions to make Queen of the Base.
“From a creative standpoint”, Director Eric Norwine said, “when I think about base, whether it's a military base or home base, I think of home. I think of support. With the queen element, there’s a bit of irony because she was one of very few women on these bases.”
Having spent over a decade working in Los Angeles, Eric Norwine and LeFever are here to prove that Hollywood-quality films can be made in St. Louis.
“We have an incredible crew that have come on board at a rate that is so much lower than what they could and usually ask for, Norwine said. “They believe in this story and they believe in ZZ. That is why our budget is probably quite a bit lower than a traditional budget would look like with the team that we’ve been able to assemble.”
The budget is somewhere around $300,000 to make the movie.
If everything goes according to plan, the film production of ZZ's story will wrap up in June of this year. Then, Norwine and his crew will start shopping around to streaming services to see who will purchase it for the world to see.
Missouri’s Film Tax Credits
“We have a very very generous tax credit,” Director Eric Norwine said. “The base you can earn is 20% of your Missouri expenses. The high end is 42%.”
The last major film to hit the silver screen that featured St. Louis was Up In The Air with George Clooney in 2009. Then, the state’s film tax credits expired in 2023. Ten years later, Missouri’s Show MO Act went into effect and movies started being made here again. On Fire, the story of John O’Leary, was the first to use the tax credits. The film received $2.75 million in tax credits through the Show MO Act.
“This is our opportunity to pilot this program and prove that Missouri can and should be the next Georgia,” Norwine said.
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