New ideas

The newest player is North Carolina entrepreneur Arthur Wylie.

Wylie, 35, built a money management portfolio while in college and parlayed that into a series of investments in movie projects under the firm he created, Global Renaissance Entertainment Group.

He has issued press releases and told Crain’s that he has the intellectual property rights to develop 25 movies, including a deal for books written by novelist Omar Tyree.

Wylie also said he is “in discussions with” Mark Ordesky, producer of “Lord of the Rings.” He has brought the producer to city and county-level meetings.

In October, Wylie formed a joint venture with Las Vegas-based entertainment company Global Entertainment Holdings Inc. (OTC: GBHL). The new company, Global Renaissance Funding L.L.C., according to SEC filings, was formed for the two groups to jointly raise between $20 million and $100 million to finance movies.

Wylie was hired in April by the city in a $125,000 contract to market the site.

However, he said, after touring the site and generating ideas for uses, he is interested in buying part of the space for the production of movies under his Global Renaissance title.

“At this point, I’m very interested in acquiring space in this facility for the production of movies that I’m involved with,” he said.

He said Friday that he has submitted a proposal to buy a “significant portion” of the film campus. He did not disclose the price. Burtka confirmed that the city has received the offer, but did not comment otherwise.

ALLEN PARK, Mich. – There new hope for making Allen Park the Hollywood of Michigan. The city has attracted a film school and a new outside investor who’s promising to make more movies.

Arthur Wylie says he stands ready to invest “probably anywhere between a million and two million dollars” to start making movies in Allen Park. He company is called Global Renaissance.

“My real estate broker called me, said we got a facility… here in Detroit, Michigan, Allen Park area, and I think they have everything that you need,” Wylie said. “I said, ‘No, that’s impossible to have everything that I need.’ He said, ‘No, every single thing already ready to go.’”

Then locally, there’s the Center for Film Studies relocating to the same site near Southfield and I-94.

“Center for Film Studies is training people for jobs in the film industry, entry level or technical jobs like grip, lighting, production assistant, set building,” said Mort Meisner with the school.

All which begs the question whatever happened to the much hyped Unity Studios with its watercolor renderings of a studio lot like Warner Brothers.

“Unity has reduced down… the expectation,” said Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. “We knew there (were) some issues because the county did not offer a Renaissance Zone at that time, which Unity asked for.”

“I don’t want to take anything away from Unity. They still are a tenant on-site. They are current with the dues. I think that it got a little blown out of proportion the entire episode,” said Allen Park Mayor Gary Burtka.

Conversely, Wylie says he’s got big name producers on his side, such as Mark Ordesky, who was an executive producer for the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy of movies.

Allen Park’s mayor tells us that Wylie’s company is not yet a paying tenant on-site. In fact, they’re sort of crashing at the Stautzenberger Institute where people learn how to be personal trainers and massage therapists.

“Arthur Wylie is actually occupying space here,” Burtka said. “They’ve been here for quite some time, and they’re reviewing everything that’s going on here.”

Wylie says filming could begin by year’s end… SEE VIDEO