Advocate business staff
Published: Oct 23, 2009

Raleigh Studios, the California-based film company managing the Celtic Media Centre, has reached an agreement with 1st Call Studio Equipment for that company to provide heavy equipment needed to make movies at Celtic’s Baton Rouge operation.

1st Call also has locations in California, where it’s the exclusive heavy equipment provider for three Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, Manhattan Beach and Playa Vista. 1st Call also operates in Albuquerque, N.M. The scissor lifts, boom lifts and forklifts will be used solely for movie production, not construction, and a 1st Call equipment representative will be stationed at the Celtic lot to provide 24-hour service throughout the region and the state, the companies said.

Raleigh is the nation’s largest independent studio — meaning it’s not owned by one of the half-dozen major studios, such as Fox, Paramount or Columbia Pictures — and it operates more than 2 million square feet of production space. Raleigh officials cited rising movie production in the Baton Rouge area for cementing the deal with 1st Call.