“The Game Plan” director Andy Fickman, who wrapped up shooting his Disney flick over the weekend, thinks the state’s Game Plan for wooing Hollywood business needs some tweaking.
While the director thought the locals were “phenomenal” in embracing the family flick, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson,he said Massachusetts isn’t as “film-friendly” as its officials think. 
 
    First off, there’s the commonwealth’s child-labor laws.
 
    “We had no idea the state’s child-labor laws were stricter than the Screen Actors Guild’s, which are the industry standard,” said Fickman, whose co-star was 8-year-old Madison Pettis. “And if I knew that coming in, we would have had additional conversations.”
 
    Or headed to Vancouver!
 
    So every time Fickman wanted Pettis to shoot for an extra hour or work after 10 p.m., the producers had to apply to the Attorney General’s Office for a waiver. It cost time. And time equals big money in the movie biz.
 
    “It would have been a great cost savings for me to shoot this in, say Vancouver, where the rules aren’t stricter than SAG’s, but we really wanted to shoot here,” he said. “I just wish I knew that coming in.”
 
    And Fickman said despite the state’s experience making big-time feature films like “The Departed” and “Mystic River,” Massachusetts’ movie industry is “still on a learning curve.”
 
    “I’d say Boston’s own film office with Patte (Papa) is very active and she was great, but we found that when we wanted an extension (with a state permit), we had to go through 40 people - who aren’t familiar with the film business - to get that permission,” he said. “No one in Vancouver would have blinked an eye.”
 
    As for Teamsters Local 25, the director agreed that a shift in the union’s leadership caused some acting-up on the set.
 
    “But if I was going to film another project here, I would re-hire the guys who worked on this one without question,” Fickman said, adding that he’s looking at a horror film project being peddled around by local movie man Scott Desano.
 
    Andy, who will kick around Boston for another week before heading home to Hollywood to begin a six-month editing process, also gave props to the Kraft family for the use of Gillette Stadium, as well as the Hub’s theater community for its pool of actors. Many thesps from the Lyric Stage and American Repertory Theatre scored speaking roles in “The Game Plan.”
 
    “And we really could not have done this movie without the Boston Ballet,” said the director. “People think this film is ‘a football movie.’ But it’s also steeped in the world of the Boston Ballet.”
 
    Next up for Fickman: “Muskrat Love,” a comedy about a self-centered jerk who is given a shot of truth serum by an ex. Hilarity ensues. And then there’s an adult comedy named - no joke - “The Jane Plan.” 
 
Director says state film biz needs new Game Plan
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“I know, we’re so original,” laughed Andy, who will partner with “The Game Plan” producers Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray on the date flick, about a boss and his devoted secretary.
 
    “It’s sort of ‘Working Girl’ meets ‘Pretty Woman,’ ” he said. “No female lead is attached, but I’m thinking the boss role is perfect for Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.”
 
    Isn’t every role? Now, about a filming location . . .
 
    Patriots  ‘Days’
 
 
    With a TV name like Hope Brady, you gotta know that Brockton homegal Kristian Alfonso of “Days of Our Lives” fame is a huge New England Patriots [team stats] fan. So much so that she was hoping her TV offspring would be a boy, so she could name him Tom.
 
    “Tom Brady [stats]! That would have also been a link to my TV granddad, Tom Horton,” Alfonso told the Track.
 
    Tom Horton was, of course, played by the late, great soap legend MacDonald Carey. Sort of the Tom Brady of the show . . . .
 
    But alas, Hope is having a girl. And coincidentally - or not - one of the girl names she has on her list is Bridget. As in Moynahan. As in No. 12’s S.O.
 
    “Hope is definitely a Patriots fan. She’s stated so on the show,” Alfonso said. “When Hope talked to a little boy who was playing football and she said, ‘I love the Patriots,’ I snuck that in there. Also, Hope went to boarding school in Boston.”
 
    Kristian, who plans to be home for the holidays, says she can’t wait to get back to Boston and take her three real-life sons - Gino, 16, Spartan, 13, and Jack, 4 -to their favorite restaurant, Pagliuca’s in the North End, and Modern Pastry for dessert. Then they’ll drive around town and see the lights.
 
    “I’ve been in L.A. for 23 years and I’ve never missed a Christmas holiday in Boston,” Alfonso said.
 
    As for Hope, she’s pregnant with - she thinks - Patrick Lockhart’s child. But all good “Days” fans know the child is really hubby Bo’s offspring. At any rate, you can cast your vote at nbc.com to name the new member of the Brady Bunch. Choices include the aforementioned Bridget, Ciara, Cassidy, Darcy and Rori. Maybe you can write in Tom . . . .

Credit: Inside Track

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