Hopwood DePree

Hopwood DePree is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

He has produced, written, directed and starred in two award-winning independent feature films and has sold and/or written feature film scripts for TriStar Pictures, MGM, The Weinstein Company, Artisan Entertainment, Neal Moritz and Lionsgate.

He is the co-founder of the non-profit arts organization Waterfront Film Festival and has been appointed under two administrations to the Michigan Film Office Advisory Council by both Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and current Governor Rick Snyder.

He also often works as an advisor on entertainment and media related projects for celebrities and brands.

In early 2018, DePree appeared as a guest on Good Morning Britain to discuss his latest project of restoring his ancestral home, Hopwood Hall in Middleton, Greater Manchester, England.

Biography

DePree was born and grew up in Holland, Michigan, the son of Thomas and Deena DePree. He has two sisters, Dana and Dori. DePree's father was a politician, political advisor and the founder of an insurance company.[1] After graduating from Holland High School, he moved to Los Angeles where he attended the University of Southern California. He won his first paying role (Rhinoskin: The Making of a Movie Star) when a casting director (Mali Finn) saw him in a USC play. After Hopwood's performance in The Last Big Attraction, director Whit Stillman introduced him to a producer who got Hopwood a deal with Warner Bros. to create, executive produce and star in his own TV show.

After a visit home to Michigan, Hopwood saw an opportunity to give back to the community that he grew up in. He decided to convert an old, abandoned whip-cream factory into several sound stages and hire unemployed auto and manufacturing workers as crew members. That factory eventually became Tictock Studios which has developed a training program, targeted at below-the-line workers, to get new crew members ready for work. Hopwood was able to recruit Jeffrey Stott, a veteran Hollywood movie producer, to help teach the training classes. Stott served as the Executive Vice President of Castle Rock Entertainment between 1988 and 2002.

DePree was featured across national US media for his accomplishments and was appointed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm to the Michigan Film Office Advisory Council to represent broad areas of film and motion picture making, production of television programs and commercials, and related industries in Michigan. After being term-limited in 2017 he was succeeded by his sister.

Family lineage

Hopwood's ancestry is English and Dutch, with the name Hopwood dating back to 1100 A.D. in Middleton outside Manchester, England. It was there that Hopwood Hall was built in the 15th century;[2] it still remains there today. In January 2018, The Daily Telegraph released a feature story about DePree's move from Hollywood to Greater Manchester to restore the Hall to its former glory.[3]

Filmography

Film

In 1994, Hopwood produced, directed, wrote and starred in Rhinoskin: The Making of a Movie Star, a "mockumentary" about the struggle of young actors seeking work in Hollywood. The film received a limited U.S. theatrical release and was bought by the Sundance Channel after screening at 17 international film festivals. At the age of 23, DePree was globe-trotting to promote his film. "Good Morning America" called it "wickedly funny." The Los Angeles Times declared it "amazing."[4]

He produced, directed, wrote, and starred in The Last Big Attraction in 1999, which received a nomination at the Hamptons International Film Festival and won three awards at the Newport International Film Festival. Hopwood was one of the producers of the 2010 film Virginia, directed and written by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black and starring Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly. DePree and Rebecca Green were the executive producers of the 2010 independent film Tug, written and directed by Abram Makowka.[5]

Television

One of his first roles was the defendant in a 1993 episode of Doogie Howser, M.D. and he was Paul Watkins in the 2004 CBS TV movie Helter Skelter which was nominated for a primetime Emmy.[6]

Philanthropy

In 2012, Hopwood was honored by ArtServe at the 50th Annual Michigan Youth Arts Festival with an Inspiration Award for his contributions to students.

Additionally, Hopwood co-founded and hosts the annual Waterfront Film Festival held in the beach resort area of West Michigan. The festival is a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide a "middle coast" venue for independent filmmakers eager to show their work to sophisticated audiences. It is supported in-part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and was named as a top "Ten Fantastic Film Festival Vacation" by FilmThreat.com, and ranked in the "Top 5 Film Festivals" by SAG Indie in the Screen Actors Guild magazine.[7]

In early 2015 FOX news announced Hopwood was partnering with ArtPrize to launch ArtPrize OnScreen.[8] ArtPrize is a privately funded non-profit organization that gives away the world's largest cash prizes (over $500,000 annually) to competing artists.[9] September 2015 and was the first year for feature, short and documentary films to be added into the competition overseen by Hopwood. Several films won cash prizes and the documentary "T-Rex" advanced into the final round for the $200,000 Jury Prize.[10]

Politics

Beginning in 2006, Hopwood worked closely in Michigan with the House of Representatives and Senate to craft a tax-based incentive program that would help bring the film industry to his home state. He was called upon numerous times to testify for the Senate before the bill eventually passed almost unanimously in late 2007 and signed into law in April 2008. Shortly thereafter, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm appointed Hopwood as an Advisor to continue to help bring the film industry to the State of Michigan.

Subsequently, the film industry in Michigan went from under 2 million dollars in film production annually to hundreds of millions in expenditures by productions in Michigan in less than two years.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Peter Daining (7 December 2010). "Thomas DePree, local politician and philanthropist, dies aged 75". Holland Sentinel. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  2. ↑ A History of Hopwood Hall" by C. Stuart Macdonald first published in 1963 on behalf of The De La Salle Training College, Middleton, by Waldegrave (Publishers) Limited, London SW1. Copyright C.S. Macdonald 1963
  3. ↑ Tyzack, Anna. "Meet Hopwood DePree, the LA actor who has swapped Hollywood for his crumbling ancestral pile in Manchester". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Grand Rapids Press, October 8, 2006
  5. ↑ Kit Borys (14 May 2008). "Haylie Duff eyes 'Tug'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  6. ↑ Helter Skelter (TV 2004). IMDb.com
  7. ↑ Waterfront Film Festival 2012. Waterfrontfilm.org. Retrieved on 2012-01-29.
  8. ↑ .
  9. ↑ . The Wall Street Journal.
  10. ↑ .
  11. ↑ Carrie Jones Memorandum. michiganfilmoffice.org (2011-03-01)
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