Feinberg , executive director of the Rhode Island Film and Television Office for nearly twenty years , is an affable man who dresses like a cowboy because he loves horses and Westerns and is the reason movies and shows like Hocus Pocus 2 , “ The Gilded Age ,” “ Brotherhood ,” Infinitely Polar Bear , The Polka King and hundreds of others have filmed in Rhode Island .
He is also responsible for getting a 30 percent transferrable film tax credit passed nineteen years ago , one of the first in the country and copied by many other states since , that lures big-budget films to the tiny Ocean State , which in turn means millions of dollars in revenue for hotels , restaurants , local actors and crew members . “ The Gilded Age ” executive producer David Crockett says the first season filming the HBO show created 1,200 local jobs and involved purchasing and renting goods and services from about 500 Rhode Island vendors .
All that has not gone unnoticed : MovieMaker Magazine last year named Providence one of the best places to live and work as a filmmaker in North America . Simply put , Feinberg is a big man who loves his small state with a never-say-no attitude that has put it front and center on the cinematic map .
“ I like to see Rhode Island promoted to a global audience ,” he says in his office , surrounded by glorious clutter including a plastic model of Lon Chaney ’ s werewolf and framed photos signed to him by people like Steven Spielberg and Richard Gere .
“ I lived in LA for twenty-two years and would tell people very proudly I was from Rhode Island . They ’ d respond , ‘ I love New York !’” he says shaking his head at the not-the-first-time , not-fromhere people who have confused Rhode Island with New York .
That confusion is changing : In 2022 alone , the film office registered more than thirty productions , large and small , filming in Rhode Island , including Hocus Pocus 2 and “ The Gilded Age .” Since the tax incentive took effect nearly twenty years ago , it has generated more than $ 800 million in production in the state .
“ Now ,” Feinberg says with a beaming smile , “ now people know about Rhode Island . That ’ s meaningful for me .”
LITTLE CHILDREN DREAM BIG , UNFETTERED BY the constraints of maturity and exterior forces telling them what they should do , instead relying on a child ’ s greatest asset — imagination .
To say that Feinberg , who grew up and still lives in the Cranston enclave of Garden City , had a lot of imagination and a love of movies is like saying Rhode Island has a lot of sand on its 400 miles of coastline .
“ I remember one summer when I was like seven or eight and said to my dad , ‘ Let ’ s make a movie ,’” says Feinberg , now fifty-nine , about his father , the late Ross Feinberg , a longtime Coventry school teacher and ardent film fan himself . “ And he said , ‘ OK … what ?’”
That open-ended question turned into a film called Charlie Chaplin Meets Dr . Jekyll , a three-minute silent horror short the boy created and populated with his friends as actors , shot by his dad behind the camera and with little Stevie as Chaplin , bowler hat and all . That led to more films about Batman and James Bond , and stopmotion animated ones , showing them on garage walls in the homes of neighbors like Rose and Anthony Pagano , whose late son Jim was one of Feinberg ’ s best friends . Feinberg lovingly calls the Paganos “ my other parents ,” and he spent hours and hours making movies with Jim as a kid .
“ Oh , it was such a fun time ,” laughs Jim ’ s mom , Rose Pagano , eighty-two . “ They were the Garden City Boys , that ’ s what we called them . They ’ re still close ; they still come by to check on us .”
“ He was always around , always had his head on straight , always knew what he wanted to do ,” says Anthony Pagano , eighty-seven . “ He wrote , directed , produced , cast the films … as a little kid !”
Feinberg first used his dad ’ s 8mm Brownie camera , then bought his own used Sony Super 8mm camera with fade out and slowmotion functions for $ 50 at the former Kaplan ’ s in Garden City . He saved up money made mowing neighborhood lawns to pay half ; his parents paid the rest .
So it ’ s no surprise that the little costumed boy running around the streets and homes of Garden City now lords over the state ’ s film office . Also no surprise is that The Fabelmans , an autobiographical movie based on the life of superstar director Steven Spielberg , who as a boy shot his own films , is one of Feinberg ’ s recent favorites .
He saw it with his mother , Lotte Feinberg , eighty-seven , mesmerized by the way the young boy in the movie used wet toilet paper on faces to make someone look monstrous or perforated film with a pin to mimic a laser beam or a gunshot .
“ I leaned over to Mom and said , ‘ That ’ s exactly what I used to do !’” Feinberg says . “ I guess I just did it instinctively .”
In her pleasant , tidy Garden City home where Feinberg and older brother Rob grew up , their mom beams when talking about her boys . She ’ s also proud of the way little Stevie would take in stray animals , including a cat he named Cinnamon , which he first fed outside and gradually lured indoors . “ And one night I came home from work , and Cinnamon was snuggled up in bed with Stevie ,” says his mom with a laugh .
“ He ’ s come a long way and it ’ s no surprise he ’ s doing what he
68 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JUNE 2023