Hoboken resident Beth Rooney is a Jersey girl with a storied 20-year career in television production. Her husband, Anthony Picone, is a member of the popular Hoboken rock band “The Benjamins,” and has been a professional musician for over 20 years.
Earlier this year the pair formed Savior Productions, a film production company currently run out of their Park Avenue home, which aims to take advantage of the huge pool of creative talent and experienced industry professionals in Hoboken to produce Hoboken-based feature films, television shows, music videos, and other projects.
The origin of the company stems from a feature film script that Picone wrote with his brother Michael, “The Long Way Home.” Production on that project is already well underway, utilizing Hoboken actors and other creative professionals. They are filming in Hoboken locations like Schnackenberg’s Luncheonette on Washington Street (a historic eatery that was also used as a location for the Leonardo DiCaprio film “The Basketball Diaries”).
Rooney and Picone are a couple with many talents.
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In a bit of serendipity, Rooney read a recent Hudson Reporter profile of Jersey City resident Rich Garcia, a substitute teacher known for being a Tupac Shakur lookalike, and thought there was a perfect role for him in the film. They recently wrapped shooting Garcia’s scene at the famous Great Notch Inn of Little Falls, N.J., a bar with a lot of rock n’ roll history, including being used by Bon Jovi for their “Have a Nice Day” video.
In addition to “The Long Way Home” the Picone brothers are working on four or five other feature film scripts, an idea for a Hoboken-based sitcom, and a couple reality show ideas, all of which they hope to produce through Savior Productions. Picone is the director of “The Long Way Home” and is also creating original music for the soundtrack, while Rooney is executive producer, director of photography, editor, and “everything else” for the film.
Long career in production
Rooney can call on a deep background in television production, including work for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, and a long stint as Lead Stage Manager for “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”
Her greatest claim to fame may be when she was First Assistant Director for Curb Your Enthusiasm when it was filming in New York. This meant that she got to work with Martin Scorsese when he guest-starred on the series.
Rooney and Picone moved to Hoboken four years ago and find it to be a “cultural mecca.” They chose Hoboken because they “love urban life” but found Hoboken to be “more communal” than New York City.
Their relationships with the local community have been helpful in producing the film, with multiple local businesses volunteering to be used as filming locations, and even host the wrap party.
Savior Productions hopes to repay this generosity with a “pay it forward attitude” and a mission to “help people” as well as simply producing films. For instance, Rooney hopes to donate any profits from “Long Way Home” – if the film is eventually sold to a distributor – to the children of Billy Marcado, a childhood friend whose wife passed away two months ago and who himself was recently killed in a tragic car accident.
A film in search of a deal
The couple aims to wrap production on “Long Way Home” by September and then begin the process of editing, getting the film into festivals, and trying to find a distribution deal for it. They hope to draw on a wealth of contacts in the entertainment industry that they’ve developed over their careers in order to help promote the film, including Queen Latifah, Montel Williams, and others.
The relationship that Rooney – a lifelong huge Bon Jovi fan – might be most proud of is with Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres. Rooney is a long time visual artist as well, and her proudest accomplishment is when she sold two of her paintings to Torres, she says.
Rooney’s life took another unexpected turn recently when she was featured as a spokesmodel for Myshelle Dermaceuticals, a line of all-natural skin care products. She won a nationwide contest to become the “Face of 40s” for MyShelle.