Plymouth In The Spotlight

Ordinarily, having one's home town featured on the front page of the Sunday Globe elicits civic pride among the townies. But when the story consists of a Spotlight Team report, all bets are off. Plymoutheans perusing this morning's edition, learned that the latest target of the spotlighters investigative zeal was none other than Plymouth Rock Studio, America's Home Town's favorite development project. Suffice it to say, the news, especially for those (and they are legion) who see the creation of a new movie studio on the fairways of Waverly Oaks, as town's primary future economic driver, is not encouraging. It appears that had anyone bothered to look beyond the glitzy front put up by David Kirpatrick and his posse of Hollywood poseurs, they would have found a financial house of cards kept alive only by questionable claims of industry experience and ephemeral financial backing. In case you missed it, click HERE to read the whole story


While the View has not been a strong supporter of the proposed studio, it has refrained from criticising the plan, primarily due to our lack of understanding of the studio's business model. But, we were led to believe, an experienced and well-financed team of Hollywooders were planning to create a movie studio in Plymouth that would provide jobs, tax revenues and career training to us locals. Most of the Town's political leaders swarmed to support the project, and why not. The benefits to the Town were not insignificant. But if a story sounds too good, maybe it is. Which brings up the need for a due-diligence investigation into the promoters' bona fides. Someone has to look behind the curtain.

What we now know, thanks to the Globe's Spotlight Team, is that there is a lot of sunshine in Kirkpatrick's resume and his mysterious sources of financial backing are linked to a number of shady investors with, apparently, more jail time than assets. Moreover, his personal record is fraught with a litany of law suits, unpaid bills and nasty disputes not to mention a career that has been in decline for the past eighteen years culminating in a personal bankruptcy that has had him hitting up his mother for pocket cash.

While clearly not the only local official with a seat on the studio bandwagon, the Globe came up with several quotes from Board of Selectmen Chair, Dick Quintal, who emerges from the story as the odds on favorite for designated goat. First off, he maintains that he sees his paving the way for the studio as his legacy. He then touts his business acumen:

“They’ve got a track record,’’ he said. “I can pretty much tell somebody the minute I meet them if they’re real.’’

Amazingly, Quintal was made aware of Kirkpatrick's bankruptcy and at least some of the lawsuits, to which Quintal replied:

“I didn’t pay no attention to that,’’ he said. “That’s none of my business.’’

Somehow we think that his legacy may not turn out to be as quite as positive as he had imagined.