For the past 26 years, Cinespace Chicago Film Studio has called one of North Lawndale’s industrial parks home. Today, as it works to rebrand as Cinespace Chicago, the studio also looks back at its roots and history.
Before Alex Pissios founded Cinespace in 1991, he was just a film fan who became involved in the movie business because of his favorite hobby. “Assuming that he was Greek, somebody told him to call me,” said Elmer Latshaw, who spent much of his life in film and television production.
Latshaw hired Alex Pissios to stage-manage TV shows like “Trapper John.” When Pissios’ tenant moved out of the warehouse space at 1655 S. Rockwell Ave., he offered it to Latshaw and Luxurious Software.
At the time, Chicago had only one other location for film production: Navy Pier, which didn’t suit filmmakers’ needs, including those working on smaller films.
“There was no place to shoot in Chicago,” Latshaw said. “If you wanted to work, you had to go to Los Angeles.”
In 1991, they officially founded Cinespace Film Studios with a single-stage and a budget of $100,000. “We built this place from the ground up,” Alex Pissios said. The name came from Pissios’ native country of Greece, which means “shooting range.”
Latshaw left Cinespace after a year due to disagreements about how the business should be run, but Alex Pissios continued, starting small and growing slowly. Today, his studio is home to 24 soundstages, including an 18-acre backlot. But the studio also has another name that will stick with it as it looks to its future: Cinespace Chicago Film Studio.