If you wanted to make an inexpensive family film featuring dancing and singing kids, where would you go? New York? Hollywood? How about Salt Lake City?
Utah? That's exactly what Hollywood producer and "We Are The World" mastermind Ken Kragen might have thought had he not worked with Utah native and Academy Award winning director Keith Merrill for more than 40 years. So when it came time to create the second in a series of films based on his daughter Emma's beloved book, "The 12 Dogs of Christmas," Kragen already knew Utah was where it had to be made.
After a difficult 2005 shoot of the first in the "12 Dogs" series in Maine, it took little convincing from his producing partner, Merrill, and the Utah film commission's Marshall Moore. Utah is known for it's excellent incentives to film makers, but it was actually 'family' that made Utah a must.
"With a solid but modest budget, Ken and I knew we needed to call on family to pull it off." Merrill told Meridian Magazine