Caddo Street Productions is a full service film and television development and production company, dedicated to developing and producing A-List quality Feature Film and TV projects that can be filmed in and around The Shreveport / Bossier area of Northeast, Louisiana as well as throughout the state of Louisiana.

Principles, Jude Gerard Prest (CEO/Executive Producer) (a Shreveport native),  and David Abbitt (VP of Production / Executive Producer) are long time Hollywood veterans with well over a thousand hours of feature films, broadcast, syndicated, cable and international and live event television programming between them.

Caddo Street Productions is represented by Paradigm, Talent and Literary.

Sincerely,

Jude Gerard Prest

David Abbitt

Press Release:

“CADDO STREET” THE PLACE TO BE FOR FILMMAKERS, COMMUNITY

 When Jude Prest, a Shreveport native, left town for college in 1981 and ultimately went on to the bright lights of Hollywood, he always pictured himself coming back home and bringing “the biz” with him.  Now a successful producer-director in Los Angeles, he is having his dream realized as he and his business partner, Los Angeles native and producer Dave Abbitt, are bringing their fledgling film production company to life in Shreveport/Bossier City with the support of local investors and an embracing community.

 Caddo Street Productions is named after the street on which Jude’s family operated a local grocery store during his childhood and adolescence, an homage to the community and Jude’s roots.  The partners feel the name speaks to their intentions as well, as both producers are uprooting from Los Angeles and making their homes here.  “What sets us apart from most producers who come to town, is we plan on staying.  Historically, productions come into Louisiana from Los Angeles, or New York.  They take advantage of the tax incentives, bring in the majority of their crews from outside of the area, shoot what they need to, and then send everyone home,” Prest said recently from his office in Los Angeles, “but that’s not how our plan works.”

 Their plan involves a multi-million dollar private fund, raised exclusively among local investors; with which they will produce a slate of high quality films over several years (the company is represented by Paradigm Talent and Literary, one of the three or four elite creative packaging agencies in Hollywood).  And that’s just the beginning. 

Prest and Abbitt conceived Caddo Street Productions with the intent that it will become a breeding ground for homegrown Shreveport/Bossier film crews.  The producers say they will work with area schools to place film and television program graduates on staff, where they will learn from film industry veterans who will fill key roles until the local talent has matured enough to take the mantle.  They are ambitious, but the plan seems to be coming to fruition. They have enjoyed the immense support of a community sensing opportunity, and can’t wait to give back.

Dave Abbitt had never been to Louisiana before co-founding this venture with Prest, but he’s been amazed at the support he and Jude have received.  “It’s overwhelming, but most of all it’s joyful, which is something you don’t hear a lot of when people talk about the entertainment industry.”  Abbitt was born and raised in Los Angeles, and says he looks forward to becoming a full-time resident in the Shreveport/Bossier area.  “The quality of life here, the people, [Shreveport/Bossier City] is just an amazing place,” he says, “but the area is also, like so much of the country, economically challenged.  We want to help change that.”

 Caddo Street Productions will open permanent offices in Shreveport/Bossier in late 2007.