An article in today’s Austin American Statesman documents the downturn in film production in Austin over the past several years. While Austin is still frequently mentioned as a place filmmakers ‘love to shoot’, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding:
Central Texas film production has declined from 33 productions in 2004, to 27 in 2006 and, per the Statesman article, just 15 television and film projects in 2007. That, of course includes the locally shot FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, recently renewed for another season and still scheduled to shoot in Austin.
If anyone at the state level is watching, that ’sucking sound’ as Ross Perot was fond of saying is the sound of filmmaking dollars flowing to New Mexico and Louisiana that could have been spent right here in Texas IF we had a competitive film incentive program. Our $20million incentive fund is attractive for lower budget film fare, commercials and video games, but misses the mark in enticing larger budgeted projects that hire more crew, actors and ancillary services and put more dollars into the local economy.
Check out the Statesman article for a rundown on current and possible future productions, here.
Included in the film update piece is this information on the indie KICK THE CAN:
‘Kick the Can’ — A drama directed by Sol Tryon, whose comedy ‘The Living Wake’ made a small splash at last year’s Austin Film Festival. Jesse Eisenberg, star of ‘Living Wake,’ and Mark Webber, who starred in the Ethan Hawke-directed films ‘The Hottest State’ and ‘Chelsea Walls,’ lead the cast. After opening an office in Austin and scouting for locations, the production is now in hiatus, says Hudgins, who adds, ‘We hope they’re able to come back.’
An intriguing upcoming production is WHIP IT! the Drew Barrymore directed roller-derby film based on ‘Derby Girl’ by Shauna Cross. Set to star is the spunky Ellen Page, best known for her breakout performance as the pregnant teenager with the sardonic wit in the title role in JUNO.
Plot Line per IMDB: In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin.
I thought the sucking sound was coming from the script of Whip It! itself. Question: Why is production here in Austin down? I mean, there are several reasons it should be on the rise not the least of which is the fact that due to the drop in value of the US dollar, it no longer seems as viable of a solution to shoot anywhere outside the US where the budget won’t stretch as far.
Just wanting to hear some takes on this….
mj:
One of the biggest reasons production is down all over Texas is because of competition from New Mexico and Louisiana and several other states whose legislatures have aggressively courted film business with significant incentives.
From Joe O’Connell’s ‘Shot in Texas’ column:
…incentives were still the focus at a recent locations expo
in California.
“I [Janis Burklund of the Dallas Film Commission] can tell you the Michigan, New Mexico, Louisiana and Connecticut
booths were very busy,” she says of four states offering large
incentives – Michigan up to a 42 percent refund of in-state
expenditures. “It used to be you’d go to a location expo and people
actually talked to you about locations and crew. Now they walk up and
ask about your incentives.”
The Texas Legislature finally joined the film incentive scramble last
year, but with a paltry 5 percent, prospective projects are still
walking away. Look for film insiders, including the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, to seek an increase to 15 percent in the 2009 legislative session. That figure would still lag behind the big four but should help draw attention back to Texas’ solid film crews and diverse shooting locations.