Here's my first published article I wrote for Louisiana Film and Video magazine on the growing number of productions that are leaving California for Baton Rouge and other destinations.
I've got more intersting article ideas and assignments cooking for the future, so stay tuned.
Read the full article after the jump.
Also, here's a PDF of the article inside the magazine.
In the last year, the battle between the West and the South has heated up as both California and Louisiana try to woo movie producers to practice their craft locally.
In 2009, the California Film Commission took aggressive measures to keep production from leaving the state, enacting a tax credit program of it’s own, offering a 20% to 25% credit (compared to Louisiana’s 30% transferable incentive) for production expenses that qualify through 2014.
But the $200 million allocated in the program’s first year ran dry in January. Credits for the second year received double the amount of applications than the state could handle.
“The good thing is that we have 30 projects that were able to get the funding, “ said Amy Limisch, Executive Director of the California Film Commission in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “The bad thing is that there’s another 50 projects that we’ll lose out to Louisiana, London, New York and Texas.”
But with the abundance of media in our society, isn’t there more than enough to spread around?
“There are simply more productions happening nowadays due to the proliferation of media, so it’s natural that more productions are ‘running away’,” said Mike Flanagan, author of the bestselling book Hollywood Jobs. “Many of them are staying still, though.”
Despite the black eye of the gulf oil spill, Louisiana continues to reap the benefits of Hollywood’s film exodus.
Currently there are over 15 movies being filmed across the span of “Hollywood South”, with six productions in New Orleans, four in Baton Rouge, three in Shreveport and two in Lafayette.
Film directors and producers have been particularly drawn to Baton Rouge studios, despite New Orleans being the original crown jewel of production (which changed drastically in the aftermath of Katrina).
The Capital City’s own Celtic Media Centre is host to two notable on-going productions: Universal’s Battle Ship and Straw Weisman’s new film The Big Valley, based on the classic TV western of the same namesake.
In fact, visitors to Celtic can witness The Big Valley set being constructed on the studio’s backlot.
And with the announcement that the next films in the Twilight saga are currently in pre-production, Baton Rouge is pulling out all the stops, coming to the forefront as the hub of choice for movie companies.
“Baton Rouge is on the verge of becoming the next major film town in America,” Weisman says. “The facilities are here, the infrastructure is here and there is a we-can-help-you-get-it-done attitude that is extremely conducive.”
Even the movie juggernaut Disney considered shooting parts of the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean at the Baton Rouge River Center before they ultimately decided to move production to Hawaii.
Disney did, however, film a majority of Secretariat in Lafayette, which opened to critical acclaim in October.
Chuck Bush, president of Media Circus, a Louisiana-based production services company sees Louisiana ultimately challenging California’s national ranking, passing the billion dollar mark next year.
But to keep the movies coming, Louisiana must stay on the offensive.
“We’ve had to develop a strong infrastructure base; meaning crew, stages, equipment availability and short- term office space.” says Bush.
As for California?
“The fact that films can be *manufactured* less expensively outside of So. California should surprise no one. It is a reality,” said Flanagan. “The people complaining and dwelling on that reality need to adjust to that reality and move on to more constructive activity.”
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