Over the holidays, a motley crew of filmmakers — my Austin buddies Mark Hacker and Al Rodriguez — stopped by my local Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Beverly Hills. Mark is a talented producer and founder of Wildfire Films, Al an accomplished screenwriter and cousin to another Austin star, Robert Rodriguez. And they brought along a new member of their Wildfire Films team, writer and producer Anton Diether (Swiss Family Robinson, Moby Dick).
The subject quickly turned to the guys’ excitement about Austin as the new Hollywood. Anton has recently moved there after a 20-year career in Los Angeles and admits never feeling so inspired. “After years of being told to ‘just write’ I finally get a chance to produce and see my film scripts realized the way I want them to be,” Anton told me.
He has found an Act Two outside the confines of the 310 area code.
So have many others.
In my travels, I have seen many top “film towns,” including Austin. Each boasts a fiery independent streak and is very often populated by Hollywood escapees seeking more creative freedom. But as Mark said in our talk, ” A good film town has to go beyond just tax breaks and post-house facilities, there has to be a range of above- and below-the-line talent in a city eager to create something new.”
In my new book I will talk about these second cities including: Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Nashville, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, and of course Austin. What’s your “outside-the-beltway” experience in your film town? And what are the pros and cons of living outside L.A?
“For me,” Anton summed up with a movie reference, “it’s like the difference of Mommie, Dearest, in which all you know is getting beaten, and now suddenly you have a brand new parent who’s kind and caring. It feels great to be out of L.A.”
If our Cat! writing groups which are set up around the country, and the world, are any indication, we have a lot of talent out there ready for new opportunities, no matter where we find them.
Monday I will be introducing the leaders of our Cat! writing groups, and discussing further plans for even greater creative and networking opportunities.
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CAT WRITING GROUPS!? I love it. Is there one near Philly?
If not, okay, I’ll move to Austin, but don’t expect me to wear
a cowboy hat. Unless Sandra Bullock is the Group Leader then
I’ll wear the glitteriest, gosh-dern cow-pokin’ hay-chewin’
bow-legged man-hat the world has ever seen, with bells on.
Are you going to talk about outside-the-US cities at all? I’d recommend covering at least Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, with perhaps London and its environs.
Yay! Al! You made the front page of Blake’s Blog! It’s like making the cover of “Rolling Stone” for writers!!!
:)
jw
Seriously, I’d like to have one in Michigan, somewhere around the Detroit/Lansing/Ann Arbor area. Michigan discovered how much fun movie-making can be this year, and while we’ve had some big shots come to town (Sigourney Weaver, Drew Barrymore, and Michael Chiklis to name a few!) we’ve not got much in the way of support for the hometown folks yet. Especially writers. We’re on the tip of the iceberg.
I live in Shreveport,Louisiana. According to a recent report, 59 films were shot in Louisiana in 2007 and 80 in 2008. On January 7th a local Casting Director (as far as I know the busiest one in Northwest Louisiana) wrote on his blog that he has recently received several calls from producers planning to shoot their projects in Shreveport in 2009. Also, Nu Image/Millenium Films is planning to begin construction on a new studio in Shreveport very soon. I feel there is a range of above and below-the-line talent in Louisiana, especially in New Orleans and Shreveport and filmmakers are beginning to realize this. Too, Save The Cat! is an excellent book and I’d like to help start a Cat! group in Shreveport!
Having lived in Toronto, I can say the town’s at it’s best when a film’s being shot there – or several for that matter. Everyone’s aware of the “run away production” problem or conspiracy depending on your perspective, but something about a good film gets everyone’s juices going be it in production or in theatres and Toronto demonstrated that time and time again.
Now that Im in Houston, I wish I could find the same buzz… Austin is only a few hours away though.
Any groups in or near Akron, Ohio?
SEATTLE, WA.
We may not produce a ton of films here (17 feature films shot here in the last ten years), but we have a thriving film community, including our group, The Northwest Screenwriters Guild.
Other gorups: Seattle International Film Festival (largest film festival in the country), Northwest Film Forum, The Film School (Tom Skerritt), Women In Film, IFP Seattle, University of Washington, Art Institute of Seattle, and 911 Media Arts.
According to our film office, Washington state provides a 20% Financial Incentive (Sales and Use Tax Exemptions
on Rental Equipment, Services and Production Vehicles) on productions shot here.
We lose out because we’re so close to Vancouver BC.
SEATTLE, WA.
We may not produce a ton of films here (17 feature films shot here in the last ten years), but we have a thriving film community, including our group, The Northwest Screenwriters Guild.
Other gorups: Seattle International Film Festival (largest film festival in the country), Northwest Film Forum, The Film School (Tom Skerritt), Women In Film, IFP Seattle, University of Washington, Art Institute of Seattle, and 911 Media Arts.
According to our film office, Washington state provides a 20% Financial Incentive (Sales and Use Tax Exemptions
on Rental Equipment, Services and Production Vehicles) on productions shot here.
We lose out because we’re so close to Vancouver BC.
BALTIMORE, MD
I live just north of Baltimore, and I can tell you that, over the years, lots and lots of films have been shot around here. And they’re not all Levinson or Waters movies, either.
Hi guys! Just to give the exotic note: I live in Spain and here the situation is so different.
In the whole country, we produce about 150 films a year, shot mostly in small cities, since filming in big cities is quite expensive and unpractical. Maybe 150 is a very small quantity, but our production system is totally different from the USA’s: there is virtually no private investment and all films are funded by the State, so there’s not much money for making more movies.
To add another peculiarity, here the Director is king! Nearly all films are written and directed by the same person, being really difficult to sell your projects as “standalone writers”. So there are virtually no writers working only for cinema, and a writer group is something unheard of.
Seems I’ll have to build the first :)
Blake, come to Philadelphia.
Movie Maker Mag has ranked us #5, #2, and #5 the past three years to live, work, and make movies.
http://www.moviemaker.com/locations/article/top_10_movie_cities_2008_best_places_to_make_movies_20080128/
Philadelphia, PA #5
Last year: #2
Previous year: #5
“City Behind the Scenes”
Philadelphia has come a long way since Sylvester Stallone first made his way up the steps of the Philadephia Museum of Art in 1975’s Rocky. Since then, the city has famously unfolded before audience’s eyes in films such as Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia and the entire filmography of local writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (Lady in the Water, Signs, The Sixth Sense). But it is often what audiences don’t see on the screen that makes Philly so notable.
Last year held 216 known feature production days for Philadelphia—a number that is offset by the city’s “no permit required” policy, which allows filming on public streets, causing many indie productions to go untracked. But more importantly, it also marked the introduction of the new “Creativity in Focus: Pennsylvania Film Production Grant Program.” At the end 2006’s legislative session, the Pennsylvania legislature converted the state’s former tax incentive program into a rebate program, allowing moviemakers to get cash up-front on production expenses such as construction, wages and salaries under $1 million, editing, wardrobe and accessories and other items. (In order to qualify for the grant, 60 percent of these expenses must be incurred in Pennsylvania.) In conjunction with its new grant program, the Greater Philadelphia Film Office has also joined efforts with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation to offer low-interest loans to any moviemaker wishing to supplement his or her budget.
Shooting in Philadelphia is more than just economically sound, however. The city has long fostered the creativity of its independent film community through both print and online production guides, a professional listings database and the Greater Philadelphia Filmmakers organization, which spotlights local moviemakers and their work in addition to running regular seminars such as the Summer Networking Series and the Set in Philadelphia screenwriting competition.
“The film office does everything from recommending places to get temporary furniture to locating schools for cast and crew members who travel with their families,” says Nicole Ross, marketing manager for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. “Philadelphia boasts a broad diversity of cultures, neighborhoods and environments, from affluent areas such as Chestnut Hill to the urban landscape of North Philadelphia. In addition, Philadelphia is also famed as home of the largest municipal public park in the world, Fairmount Park, which is ideal for shooting films in rural settings.”
“Philadelphia is such an amazing backdrop for filmmaking; it’s truly unlike any other city with its history, its society, its people, its layout, its beautiful inner city and also its beautiful derelict outer slums,” says Cameron J. Zonfrilli, president of Parlay Film Productions. “Philadelphia is a huge county with a vast assortment of location settings. A filmmaker can take total advantage of shooting in an amazing cornfield-lined countryside one minute and then be shooting the Philadelphia skyline from underneath the Ben Franklin Bridge the next, with less than a one-hour company move on any given shoot.”
Recent Films: Tooth and Nail, The 4th Dimension, Rocky Balboa, Shooter, The Gospel According to Janis
Philadelphia On Film: Rocky, Se7en, Jersey Girl, The Sixth Sense, Philadephia, 12 Monkeys
Film Festivals: Philadelphia Film Festival, Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Film Education: Temple University, The Art Institute of Philadelphia, University of the Arts
Film Organizations: Philadelphia Film Society, Greater Philadelphia Filmmakers
Contact: Greater Philadelphia Film Office
100 S. Broad Street, Suite 600
Philadelphia, PA 19110
215/686-2668
http://www.film.org
I have many film stories that I want to sell to the any film industry but especially to the Hollywood film industry,but couldn’t do that yet,
so I am looking for a person whom could do that,and it will be my co-writer,
would you like to do that?so easy just to sell the stories and I believe that my stories will be block busters and we will get fame and wealth like J.K.Rowling.
awaited