Movies: It's All About Locations (Er, Incentives...)

MovieMaker Magazine
2008 Power List of Best Places (To Make Movies)

Here's the "Top Ten" (based on a variety of criteria):

1) Austin, TX

2) Albuquerque, NM

3) Shreveport, LA

4) New York, NY

5) Philadelphia, PA

6) Wilmington, NC

7) Seattle, WA

8) Portland, OR

9) Baltimore, MD

10) Memphis, TN

Hmm... Look. They must've made a mistake. Los Angeles was omitted.

Yeah, right. That, there's no mistake--Mister. Can anyone except for Michael Bay and perhaps J.J. Abrams afford to shoot in L.A. anymore? (No, it doesn't count if you're "stealing locations", fashioning the Hollywood sign into your shot via Photoshop, or if you're using your parents' old video camera and uploading to Youtube as I write...)

I've written about New Mexico before with my praises for their Green Filmmaking Program.
I don't even know that much about New Mexico, but I do know that New Mexico's smart. They're not ho-humming and waiting around to see how they might be able to entice a movie to their fine state. They are out there doing things and building things (studios, people) and recruiting and educating local film crews. They're like China-- slowly rising like a golden serpent from the sea to become the next superpower of filmmaking. We're so mesmerized, that we don't have a chance to react.

Heads up, Nebraska. Pencils down, California.
Don't let other states pass you up! Don't let other countries lure production (me) away! Get that legislation going and pass incentives so that you can be just as competitive. I really want you to succeed ~ because frankly, I want to succeed without years going by and without greenbacks flying off my back before I even have a chance to change them into Euros...

Also see my previous article Green Filmmaking And Studio Worm Farms

Copyright © 2008 Kendra Liedle

Not Just Football, Beef, And Corn...Nebraska's Johnny Carson School

NEBRASKA'S NEW JOHNNY CARSON SCHOOL OF THEATRE & FILM

This past weekend, I was surprised to open up The Los Angeles Times Sunday Edition to see a full-page ad dedicated to Nebraska. A strange moment passed: Was I reading The Omaha World-Herald, my hometown newspaper? I flipped back to the front page to double check. Nope, this was indeed The Los Angeles Times.

There, in plain view, was a photo of Johnny Carson, clutching an Academy Award, with an announcement of dedication to the new Johnny Carson School Of Theatre & Film…in Lincoln, Nebraska, previously known for football, sweet corn, and hunky steaks.

My home state of Nebraska continues to surprise me. Not so very long ago, I was a student at UNL where, as an undergraduate, I majored in advertising at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Film was my true passion, always had been, but working in the film industry was more of a pipe dream than a career path~ especially in a place like Nebraska.

Sure, I took some film classes, mostly studies of classic foreign films, but Nebraska didn’t have anything even resembling a film program of any magnitude. Temple Hall was certainly less-than-impressive, arts funding in local schools was being cut, Ballet Omaha was struggling, and Ak-Sar-Ben (where the Nebraska Film Commission formerly had their cramped offices) was razed to build an engineering school. Things certainly did not look promising…so I did what I felt I had to do…I left.

My, how times have changed. First, there was the Quest Convention Center and arena built in downtown Omaha, then came Film Streams (an independent theatre, recently opened in downtown Omaha), and now even an Omaha Film Festival is starting to get some recognition.

The new school, bankrolled by longstanding support and a very generous donation from the estate of Johnny Carson, perhaps one of Nebraska’s most well-known natives, offers studies in all disciplines including: film, production design, acting, directing, and theatre studies. The school will have all the facilities and the resources of big-time film schools including multiple theatre and performance spaces, editing suites (including both Avid and Final Cut Pro), a host of film equipment and cameras, and guest artists through the university affiliations with the Lied Center For Performing Arts as well as the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.

These days, as I continue to work professionally in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, I’m quickly realizing that Omaha seems to be having a creative renaissance of sorts. It makes me proud (and just a tad jealous that there was no Johnny Carson School for me.)

The new facilities were formally dedicated on October 12, 2007.
For more information about the Johnny Carson School Of Theatre & Film, including admissions and dedication festivities, please visit the following links:

Johnny Carson School Of Theatre & Film
http://www.unl.edu/TheatreArts/

Daily Nebraskan

*Photo Credit: Beebo Wallace