Big Cities: On the Cusp
San Antonio, Texas
With a commitment to fostering its local film scene, San Antonio offers the best incentives you’ll find in Texas, with a city supplement providing qualified productions with 7.5 percent credit on top of the state’s. The San Antonio Film Commission is an invaluable resource, providing permits and street closures and securing space in the San Antonio Community Access Network digital studio (television equipment and broadcast facilities for public and educational use). The beauty of San Antonio’s River Walk, Museum Reach stretch, and missions provide a vibrant backdrop for your next shoot. With a low cost of living and a high-ranking quality of life, this is a city you’ll be happy to call home.
Seattle, Washington
According to Ben Dobyns, executive producer of the hit fantasy web series JourneyQuest, “Seattle’s a community built on deep relationships, respect and a constant desire to experiment. The more work that we can create, the less incentive our top talent has to move elsewhere. You find ‘crewtopia’ over and over and over again.” We can’t not mention the grandiose Seattle International Film Festival. Beyond its month-long event in spring, SIFF operates a year-round screening program of current and classic films—like the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in Smell-O-Vision. And there’s the famous Seattle quality of life, from the incredible mountains and Puget Sound to the food culture. Though Seattle’s cost of living is pretty steep, it’s still cheaper than New York and San Francisco.
Washington, D.C.
Chances are 2017 will be ripe with opportunity for making art from political allegory. Where better to make it happen than the nation’s capital? Washington, D.C.’s population has a distinctly cosmopolitan flair, reflected in its culture and media. Notable titles shot in 2016: Jason Bourne, Purge: Election Year and Jackie.
Sci-fi feature President Robinson, directed by Al Hallak, makes use of Washington, D.C.’s studio resources. Photograph by Sean Kennedy
Enjoy cash rebates of up to 35 percent for qualified shoots and expenditures. And dive into indie theaters like the Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market, incredible free museums and attractions, or a springtime stroll under the cherry blossoms. D.C. enjoys all four seasons, but Georgetown in the autumn (of The Exorcist fame) will really make your head spin.
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