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Top 10 Cities to Make Movies 2007
MM's seventh annual countdown of the 10 best cities to live, work and make movies in 2007
(Page 2)
2. Philadelphia, PA
Last 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
www.film.org
3. Austin, TX
Last year: #2
“It’s All Relevant”
Walk down nearly any street in Austin, Texas and chances are you’ll find a film shoot already in progress. That’s just the kind of film-centered folk that the city brings out. “Austin is very much a film town with over a dozen film festivals,” says Louis Black, co-founder of The Austin Chronicle and one of the founders of SXSW. “Rick Linklater, cinematographer Lee Daniel, indie legends John and Janet Pierson, editor Sandra Adair, Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan (his wife and producer), Tim McCanlies and Mike Judge are just some of the filmmakers who live here. Harry Knowles’ Ain’t-It-Cool-News Website is also headquartered here and Harry is very involved in the local film community.”
Austin has two film studios, Rodriguez and Avellan’s Troublemaker Studios, where Grindhouse (a co-venture between Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino) is currently being filmed, and Austin Studios, run by the Austin Film Society (which boasts Rodriguez, Linklater, Tarantino and Judge among its biggest supporters). In November’s election, Austin voters approved a development bond package that will include $5 million for much-needed upgrades to the city-owned Austin Studios.
“Austin has also dropped fees for permits to film on city rights-of-way, has made publicly-owned property—parks, buildings and in the case of [NBC’s television series] “Friday Night Lights,” a football field—available for filming at no charge,” says Gary Bond, director of the Austin Film Commission.
“As a result of enhancements to the film commission’s Website, expansion of the Reel Scout location database and photo library as well as the success of the 2005-2006 Austin Film Guide and other marketing efforts, production leads to the office were up a whopping 454 percent in 2006,” notes Bond. “Currently, the film office is implementing a searchable, Web-based version of the Austin Film Guide, to be regularly updated, which is expected to provide even more information in a handier format, resulting in even more leads from projects considering Austin as a location.”
So much of Austin’s reputation as a world-renowned moviemaking capital has to do with the unique education and support that the community fosters through film festivals, special screenings, retrospectives and even contests, such as the Open Screen Night at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a local downtown hotspot that serves drinks and dinner with its movies. “It’s a filmmaker open mic night of sorts,” explains Tim League, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s founder, “where the audience’s favorite film wins $100. We do it once a month, and filmmaking collectives such as Classico Entertainment, The Late Train and Nothing Liquid have formed to regularly compete. After using Open Screen Night to build his demo reel, Dax Martinez-Vargas went on to get a job doing video work for MTV.”
Burnt Orange Productions, led by CEO Carolyn Pfeiffer, produces independent feature films in partnership with The University of Texas Film Institute. This rare partnership, which “allows students to work on union feature films alongside working professionals, is completely original and the only program of its kind,” says Pfeiffer. The same can be said for Austin, its films and its moviemakers.
Recent Films: Fast Food Nation, The Hitcher, Infamous, The Reaping
Austin On Film: Dazed and Confused, Office Space, Friday Night Lights, The Faculty
Film Festivals: Austin Film Festival, SXSW, Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival
Film Education: University of Texas, Texas Film Institute, Austin Community College
Film Organizations: Austin Film Society, Reel Women, Texas Association of Film and Tape Professionals
Contact: Austin Film Commission
301 Congress Avenue, Suite 200
Austin, TX 78701
512/583-7229
www.austintexas.org/film
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by scott casey on 2/18/08 at 3:50 pm
were does phoenix az come rate at
- Comment by Movie on 3/05/08 at 8:45 pm
What about Los Angeles, CA or any where outside of the U.S.?
This story was published in the Winter 2007 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
MovieMaker's Top 10 Movie Cities '07
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