Destination Film Guide Preview

THROUGH THE EYES OF A LOCATION SCOUT

How the streaming era is impacting the creative process

NORTH AMERICAN INCENTIVES ROUNDUP

Learn about tax rebates and benefits of filming on the continent 2022 EDITION

IN-DEPTH LOCATION PROFILES

Discover cities and landscapes for your next project

A Premier Travel Media publication • DestinationFilmGuide.com

Looking Camera-Ready

2022 EDITION

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Greetings! And thank you for reading the second print edition of Destination Film Guide. We’re thrilled as the brand continues to expand and we are able to assist our readers find that unique destination that will make their story pop. Streaming platforms' emergence as the dominant content distribution system has ushered in an unprecedented demand for content of all kinds: features, television series and reality TV. A unique backdrop can distinguish a show to a consumer bombarded with options, which makes location scouts and producers more valuable than ever.

Destination Film Guide is designed as a resource for producers, directors and location scouts to discover new sites to tell an exciting new narrative. Instead of navigating unwieldly databases, look through our clean layouts for inspiration and insight from film commissions across the country that can accommodate productions of all sizes. Our deep industry connections across North America have resulted in a guide that combines engaging editorial and our easy-to-read Site Inspections. Created in cooperation with film commissions that span coast-to-coast, these Site Inspections highlight exceptional locations and beneficial financial incentives offered by the local government.

We also help you maximize your production budget with insights into statelevel tax incentives and the soft benefits of working with a film commission.

Our comprehensive Film Incentives projects reviews financial benefits of working in various states, provinces and countries across North America and the Caribbean, and our website offers further in-depth articles to maximize your production budget.

Want to stay updated on the latest industry news? Check our website for frequent Hollywood updates and articles that highlight innovative film commissions across the continent.

Best, Miles Dobis

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Managing Editor – Miles Dobis miles@ptmgroups.com

Senior Editor – Randy Mink randy@ptmgroups.com SEO Consultant & Content Strategist – Lance Harrell

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Production Coordinator – Kelsey Ledford kelsey@ptmgroups.com

Contributing Writers –

Heather Dale, Gabriela dos Santos, Hailey Johnson, Isabella Wilkes

Southeast and Midwest – Cheryl Rash P 563.613.3068 • F 815.225.5274 cheryl@ptmgroups.com

East – Diane Meglino P 630.794.0696 • F 630.794.0652 diane@ptmgroups.com Inside Sales Specialist – Rick Miller P 630.794.0696 • F 630.794.0652 rick@ptmgroups.com

Destination Film Guide is published annually by Premier Travel Media Inc. 621 Plainfield Road, Suite 406, Willowbrook, IL 60527. This publication is distributed free of charge to producers, directors, location scouts and others involved in the film production industry.

The publisher accepts unsolicited editorial matter, as well as advertising, but assumes no responsi bility for statements made by advertisers or contributors.

Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information published, but the publisher makes no warranty that listings are free of error. The publisher is not responsible for the return of unsolicited photos, slides or manuscripts.

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Cover photo courtesy of thenatchdl/Bigstock.com DESTINATION FILM GUIDE

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Parkwood National Historic Site, Oshawa, Ontario

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Photo courtesy of Film Durham

CONTENTS FEATURES

6

Creating Entertainment Infrastructure

Savvy workforce and location investments are drawing productions across North America

8 Film Commission 101

These government entities can prove invaluable to film and television productions

10 Through the Eyes of a Location Scout

President of the LMGI discusses location scouting in the streaming era

12 FLICS: The Future is Golden FILM INCENTIVE GUIDE 16

New England

20

Mid-Atlantic

24

South

30

Midwest

34

Southwest

36

Mountain West

38

West Coast

42

Canada

46

Latin America, Hawaii & the Caribbean

SITE INSPECTIONS When you spot these QR codes at the end of every Site InSpection, take a picture with your mobile device to unlock expanded content from our Destination Film Guide website! Access exclusive interviews, trending destinations and industry news.

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Atlantic City

52

Billings

54

Durham Region

56

Glacier Country

58

Indiana

60

Kentucky

62

Missoula

64

Missouri

66

Montana

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Creating Entertainment Infrastructure

HOW SAVVY WORKFORCE AND LOCATION INVESTMENTS ARE DRAWING PRODUCTIONS TO DIVERSE AREAS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA

StudioBinder

he film and TV industry is more diffuse than ever—both for production and distribution. For decades, the theatrical release window and television channels were the only outlets for original programming, but with the advent of the streaming ecosystem and increasingly large telecommunications companies vying for subscriptions, content has become currency. According to FX Research, a record 559 scripted television shows were produced in 2021, and this doesn’t include reality programming, children’s entertainment and straightto-streaming films.

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The increased content churn has encouraged producers to look beyond the entertainment industry mainstays of Hollywood and New York City for unique backdrops, and other states are more than ready to welcome creatives.

“Because there is so much content being made, there is much more demand for production companies to retain leases for studio space and find other environments, and states like us are using financial incentives and creative infrastructure to entice them to stay,” says Illinois Film Office Director Peter Hawley.

This “creative infrastructure” is the crew base, studio space and community buy-in to encourage repeat business from production companies. And states are finding legislative approaches to ensure this support system stays in place and flourishes. The Filmed in Oklahoma Act, passed in 2021, aims to support the local entertainment industry by offering lucrative tax rebates to productions that hire “apprentices” to learn various disciplines of filmmaking craft.

Depending on the approved budget, the production must bring on a designated

iStock.com/ Darwin Brandis

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BY MILES DOBIS

number of young professionals to learn a variety of skills, from hair and makeup to accounting and casting.

“Developing an in-state workforce is a major goal for the state, and encouraging that through this incentive program is a way to both develop local talent and demonstrate the value of film production to other industries,” says Oklahoma Film & Music Office Director Tava Sofsky.

The initiatives are already proving successful, with Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, the Kurt Warner biopic American Underdog and the upcoming Sylvester Stallone crime series

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The increased content churn has encouraged producers to look beyond the entertainment industry mainstays of Hollywood and New York City for unique backdrops, and other states are more than ready to welcome creatives.”

Tulsa King all filming in the state. Also produced entirely in Oklahoma was the rapturously received Reservation Dogs, which was created with an almost entirely indigenous cast and production team.

Paired with the brand new $1 million incentive offered by the Cherokee Nation, Sofsky sees this as an opportunity for an underrepresented community to tell its story by investing in creative infrastructure. The brand-new Cherokee Film Studios, which houses state-of-theart LED walls and post-production suites, is another sign of the nation’s drive for a self-sustaining industry.

Beyond financial incentives and a

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desire to tell diverse stories, production companies and creative teams are realizing the geographic diversity and visual distinction across North America, and film commissions are prepared for their needs with extensive resources and location teams.

“States like Illinois are incredibly varied and boast an interesting geography that is difficult to find elsewhere,” says Hawley. “When Fargo season 4 shot here, we were able to stand in for mid-century Kansas City, and there is everything from shiny skyscrapers to really distinct towns along the Mississippi River that are sometimes difficult to find

in other areas of the country.”

Since the Illinois Film Office was established over 30 years ago, it has developed a comprehensive digital location database that can be provided to scouts and production teams, another asset that was impossible to create in the industry’s earlier phases.

These initiatives for inclusivity and sustained growth are mirroring a film industry that contains more voices and stories than ever before, and they show how investments in real and human infrastructure can successfully draw the entertainment industry outside its most established areas. DF DESTINATION FILM GUIDE

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