TRANSCRIPT
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Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider - taking you inside politics, policy, and government in Oklahoma. I'm Dick Pryor with Quorum Call publisher, Sean Ashley. And our guest is Jeanette Stanton, director of the Oklahoma Film and Music Office. It's good to have you with us.
Jeanette Stanton: Thank you, I'm excited to be here.
Shawn Ashley: Jeanette, last month the deadCenter Film Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary, and Oklahoma connections figured prominently in many of the films. What is the state of the film industry here now?
Jeanette Stanton: I've actually been with the film and music office for 11 years. I remember a time when there were four films using the incentive program versus a time in 23 - fiscal year 23 - when we had 33 films using the Incentive Program. So, you're absolutely right. It has grown significantly. I truly believe there is an active film and music industry here in the state and we want to be considered one of the true economic drivers here in Oklahoma.
Dick Pryor: While major feature films shot here gain a lot of attention, and rightly so, independent films featuring Oklahoma actors, producers, directors, and locations appear to be on the rise. What is triggering that?
Jeanette Stanton: One of the main missions of our office is to support the local industry. They are extremely important to the growth of the film industry. And I think as the incentive has continued to grow with supportive state and city leadership and tribal leadership as well, you know, that really speaks volumes. And you're right, some of those outside forces are significant and obviously create a big splash. It creates an environment where the locals can really see that this is supported by the state; that they want this industry to thrive and continue to thrive. There's been so many wonderful leaders before me that have really, really supported the local industry and we continue to do that and. I think that it's all pieced together, right? You need the Oklahoma City Film Office, you need the Tulsa Film Office. You need Cherokee Film Office. You need the El Reno Film Commission, the Shawnee Film Office. The list goes on and on for the amount of support we've seen on a local level. And that drives the locals to continue to do what they wanna do.
Shawn Ashley: The Bringing Sitcoms Home from Hollywood Pilot Program Act passed this year's legislative session and becomes law November 1st. What does that act do?
Jeanette Stanton: Well, it creates a runway for supporting sitcoms in Oklahoma. We are definitely very supportive of all TV and film happening in Oklahoma, so it's just another avenue that stakeholders are supporting that really is just encompassing in the whole film and music picture. It's part of the grand plan.
Shawn Ashley: And is that act already receiving interest?
Jeanette Stanton: We haven't received any interest yet, but as you know, it doesn't become law till November 1st. As long as you meet that threshold of having a $50,000 budget, you know we are happy to accept applications. We're happy to have those conversations and happy to support in any way we
Dick Pryor: Jeanette, Oklahoma has a tax incentive rebate to encourage film and TV production. What is the current level of that rebate and how much larger does it need to be for Oklahoma to be even more competitive nationally?
Jeanette Stanton: So right now we're at 30 million. The program actually started in 2001, and it started out at about $153,000. And we're very thankful to Governor Stitt, who gave us two bumps. We went from four to eight million with his approval, and then eight to 30 million with his approval in FY21. And so I'm very thankful for that. It's the highest the state's ever been. And I think you're asking a really good question, right? What is that magic number for Oklahoma to remain competitive? And that's a really hard question to answer. We want to be where the market needs us to be, right. But to your question as far as like where that number is. You know, I think it's gonna take a lot of people and a lot conversations to figure out where Oklahoma wants to be.
We definitely wanna be fiscally conservative. We also wanna make sure that we're using all the money every year. And with a 30 million being so new, right? So that happened, started FY22. We still wanna give it another year to evaluate, you know, how much business are we turning away. That's really key, because we don't wanna turn away any business. What opportunities are we missing out on to determine, you know, is it a slow progression? Is it 30 to 40? Is it thirty to fifty? Is it thirty to eighty? We want to be smart, right? We don't want to grow too fast. We've seen states do that before. And then, you know there's a new governor and the rebate, the incentive, completely goes away and the whole industry leaves. We've seen that happen several times, you know, over the last 10 years.
And so, we really want to be smart with our growth, our educational opportunities, our, you know, career path. You know, it's kind of one of those things like slow and steady wins the race. And so I think it's just further conversations, how much work can we have? How much work should we have, you know, how much work do we want?
Shawn Ashley: Film is one part of what your office does. The other part is music. What does your office do to support and promote Oklahoma's music industry?
Jeanette Stanton: Yeah, so music, we're really excited about music. I'd be the first to say that music has gotten a little overshadowed over the last few years by film. And that's okay, that’s part of the office is growth. But for music specifically, we have really started diving into what do music-friendly communities look like to mirror our film-friendly community? What does a night economy look like in a lot of communities? How can we help with that growth? Inviting more community members to music opportunities that we know about to help learn and educate on how to support the local venue, the local artists, and music education is part of that piece. We continue to support a lot of local music festivals that are city-driven. For instance, the city of Purcell is having a music festival in September. We're coming on board and helping support those efforts. And then we're continuing to develop the music conversation in our office to be able to give communities a true toolkit of how to develop the music more in their communities because it can be a huge economic driver. You know, what's missing from the state's perspective of how we can step in and help communities thrive?
Dick Pryor: Jeanette Stanton, director of the Oklahoma Film and Music Office, as always, it's a pleasure visiting with you. Thank you.
Jeanette Stanton: Thank you!
Dick Pryor: And that's Capitol Insider. For more information, go to quorumcall.online. You can find video of Capitol Insider segments on the KGOU YouTube channel. Audio and transcripts are at kgou.org and look for Capitol Insider where you get podcasts. Until next time, with Shawn Ashley, I'm Dick Pryor.
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