At the Waco Independent Film Festival, filmmakers are hiding in the shade of the sidewalk in downtown. They’re getting ready to board the trolley and see a sampling of film locations that the city has on offer.
The tour is headed by the festival’s operation’s director Louis Hunter, it’s a way to showcase to filmmakers the resources of the city and convince them to bring their productions here.
The tour begins at the Startup Waco co-working space, then to the Grand Masonic Lodge, winds through the city and Cameron Park. The tour makes it’s final stop for lunch at the Herringbone Hotel.
On the tour, Fred Poston of the Texas Media Production Alliance explains to attendees that state lawmakers approved 200 million dollars in tax rebates in the last legislative session. up from $45 million. That means there’s more money on the table to come to Texas, and once the productions are here they spend large amounts of money in the community. According to Poston, if cities want those dollars, it’s important for them to be prepared.
Fred Poston: “Film friendly locations help to streamline that process of being able to shoot you’re film here here. Things are organized essentially which makes it nicer for those that are coming in. because these productions come in and time is money. It’s imperative that you have a city that’s prepared for that.”
Along with the film festival, the Waco convention and visitors bureau have been putting that work in for sometime. the city already received the film friendly designation from the governor’s office back in 2017. Susan Morton is the tourism manager for the convention and visitors bureau and says that it’s an industry that makes sense for Waco.
Susan Morton: “It’s part of economic development , it’s part of the growth of our city and our community to bring more types of various industry and film is kind of a no brainer here because we’re really easy to work with”
The Waco Independent Film Festival itself generates about a million dollars for the city. film production could add even more.
