Hollywood South back in action, needs skilled local film crew
9 hours 36 minutes 31 seconds ago
Thursday, July 22 2021
Jul 22, 2021
July 22, 2021 6:15 PM
July 22, 2021
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Source: WBRZ
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BATON ROUGE – Now that the lights are back on in Hollywood South studios, the need for crew to work on set has grown.
“I love the fact that it s really busy right now. I get called a lot. I kind of do commercials, music videos and docuseries, and I m still getting called for the feature films because they need people,” said Mason McGuire, who has been working as a gaffer on sets for almost 20 years.
Governor John Bel Edwards announced Thursday that Swaybox Studios in Jefferson Parish will expand its animation production operations under Louisiana’s Entertainment Job Creation Program.
New Bill Aims to Bring Beloved Movie Industry Back to Shreveport
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Years ago, Shreveport earned the nickname Hollywood South. This impressive moniker was bestowed upon us due to the incredible amount of high-dollar, big budget films being made in Ratchet City and the surrounding areas earlier this century. Unfortunately, a few years back that all changed - but a new bill might bring back our silver-screened glory days!
The key to getting major motion picture productions back in Shreveport (and Louisiana for that matter) is money. More specifically, a tax credit for productions investing $300,000 or more that would save the studios lots of money when compared to what it would cost in Hollywood. We ve seen several projects finding their way back into our state as of late, including I Saw the Light: The Story of Hank Williams , Premonition , and the remake of Straw Dogs - which are all being made in Shreveport!
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A bill designed to keep creating movie magic in Louisiana cleared another hurdle during its first state House hearing Monday, moving the measure one step closer to passage.
Senate Bill 173 by Republican Slidell Sen. Sharon Hewitt, which would extend Louisiana s annual $180 million film tax credit program for three years through 2028, advanced from the House Ways and Means Committee. This is an industry that requires a longer runway, said Hewitt, who has two movie and TV production studios in her southeastern Louisiana district. It can take three or four years to begin production of a movie and three or four years before that to greenlight the project.