Film : Filming Texas in a Good Light
Director Robert Rodriguez,
on the set of Grindhouse.
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Back in the early 80s, the hit series Dallas kept the nation guessing with its season-ending cliffhanger Who Shot J.R.? Now, with a film version of Dallas starring John Travolta in development, the more appropriate question could be, Where to Shoot J.R.? If the filmmakers hope to tap into a new $22 million Texas fund aimed at boosting the state's film and computer-game industry, they'll have to agree to a controversial caveat, which denies support to any creative project that "portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion."
Could J.R. Ewing be a deal killer? That is the sort of question Bob Hudgins, head of the Texas Film Commission, will have to grapple with when the new funding law kicks in this fall. The commission will review movie scripts and game design plans before approving up to a 5% rebate of a film's Texas-based costs (up to a maximum of $2 million) or a $250,000 grant for a game design project; the project must have 80% of its work done within the state, and the money that will only be rewarded after it is completed. "We are going to look at the total film, not just one scene," Hudgins said. "We are going to use our best judgment." A veteran of the film industry, Hudgins said he is sensitive to industry concerns — "I take this responsibility very, very seriously," he said — but he notes it is quite normal for other kinds of grants to come with conditions.
About 40 states have film industry incentives, and most block funding for films deemed obscene, but the broad language of the Texas law has raised First Amendment concerns for the Motion Picture Association of America. "It has serious constitutional overtones," Vans Stevenson, senior vice president for state government affairs, said. The MPAA also is watching a North Carolina bill now before the Senate Finance Committee that would limit film tax credits to those films that have "serious artistic merit" and also mandates consideration of the "general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the citizens of North Carolina." The amendment was prompted by outrage of some conservative politicians over the filming of Hounddog in North Carolina, the dark 2006 drama which featured a rape scene involving then 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning.
Before the Texas bill was signed earlier this month on an Austin sound stage, the MPAA urged Gov. Rick Perry in a letter to veto the legislation. "Motion pictures made in the United States are the most popular form of entertainment worldwide because filmmakers are free to tell stories on film without fear of government censorship." Perry dismissed such concerns, saying censorship was "not going to happen" in Texas. But Stevenson warns that the caveat will backfire and hurt the Texas' effort to woo back film business it has been losing to other states, which have passed more generous tax credit and incentive programs.
In the past, the state had relied on its popularity with directors like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater and Ron Howard, while touting its professional film industry labor force, a growing number of sound stages and its geographic diversity. But in the last four years, 32 film projects — including Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage and Billy Bob Thornton's The Astronaut Farmer — that had initially expressed interest ended up choosing other locations. Adding insult to injury — an estimated $327 million in spending and 4,600 jobs — 12 of the films had Texas story lines, according to the state's film commisison. Professional crews who had settled in Austin, Dallas and Houston now found themselves working in Shreveport, where a generous Louisiana tax credit increased film industry projects by 300% in three years. "Ten years ago, we were in the top five, now we are down the list — still in the top 20," Hudgins said. "We haven't lost it yet, but this could be a make or break year."
With the legislature meeting only for a few months every two years, passing an incentive package this spring was considered vital. But supporters didn't take into account the lingering resentment of the movie Glory Road, the inspirational tale of the Texas Western Miners, the first all-black college basketball team to win a national championship. In one of the movie's game scenes, the Miners played East Texas University, now Texas A&M-Commerce, and Aggies were enraged at their depiction as racist. While the Miners were derided and experienced racism during their rise to glory, the depiction of Aggie fans as racist was historically inaccurate, critics said; Hudgins said the movie used poetic license in the scene to symbolize several real incidents. With Aggie sensibilities so offended, state senate finance committee chairman Steve Ogden, a Republican whose district includes Texas A&M University, plugged in the conditions clause and no amount of lobbying by a mobilized Texas film industry could dislodge it.
"I wasn't happy with the language, but overall I don't think its going to be a problem," said Dallas producer and filmmaker Todd Sims. The director of the award-winning 2005 independent movie Echoes of Innocence, Sims said any measure of control over content can be a slippery slope, but passage of an incentive bill was critical to the Texas film industry. "No one is saying you can't shoot a movie in Texas that makes Texas look bad. All we are saying is you are not going to get a grant," Sims said. And regardless of content, all filmmakers will be able to avail themselves of the state's generous sales tax exemption on production costs.
The funding bill backers also included some of the most influential leaders of the computer game industry, including the legendary Richard Garriott, known by game fans as "Lord British," who now heads Korean giant NCsoft's Austin design company. NCsoft is just one of the 80 game developers in Texas, which is the third biggest game development center in the country, behind only California and Washington. "There is an intersection between the film industry and the game industry. Especially in animation there is a huge crossover in the workforce," said Katy Daiger, the film commission's liaison to the game design industry. In terms of economic development, Garriott said, the game design industry has a greater impact than film and it boasts a workforce that any city would want to attract — permanent, creative, well-educated and high earning.
But for some conservative politicians the game design industry has been all about violence and headlines, which is why the funding restrictions ultimately included it as well as the film business. "I actually tend to agree, in general," Garriott said. "The state does not need to be supporting pornography. If it clearly besmirched the state, the public would be outraged that it was funded with Texas dollars." What is more important to Garriott is the acknowledgment of the growing importance of his industry, even if a $250,000 grant won't pay for too much in a business where a new game can cost more than $10 million to develop.
Not all filmmakers, however, are so understanding, and the MPAA believes the film incentives will ultimately end up in court. While the MPAA is not planning a lawsuit, in its letter to Gov. Perry the industry group cited a long list of appellate cases supporting their position. David Kendall, the noted First Amendment attorney with the Washington-based firm Williams and Connolly, said the Texas law is not only vague, but may run afoul of First Amendment protections. "I think if the state benefit is conditional or can be revoked, it is plainly unconstitutional since the First Amendment prevents content discrimination," Kendall said, adding puckishly: "The reputation of Texans does not need legal protection beyond the state."
