The Past and Future of Film in Houston
Q&A with the Executive Director of the Houston Film Commission
4th Annual TXMPA Impact Awards, GRB Convention Center, Houston, Texas
October 19, 2019
LYNN BIRDWELL: This is Lynn Birdwell with Bird House Productions. I'm with our film commissioner, Rick Ferguson, who's been a film commissioner here as long as I've been in the industry. So Rick, how long have we known each other since I started in 1993.
RICK FERGUSON: At least 30 years. I've been with the film commissions since 1987. So a long, long time.
LYNN: I got into this industry in 1993, and I'm pretty sure I came to your door as soon as I could.
RICK: Well, I also came to your office when it was on Eado, wasn't it?
LYNN: So, we had an office, up Milan and Winbern, which was the Ida Wortham apartment building, and then we had a Wagon Works building. We had another office there with an edit suite. So, tell us about the history of film production here in Houston.
RICK: Well, it's been an interesting evolution, and it sort of follows the pattern of the evolution of the industry, not only domestically, but internationally. Certainly, when I first started, it was before there was ever any concept of incentive programs. And for quite a while in the '90s, we actually had the most production in the state of Texas, and a lot of that was because of Movies of the Week. And then unfortunately, when the Movies of the Week, that whole concept, started to dissipate, and what was left then started gravitating to Canada because of the incentive programs that Canada was offering, then it created a whole new slate. It was a whole different equation. You had to go about cementing business in a completely different way. Before, it was everything that we had, which we're locations, crew base, talent, cooperation, service, all of the above, and then they sort of flipped over and it was how much money will you give me to come to your city? So, that did make a big difference in the whole process.
LYNN: I know a lot of the older A-list guys that you know well, they say that we had the greatest set of teamsters in the entire United States, and they said that we had four, A-list crew deep for movies. Right. And then by the time you were passed forward, then you were going to the B-team and the C-team. So, that's amazing.
RICK: Certainly, we are talking about Ron Kern and Cinema Trucks of Texas, which was a staple and a huge draw for us because Ron and his guys would bend over backwards to accommodate and to do whatever they could to make production work in Houston. And, we certainly appreciated that. And, we miss Ron as a matter of fact.
LYNN: So, we've had a few mayors in the history that have supported film either privately or as a part of their administration. How do we stand now?
RICK: Certainly Mayor Turner has been extremely supportive. He has staff members that we're working more closely than we ever have in the past. He is extremely interested in how the industry is developing. He is interested in film, though he is also interested in the entire spectrum of entertainment, and I think that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing because all of those aspects of the arts can help shore up each other. So, we can't sort of exist exclusively of each other, and I appreciate everything he's done in his interest, especially in film.
LYNN: I think that film is probably the only art form that supports all the other art forms. So, if we're going to have an entertainment or creative industry in Houston, it seems like film is a good starting point.
RICK: I agree 100%. Well, film makes use of all of the other aspects of the arts, but still having the synergy of a healthy creative industry is extremely important
LYNN: And, I think it makes for a better city to live in, too. So, what's next for Houston?
RICK: What's next for Houston? Well, now that we have an incentive program that has been somewhat expanded upon, and we do have $50 million to work with for the next biennium, I'm hoping that that will improve our efforts to be able to bring projects into Houston. I know most people are more interested in feature films, but I think it will affect all of our categories of production, whether it's commercial or a television series or feature films -- all of them will benefit. Hopefully, we're going to be seeing some great things in the future.
LYNN: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in a lot of states there are all kinds of things like tax credits that you have to deal with. And our state is just literally, I know because I've done it, you mail in your receipts, you fill out the forms, they send you a check.
RICK: And, there's also something that no one seems to really talk about very much because the other states are tax credits. Those tax credits have to be brokered. There are brokerage fees that go along in brokering those credits, and they can be anywhere from 7-10% of what's being brokered. That actually raises our level to where it's a much more evenly spread field. For some reason that's not spoken about as much as it should, though, I talk about it all the time.
LYNN: It's a strong point, and it also means it's a longer process to get your money. Right. In Houston, do you feel like if we had more education for how to fund films, invest in projects, would that help?
RICK: It would certainly help. We have a really good crew base. You had mentioned before, we're not quite as deep as we have been through the majority of my tenure here, but we do need to get more experienced kids, young people into the crew base, into the talent base because that's who we are going to be depending on in the future. I'm not talking about anyone else, but myself, I'm getting pretty old. There are a lot of our people in the industry that are getting older. We need to have new talent coming in at all times to take our place when we're gone and to keep us as competitive and make us even more competitive than we are now.
LYNN: If our crew, that is the A-list crew, that's here now still working at this time -- and your right, they're in their 50s and 60s -- if they're mentoring and working with the universities, then maybe we have some of these people that come out of the university programs like U of H and Rice and TSU, and they'd come out with a vocational outcome and stay in Houston, is that what you're talking about?
RICK: Absolutely, that's what I'm talking about. Absolutely. For some reason, people just don't realize -- I think Houston is really cool. I think there's great opportunities here, but I also think Houston is a great place to live. As these kids are getting out of school, are gravitating to the industry, I hope they realize that not only is Houston affordable, not only does it have great opportunity, but it's also a really great place to establish your life, and we'd like to be able to keep them here.
LYNN: I always tell people if they can't find a job in Houston, I'm not sure what to say to them.
RICK: Good point. Very good point.
LYNN: Rick, I appreciate your time.