Luminary Talent Appear on Stage: 20 film projects in development are presented in Houston
HOUSTON - Looking to create a stronger, healthier Houston creative industry economy, Bird House Productions (BHP) Executive Producer Lynn Birdwell hosted a Work-In-Progress: Production Slate in Development Wednesday night to unveil film and episodic series projects to be created in Houston through Bird Nest, the development arm of BHP. She was joined on stage by A-list creatives from Houston and across the nation to present a range of projects, including a series about art and space in conjunction with a NASA engineer and a reality TV series focusing on how Houstonians with disabilities overcome challenges and obstacles living in the 4th largest city in the U.S.
As the public presentation required to fulfill an Individual Artist Grant awarded Birdwell in 2018, the event took place at Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston in front of a crowd of more than 130 attendees. A total of 21 projects were presented by directors, producers, writers, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, and others from a wide spectrum of professions. Birdwell chose to shine the spotlight on others, through projects she is developing with producers, directors, and writers, as part of the mission to build the film industry in Houston.
Some of the presenters and their projects planned to be filmed in Houston, included:
“There was an unprecedented caliber of professional and highly experienced people on stage with me presenting,” says Birdwell. “Each felt it was important to be present to show how critical this moment is in Houston and how powerfully creative we can be when functioning as an economic industry body of professionals.”
Andre Sam-Sin, or DJ Sun, Houston, “Loveletter”
Andrew Karnavas, Houston, “Andirooniverse”
Chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter, Houston, “Farm to Thai”
Christian Fitsch-Mouras, Russell Klein, Gabriel “Gabe” M. Cazares, Elena Coates, Houston, “AdaptAble: Houston”
Jana Erwin, Audrey Tehauno, Houston “Reality of the Luxe Life”
Janavi Folmsbee, Houston, “A Town Called Paradise”
Megan O’Sullivan, Houston, “En Route”
Merritt Davies, Portland OR, “Three Swoosh”, and “Spy In the House of Love”
Nina Juliano, Houston, “The Haze Phenomenon”
Simon Rubalcava, Houston, “Relevant Table”
Solvi Barber, Writer, Seattle WA, “Both Sides of the Window”, and “Karma, Inc.”
Susan Pappas DeBakey, Houston, “IntraLife”
Tom Vaughan, Houston, “Daddy’s Girl”
Ursula Smith, Montclair NJ, “In the Media: Golden Era of Hip Hop”
WOND3R founders Graham Painter, Kerry Chrapliwy, and Charlie Le, with Jimmy Wu, Houston, “Space for BioMedicine Art in Space”
“There was an unprecedented caliber of professional and highly experienced people on stage with me presenting,” says Birdwell. “Each felt it was important to be present to show how critical this moment is in Houston and how powerfully creative we can be when functioning as an economic industry body of professionals. For the first time, a foundational infrastructure can be developed to boot Houston’s creative economy fully. Film is a massive multi-role job market, and there is no one individual that will effect lasting change without the entire team of professionals engaging.”
On the state level, Texas has been losing film and series bids because incentives programs offer far less compared to neighboring states.
The Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA) reported that in 2015, the state film industry budget was cut by 66 percent down to $32M. Texas lost projects to Louisiana, New Mexico and other areas in the southwest. Hoping to recapture some of that lost business and attracting more film projects to Texas, the state film incentive budget was raised to $50M for 2020-2021. However, it is still more than $40M shy of the 2014-2015 budget.
“In Houston, employment in film has declined significantly since the 1990’s, and production of big-budget features is nearly zero. This is not due to the lack of financial incentives at the state level,” notes Birdwell. “These we share equally with Dallas and Austin. The difference in part is that Houston does not currently offer the city-level incentives that other Texas cities do at this time, and those other towns get the lion’s share of the film and TV projects that come to the state.”
In 2012, a study into Houston’s creative economy was commissioned by Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) and the University of Houston (UofH), in partnership with the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP). The study reported Houston’s demand for creative goods and services is greater than its supply of creative goods and services. The demand for creative goods and services in Houston in 2012 was $20.53 billion. The amount of creative goods and services produced locally was $10.77 billion. Consumers and businesses got the additional products they needed by imports. City residents imported $9.76 billion in creative goods, sending the money to other communities. Houston’s creative businesses exported only about $1.4 billion in creative goods. The amount of money coming into the city was considerably less than leaving it in the creative sector. This is still true today in 2019.
Many of the presenters for Wednesday night’s event have ties to Houston, but they moved to more film-supportive cities like Los Angeles or New York to find work or have a film career. Some have moved back here to be with family, or live here, and have to travel back and forth to work in L.A., Chicago, Atlanta or New York. Yet, each one traveled back to the Bayou City to support Bird Nest’s mission of utilizing film and video production to build a creative economy in Houston, the most culturally diverse city in the country. Each believes it to be a valid and attainable goal within reach.
“One of the biggest hurdles Houston faces is it is just developing its reputation as a creative city. Long considered a working town with oil and gas, medical, and more recently tech as major industries, it’s now known globally for exciting chefs, world-class sculpture, beautiful parks, and destinations,” Birdwell outlines. “In the 21st century, Houston has an opportunity to redefine itself as a modern, forward-thinking, creative-industry center in the eyes of the world community. And that means being known for many more creative arts, and that can begin with film as an economic force. Film is the only art form that supports all the other art forms.”
What’s next? Please save the date for our upcoming Film Finance Seminar April 24-25, 2020. This is the first time ever Houston, Texas, has hosted an event of this caliber. It will be co-produced by Vinca Jarrett with a great list of others.
