Dallas, to some folks, is still just the place where JR got shot. But to a new crop of filmmakers, it’s becoming a film hub destination.
The Dallas International Film Festival has been a mainstay in Texas for years now, yet kicking off this week for the first year is a sidebar industry conference, DIFF Industry, that will host conversations for film professionals about marketing, exhibition, just about everything working filmmakers need to know.
And they’re not skimping on the big names. The conference’s inaugural keynote speaker is Warner Bros. Pictures co-chief Michael De Luca. He’s got a home in Dallas and is a true local, and is a pretty impressive first get.
James Faust, the director of DIFF, hopes that De Luca is just the first and that, in time, they’re going to be “fighting keynotes off with a stick.”
“I want it to be the beginning of something that becomes a destination, first for people in the state of Texas that will come and get this industry information and industry connectivity, and second for people outside that will see a wealth of talent that is looking to expand and be molded,” Faust told IndieWire of DIFF Industry, which kicks off Friday, April 24 through April 26 concurrent with the film festival that begins on April 23.
Faust launched the conference alongside the Dallas Film Commission, and after seeing the Toronto International Film Festival expand its reach to be more industry-centric, they felt there’s no reason they couldn’t do that in Texas. Toronto is good about celebrating Canada and its locals, and Texas knows something about going big for its residents.
“We have had a lot of folks born here and go off to Hollywood and want to come back. One of the things that I really wanted to focus on was there’s a lot of people who have done this thing in the industry, and they want to come home, so how do we bring them back home while also being, these are your champions,” Austin Flores, the conference director, said. “We know about David Lowery, obviously we know about Clint Bentley, who lives in the Metro in Dallas. These are people that are household names, but we want to show off that this industry is so wide and that Dallas has had an incredible influence throughout it in so many ways.”
Dallas 40 years ago was the home of “Walker, Texas Ranger” and “Robocop,” but Faust said the filmmaking ecosystem in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has ebbed and flowed. Ten years ago, shows like “Queen of the South” were shooting in the area, and Texas had healthy incentives that were capable of luring filmmakers from around the country.
Those changed, sending people packing to Louisiana, Atlanta, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, but the incentives are coming back, and so are the projects.
“Within the last three to four years, it’s being rebuilt very quickly,” Faust said. “Once you see people in government and state senate see the monetary impact and that their constituents are getting work here, there’s notoriety attached to it.”
Taylor Sheridan is the region’s most famous resident, what with his ranch that has led to shooting his entire universe of series, and “The Chosen” has also called the DFW region home. But even on a smaller scale, the VFX company that worked on Markiplier’s “Iron Lung” is based in Dallas. Cinemark, Studio Movie Grill, and Cinepolis International are all headquartered in the area. And Faust feels that someone like De Luca demonstrates that people living in Dallas can make it work in the film biz.
“He is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and it’s cool that you can show people that it can be done,” Faust said. “It’s possible and it’s a good reference to go, I can do this from here. I can be something bigger than this from here.”
Some of the panels during the DIFF Industry Conference include a writers room panel featuring “Valley Girl” (2020) writer Amy Talkington, a fireside chat with “Sing Sing” director Greg Kwedar, a session from the Dallas Producers Association on how to shoot and raise funding for your project, one sponsored by Film Frog about how to directly appeal to theaters to get your movie four-walled, another panel on exhibition that will feature Regal Cinemas, and a profile on the differences between management and an agency and why you may need both.
Katie Schuck, the Dallas Film Commissioner, also hopes to educate people inside and outside the region about the current swath of incentives. The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, or TMIIIP, is a rebate incentive passed in September that gives filmmakers up to 31 percent cash back, and the program is fully-funded for the next 10 years that should give someone like Sheridan and others the runway to plan many years and long series-runs in the region. She also points to several long-running other film festivals, a streamlined permitting process, and 11 virtual volume stages in the Metroplex neighborhood.
“A lot of people do think of Dallas as one thing in their head, but what they don’t realize is that we’re so much more. We have everything that you need to get your project off the ground if you’re a filmmaker,” Schuck said. “It’s your people. The film people are here.”
