On Creating a Film Culture in New Orleans and Louisiana

We have to create a film culture in New Orleans and Louisiana if we want to keep filmmaking here. A whole film culture. We need to work on and help make movies and tv shows. We also need to create and produce movies and tv shows. We need to make visual literacy an important part of our schools' curriculum so students understand what they are seeing on a screen the same way they understand what they are reading in a book. We need to be a great place to watch films which means better theaters, a better selection of films, and even more film fests than we currently have.

We already are doing the first part, working on and making films and tv shows. The other day when I want to the movies, four of the six trailers were all films that were shot here in part or in total. And these weren't small films either. These were the major Hollywood productions. We had four pilots shoot here this past spring for TV while True Detective for HBO was filming here and American Horror Story preps to shoot here. We tun neck and neck with Atlanta for the 3rd spot in filmmaking. I work more than friend in Los Angeles do, which shows we are extremely busy here in New Orleans with film production.

We need to evolve though to be the people creating films and tv shows. This means we need to embrace local indie filmmakers. Those of us who work on studio films need to be willing to work on low/no budget films and short films. We need to offer our time and talents to these filmmakers. And the state needs to find a way to encourage more local filmmakers. We call all ourselves Hollywood South, but we have a lack have homegrown production. Bollywood and Nollywood are called that because of the films they create, not because of films they work on. All of us need to embrace and encourage the filmmakers here in New Orleans and throughout the state.

We need to start teaching students in high school (and maybe even younger) visual literacy. They need to understand what they are seeing on screen and why it is being shot the way it is. Our culture has become a primary visual culture. It is just as important for people to understand the difference between a wide shot and a medium shot as it is for them to understand simple, compound, and complex sentences. Students need to be acquainted with the great works of cinema as much as they need to be acquainted with the great works of literature. We also need more classes and lectures like those that NOVAC has been doing for those who want to further their knowledge in filmmaking.

We have to become an even better place to watch films. We have made great strides in the years since I moved back to New Orleans. When I moved back from Austin I would say, "Austin is a great place to watch films, but a lousy place to work on them. New Orleans is a great place to work on films, but a lousy place to watch them." But things have gotten better with the new Canal Place and Chalmette Cinema and expanded programming at Prytania as well as the increase in film festivals here. But we need more theaters run by people who love movies as well as know how to run a business. We need more venues for screenings and for local filmmakers to show their work to an audience. We need more variety of films being shown, from action sport films to documentaries to foreign films to classic films.

Creating a Film Culture should be our goal with the film and tax credits. A film culture that will increase the money here in the city and the state from shows made here by locals. A film culture that will make us a destination not just for productions to be made here but for film artists to flock here to be a part of the scene and for film enthusiasts to come here to see what is being shown and made and created. We should embrace the film culture the same way we have embraced the music culture. New Orleans is experiencing a renaissance in many areas, and film and tv production is a part of that; however; it needs to be a bigger and permanent part of our city and state. We have to have along term view of what the film and tax credits can do for the city and the state. We have to embrace and encourage the blossoming film culture in New Orleans and Louisiana.