Pittsburg’s Certified Film Friendly status helped attract “Unwanted” filmand others

By CORY SMITH news@campcountynow.com

Pittsburg is known for many things: peaches, hotlinks, Pilgrim’s Pride and others. But it could soon be known for something else…a hotbed for the film industry. The most recent film to be shot in Pittsburg is “Unwanted” a horror film that was shot at the historic Holman House on Texas Street. Thanks to Pittsburg becoming a Certified Film Friendly City by the Texas Film Commission on May 12, the city is able to attract more potential filmmakers to the area. The Film Friendly Texas program provides ongoing training and guidance to help statewide communities effectively accommodate on-location filming and market their communities as filming destinations. Certified communities have attended a Film Friendly Texas training workshop, have submitted photo coverage of potential filming locations for inclusion in the Texas Film Commission location database, have passed filming guidelines approved by the Texas Film Commission office and most cities draft an ordinance to make filming easier and more efficient. “The main aspect of becoming a Certified Film Friendly City is drafting the ordinance, which we did back in March. Basically, the ordinance allows the city manager to authorize street closures and make other decisions for filming and things like that,” said Pittsburg Economic Development Coordinator Amanda McCellon. The process took about eight months from start to finish and the city of Pittsburg continues to market itself for filming purposes and is, even now, adding prospective filming locations and other information to the Texas Film Commission online database. This database allows a prospective filmmaker to see what Pittsburg offers in terms of filming locations, amenities for crewmembers and the like. McCellon said one of the main reasons it’s important to become a film friendly city is because of the economic opportunity that exists.
“We look at this as being a great economic development opportunity for Pittsburg. While those crews are here filming those movies, commercials or whatever it may be, they’re going to spend money here and add to our tax base by shopping at local businesses, eating at our restaurants and things like that. As a matter of fact, we’ve added a $20,000 incentive into the new fiscal year budget to recruit and attract those filming opportunities. We’re one of the only cities in the State of Texas doing this incentive program, so we’re helping blaze a trail,” said Mcellon. Filmmakers will have to meet certain stipulations to receive the incentive such as: creating five jobs for residents, using one of Pittsburg’s landmarks in the film, requiring that certain amounts of money be spent in the
city depending on the film’s budget, meet a requirement that a certain amount of filming days be shot in Pittsburg
and a few other stipulations. All scripts will be reviewed as part of the application process to receive the incentive as well. One may ask themselves, ‘so how do these filmmakers find out about Pittsburg and choose it as a filming location?’ The answer to that question isn’t as complex as it may seem, in fact, it’s pretty simple. Through a combination of filmmakers browsing the Texas Film Commission website and recruiting and marketing efforts by McCellon and the city, filmmakers are able to learn about Pittsburg to see if it fits their filming needs.
“A lot of these filmmakers go to the state first and in turn, the state is going to direct them to the Certified
Film Friendly communities first. That’s why it’s so important to be a certified community. I also do recruiting
myself; you’d be amazed by the filmmakers in Northeast Texas alone. If I see an event or an upcoming film,
I’ll pick up the phone and tell those filmmakers, ‘we’d love to have you in Pittsburg, what can we do to get
you here?’ That’s actually how “Unwanted” came to be filmed in Pittsburg. The filmmaker heard about Pittsburg
and was really interested in the Holman House, so I facilitated those meetings and it’s been a great thing for
our community,” said McCellon. People can also use the city website to submit their land, houses, barns, warehouses and the like, to be added to the movie locations database. “We are always looking to expand the selection of shooting locations,” said McCellon. There have been a total of three films shot in Pittsburg:
“Unwanted”, “Humans vs. Zombies” and “Zombex.” McCellon said she expects that number to rise as Pittsburg
continues to grow and with the help of the film incentive program. “The Texas Film Commission has the pleasure of working with civic leaders from across the state to help them activate their community’s unique assets and increase local economic activity through filming,” said TFC Director Heather Page. “Filmmakers love working
all around Texas, so we are encouraged by this program’s success in expanding filming opportunities throughout
the state. The TFC is grateful to the 100 communities and their representatives that put in the effort and training
needed to encourage filmmaking in their communities. We look forward to adding more Film Friendly Certified communities so more regions can benefit from the economic opportunities the film industry can provide.”
For information about the program, contact McCellon at 903-856-3621