Making San Marcos Film Friendly

San Marcos has been a film-friendly city for some years now, with movies like “Boyhood” and “Everybody Wants Some!!,” shot here in recent years and movies like “The Getaway,” shot here in 1972. 

But now, thanks to the city's Film Friendly certification from the Texas Film Commission Film Friendly Texas (FFTX) program in 2015, businesses and property owners stand to benefit even more from film production in the area. 

Those looking to list their property as potential film locations with the Texas Film Commission are invited to attend a workshop at the Price Center Oct. 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. to learn from Texas Film Commission representatives and professional location managers about the benefits and process of registering property for film locations.

The Film Friendly Texas program works to provide ongoing training and guidance to help communities statewide effectively accommodate on-location filming and market their communities as filming destinations. Certified communities – like San Marcos – 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 and have passed filming guidelines approved by the film commission’s office.

Organizer of the workshop Randy Polk has years of experience in the film industry, from owning a staging company in Los Angeles for years, being a Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists member and a retired University of Houston media production professor.  

Polk said that the film industry has become a lot less centralized in recent years, making it possible for Texas talent to not only stay in the state, but for states that jump on film-friendly certifications and workshops early to make an economic boon.

“Right now we’re going through a transition in the business, moving more toward all the different platforms that content is available on and it’s decentralizing the industry, so it’s a lot more possible for people to make a living away from the coasts – Atlanta and Los Angeles – because they don’t need those traditional forms of distribution anymore,” Polk said. “And for states and areas that realize this and prepare for it and get ready for, I think it’ll be a big boon.”

According to Polk, film can have substantial and positive impacts on the regional economy – hotels, caterers, restaurants and even local hardware stores, furniture stores and odds and ends of stores can benefit from regional filming.

“In a production there is a lot of money to be dropped, because things have to be done quickly, and because time is money,” Polk said. “So they don’t worry about spending too much to get it done.”

The Greater San Marcos Partnership used information from the Texas Film Commission about Caldwell and Hays County and calculated that $13.7 Million in direct spending has been spent in the area from 2008 to 2016 from film production. With indirect spending, the study found that film production had attributed $26.7 Million in cash in 8 years, supported 185 jobs in the two counties and contributed $360,975 in general tax revenue.

San Marcos has hosted movies and television filming in that time that included titles such as “Boyhood,” “Everybody Wants Some!!” and the television series "Friday Night Lights" which filmed many of its scenes at Texas State University, along with "American Crime," which won an Emmy in 2015, filmed downtown.

The PBS series Texas Music Café also shot its  2009 debut episode "Cheatham Street Warehouse Class of '87," featuring James McMurtry, Bruce Robison, Hal Ketchum, Terri Hendrix, Todd Snider, John Arthur Martinez, and several other nationally acclaimed artists who started their musical careers in the local music hall.

The workshop is oriented toward private and commercial property owners that want to learn more about registering their property as a film shooting location with the Texas Film Commission, as well as find out what film production companies look for in a location and what goods and services they seek from local businesses. 

The panel will feature Production and Community Relations Specialist at the Texas Film Commission Kim LeBlanc, the Location Manager for the AMC Television series "The  Son" Joey Hudgins and former two-time Director of Texas Film Commission Tom Copeland.

The panel discussion will cover the process of registering properties with the Texas Film Commission, what  property owners should look for from the production and filming companies and how to deal with location managers. The panel discussion will be followed by and question and answer session with the public. 

“We have the government component down, now it’s time to work on the citizenry,” Polk said. “Because truly a film-friendly community is one where the people understand what’s going on as well as the officials.”

The Greater San Marcos Partnership, The San Marcos Convention & Visitor Bureau, The San Marcos Arts Commission, The San Marcos Council of Neighborhood Associations and The Price Center helped support this workshop. 

For more information about this workshop, go to the Facebook event page.