Filmmakers, actors and film fans gathered Tuesday evening at the Radius Center for a mixer celebrating the opening of the 30th annual San Antonio Film Festival where City of San Antonio Film Commissioner Kimberly LeBlanc proclaimed San Antonio “the best place for filmmaking in the entire world.”
A flyer at the city’s information table echoed her enthusiasm, touting the city’s “most competitive film incentives in Texas.”
Reinstated in 2022 after being paused during the coronavirus pandemic, San Antonio offers a 7.5% local film incentive that, when combined with Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program incentives and sales tax exemptions, can provide up to 30% in cash rebates for qualifying film and video makers.
However, independent filmmakers who produce smaller-budget films said they most often aren’t eligible for the incentives, which favor production budgets that can make more of an economic impact on the city.
Qualifying for the incentives hinges on whether a majority of crew and cast jobs are based in the state, with a minimum budgeted expenditure of $100,000 within the metropolitan area.
San Antonio on screen
One film project that did not meet these requirements but features scenes shot in San Antonio is How the West Was One, a documentary about three self-identifying cowgirls from northern California, Miami and New York that screened Tuesday evening.
One of the three cowgirls, Annie Bercy, lives in New York but took a road trip west on a myth-busting journey of self-discovery. Bercy loves iconic western imagery from horses, lassos and rodeos to rolling desert landscapes, and makes her way through Texas starting at the Black Cowboy Museum in Houston, where she learns that the term “cowboy” is racist in origin, at one time referring specifically to Black ranch hands.
Most of the film was shot outside San Antonio, but halfway through, the iconic World’s Largest Cowboy Boots at North Star Mall fill the screen. Bercy is shown visiting Herb’s Hat Shop on the city’s far East Side, selecting two custom-shaped hats to take her Texas experience with her as she makes her way toward a new home in Los Angeles.
A total of 19 films in the festival were shot at least in part in San Antonio, including former newsman Randy Beamer’s documentary on artist Jesse Treviño and the KLRN-produced From Rosemary to the RK Legacy. But according to local filmmaker Cedric Thomas Smith, most independent films made here do not qualify for City of San Antonio film incentives due to budgets far smaller than the minimum $100,000 expenditure requires.
“Most of my films are shoestring budget,” Smith said. “So I’ve never taken advantage of the incentives or anything like that.”
Smith’s film did find purchase in nearby San Angelo, however. He won the Concho Creator Award at the 2022 San Angelo Revolution Film Festival, which garnered $10,000 to help fund a local production.
The result is Losing Lalo, an emotional, 33-minute tragedy screening Saturday at 3 p.m. at the San Antonio Film Festival in its afternoon The Feels program.
Free permits here
Stacey Norton, the city’s marketing, film and music administrator, said productions that don’t qualify for film incentives can still receive free film permits for more than 250 city-owned properties.
Popular locations include Historic Market Square, La Villita Historic Arts Village, the River Walk, libraries and parks, Norton said.
“Our team issued 242 film permits in Fiscal Year 2023 and have already issued 335 film permits to projects in Fiscal Year 2024,” she said in an email to the San Antonio Report.
Filmmakers could also be eligible for the city’s Artist Grants, which award $7,500 and $15,000 grants to “support artists in their creation of new work.”
San Antonio has found a place on the moviemaking map for larger productions. Norton said that following the recent entertainment industry strikes, incentive inquiries have picked up. San Antonio is currently processing more than 20 active local incentive inquiries from film and TV productions including HGTV’s Pool Kings reality show and HBO-produced movies Entre Nos and Say a Little Prayer.
These productions enjoy larger incentives than are available in other Texas cities. For example, the Austin Creative Content Incentive Program offers incentives of up to one-tenth of San Antonio’s, at 0.75%. The Houston and Dallas film commissions show Texas state incentives on their websites, and Dallas has an elaborate permitting system with variable fees.
In all, San Antonio “offers a competitive edge over other cities that charge for film permits and do not have a local film incentive,” Norton said, noting that the Texas Film Commission “has reported to us that they get many inquiries about filming in San Antonio.”
Norton said the theatrical and streaming release dates for Say a Little Prayer are forthcoming. Many of the smaller, independently produced short films shot in San Antonio will run during the San Antonio Film Festival’s short film programs, with the complete schedule and ticketing information available on the festival website, listed by day through Sunday.
