The East South Central Region ─ comprised of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi ─ extends all the way from Cincinnati in the north to Biloxi on the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, these four diverse states encompass the iconic cities of Memphis, Nashville, Birmingham, Mobile and Tupelo, and a landscape that ranges from the ultra-urban high-rises of bustling city centers to the steamy flats of the sleepy, rural south.

While the region offers film, commercial, and TV producers and directors a host of reasons to shoot, it faces stiff competition from neighboring states ─ such as Louisiana, Indiana, and the Carolinas ─ that are pushing big tax breaks and fighting for production. This month, P3 spotlights these four states, their incentive programs, and the current and future state of production in the region.

MISSISSIPPI

On account of its new incentive program, Mississippi has become more competitive with its neighbors in the past year. Last March, Governor Haley Barbour signed the new program into law, creating a 20-30 percent rebate on a production’s local spend ─ including local payroll. The bill also creates an additional 10 percent rebate on out-of-state worker wages. Although no minimum spend is required, the legislation caps the rebate at $5 million for each individual project.

"In addition to increasing the percentages of the rebate, we have streamlined the process,” says Ward Emling, director of the Mississippi Film Office. “It’s a very simple and straightforward transaction, and it’s a pure rebate program. The state of Mississippi returns the rebate directly to the production at the conclusion of their production work in Mississippi.

“The incentive program has been very helpful on two fronts: it has ramped up the dialogue with producers and directors, and has put us into more conversations about scripts and new production…it has really opened up opportunity for our local production companies [that] have used the incentive to attract commercial and cable production, and to develop their own content. This year, we are making a few changes to the program — both in-house and through legislation — that will clarify and improve the incentives for both instate and incoming production,” Ward adds.

Projects in the last year include Lomax: The Hound of Music. Eyevox struck a partnership with Sirius Thinking, Ltd. in New York to produce the PBS children's series and production of 13 half-hour episodes shot in the fall of 2007. Actors, puppeteers and producers gathered in Ridgeland for seven intensive weeks, as the series came together at the Eyevox studios. Animators from Eyevox and its sister company, The Screen Engine of St. Petersburg, Florida created animated segments and cartoon characters to complement a cast of actors and puppets. PBS will offer the series in the fall of 2008.

Kathilynn Phillips directed the independent feature, Chasing the White Dragon, in Tupelo throughout the summer of 2007. The full-length motion picture is currently in postproduction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the picture edit being provided by Paradocs Post ─ a division of kat scratch films. The film is set for release in August 2008.

Finally, Ballast, an independent feature shot in the Delta region in 2006, was recently honored at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Best Directing and Best Cinematography awards in the dramatic competition. The film features an all-local Mississippi cast and was put together by a mostly Mississippi crew. The film was also featured at the Berlin Film Festival and will be distributed by IFC Films. Over the last several years, Mississippi has been the location for movies, including Cookie’s Fortune, My Dog Skip, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and A Time to Kill. More recently, motion pictures like Walk the Line and Black Snake Moan have also filmed in the state.

TENNESSEE

The state of Tennessee has developed two incentive plans to create economic and communal development, and to promote film and television production in the state. With the combination of the two incentives, a production can receive a possible total of 32 percent of its qualified Tennessee spend. The first is the 13/15/17 percent Film & Television Production Incentive and the second is a 15 percent Headquarters Refund. Perry Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Film & Music Commission, stresses that these programs “are not tax incentives, but cash rebates. The Headquarters Refund is run by the Department of Revenue, and you need to be either a headquarters location or work through a company located in the state that’s a headquarters location.”

As an example, Gibson cites the new, untitled Hannah Montana feature Disney is shooting in the state. “They’re in preproduction and Disney is working through Lyric Street, the label they own, that’s headquartered in Nashville,” she notes. “That’s a very big deal for us and we were thrilled to get it.” Production starts in May and will be on location for six weeks, mainly filming in the Nashville area. 

Other recent production includes the feature Nothing But the Truth, directed by Rod Lurie, and starring Matt Dillon and Alan Alda. “It’s loosely based on the Valerie Plame CIA scandal,” says Gibson. “Originally they were looking at the Virginia and Washington D.C. area, but then they found that Memphis could double really well for D.C., so it was all shot in Memphis. We also had the Fox Reality TV show Nashville here last year.”

Gibson notes that, “As our tax programs didn’t take effect until last summer, it takes a while to kick in and now we’re seeing a lot more production come here, including the new feature Billy the Early Years ─ about Billy Graham ─ being done through Larry Mortorff Productions.”

The state has always offered filmmakers an impressive diversity of locations, adds Gibson. “When Disney shot their live-action The Jungle Book back in 1964, they did half of it here and half in India, as we could double for India so well. Basically, we have three very different looks. You start with Memphis and the Delta, and that’s where such films as Walk the Line and Hustle and Flow were shot; it’s a hugely film-friendly town. Then you come over to Nashville with all the rolling hills and horse country; we also have the Tennessee of the Appalachians and the Blue Ridge, and the largest cave system in America.”