DALLAS — Who could forget the iconic Southfork Ranch made famous in the "Dallas" TV series?
You, too, could have your home immortalized on film... and get paid for it as a bonus.
Janis Burklund, director of the Dallas Film Commission, says homeowners, businesses and property owners willing to sign up with her organization have the potential to earn thousands of dollars.
"Right now, our big thing is television," she said. "We have a database of locations on file of potential places that filmmakers can shoot."
Over the past six years, work at local production houses in Texas has ripled over competitors in New York, Los Angles and Chicago.
Burklund credits the launching of the Dallas International Film Festival with the surge, along with aggressive cash grants that refund producers up to 17 percent of what they invest in Texas.
"Over the last 6 years, we've averaged $50-60 million in direct spending," Burklund said. "This last fiscal year, we had $129 [million] and change."
She said the total economic impact in North Texas is more than $300 million.
Need proof? Meet Azle native and movie director Rachel Shepherd. She specifically chose to spend her entire budget in North Texas, hiring local crews and renting a location in the area.
Her movie, "Traveling," just debuted at the Dallas International Film Festival, and she is shooting the remake of "Dallas" in Dallas for TNT.
Before DIFF, Shepherd said Hollywood had a horrible stereotype of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "We get filmmakers from everywhere internationally coming here and they're like, 'Wow! We thought Dallas was all cowboy boots and horses, and its not!' And you get the idea that um that this is the place I want to shoot," she said.
Six years ago, the Dallas Film Commission was lucky to get one television series shot in Dallas. Now they've had three network series in the last fiscal year, and two pilots are currently in production... so the momentum is picking up.
E-mail sgables@wfaa.com
