12:05 PM CST on Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Dallas wants to play a bigger hand in luring the producers of a new Dallas feature film to shoot here instead of in states that already are offering stronger government-approved incentives.

Mayor Laura Miller and Dallas Film Commission head Janis Burklund lately are backing a task force aimed at sweetening the pot for 20th Century Fox, which plans to begin production on the movie next fall. They hope to get the private sector involved in offering alternative perks to the filmmakers.

"We're just getting it started, and I don't know how successful it will be," Ms. Burklund said Monday. "But we're going to have to do something on our own. We need to solve this now."

A state bill to make Texas more competitive with Louisiana, Florida and other Dallas suitors was passed last year, but without any funding appropriated.

Michael Costigan, co-producer of the big-screen version, said he'd prefer to "make the whole film in Dallas."

"It's now going to come down to really making the numbers work with our studio," he said.

Ed Bark