At one time, Missouri was a “movie state,” says Chase Elliot, a director who is trying to revive the state’s film industry. His current film project is the first to take advantage of a recently reinstated film credit program in Missouri. “We’re the guinea pigs,” he says.
Last year, Gov. Mike Parsons renewed the Show MO Act film tax credit program that had been dormant for nearly a decade. The tax credit is intended to make Missouri a viable competitor in the film industry by offering tax incentives and breaks for productions filmed in the state. The legislation passed not only reauthorized the bill but strengthened it, allowing approved motion media productions to receive tax credits of up to $16 million. The base incentive starts at 20 percent and could increase to 60 percent if certain requirements are met, such as filming in a rural or blighted area. To ensure incentive money is spent correctly, productions will undergo two audits: one by a Missouri certified public accountant and the other by the government.
For Elliot, taking advantage of the tax credit for At Niangua’s End, his feature film based on a short film of the same name, means overcoming several infrastructure challenges. Finding crew members is one of the biggest obstacles. “We want to hire people from Missouri, as many as we can,” Elliot says. “The problem is that Missouri doesn’t really have the infrastructure to do filmmaking because that’s not done here, so finding equipment, finding equipment (cameras, lenses, lighting, things like that) is difficult.”
Elliot’s intention is to begin developing the necessary infrastructure and solve the problems. Over time, he wants to film more projects here and help Missouri take off as a film state. So far, several of the production members, including Elliot, producer Gina Goff and co-stars Bo Shore and Phoenix Buckner, are all Missouri locals.
“I’m excited to finally come home to make a movie,” says Goff, a film producer who grew up in Jefferson City before moving to Los Angeles. “What I think will be special is not only seeing something finally filmed in Missouri, but also seeing all of these Missouri-based filmmakers, actors and crew members come together to make a movie.”
In the past, several Missouri-based stories have not been filmed in the state due to a lack of tax credit incentives, says Steph Shannon, director of the Kansas City Film Office. The Paramount Plus original series Tulsa King was originally titled Kansas City King, and the hit Netflix series Ozark, whose story revolves around the Missouri Lakes Region, was produced in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Each project is a business in itself,” says Shannon, who has been instrumental in attracting film production to the state. “Each job can employ 300 to 400 people, including actors, camera crew, lighting, audio, and even jobs not easily associated with film, such as plumbing, carpentry, catering, and accounting.”
For example, the hit movie Gone Girl poured nearly $7.9 million into the local economy of Cape Girardeau, where much of the movie was filmed, in a matter of weeks, Shannon says.
In Elliot’s case, most of the film production will take place at the Lake of the Ozarks. Initially, Elliot and his team were concerned that local lake communities would not welcome them due to the often unfavorable portrayal in the media. “We were a little scared by the way Ozark portrayed the Ozarks,” says Elliot, who grew up in the area, as did Shore. However, his fear proved unnecessary. “They (locals) love the concept and that we’re…bringing eyes to the area.”
In the grand scheme of filmmaking, At Niangua’s End’s $1.6 million budget is low, so having the local community eager to get involved and support the project is huge.
“Being from the lake, we always wanted to tell a story that takes place on the Lake of the Ozarks because it has untapped potential,” Elliot says. Elliot and Shore, who also helped write and create the short film, wanted to create something clearly recognizable to any Missourian, including iconic landmarks and local businesses. They also drew inspiration from their own childhood by dropping Easter eggs that only Ozark locals would know about.
Elliot has other ideas for projects that could be filmed in Missouri and believes this movie is just the beginning. Much depends on At Niangua’s End to prove the viability of the new show, but, Elliot assures, “it’s been a long time coming.”
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