Studio to teach how to attract movies
New Republic Studios is looking to make Bastrop County and its rustic aesthetic a backdrop for more feature films, television shows and commercials.
Next month, the studio will host a series of workshops that will demonstrate how Bastrop County businesses and landowners can market their spaces to film producers in search of a perfect place to film. The four workshops — to take place in Elgin, Bastrop, Smithville and on the studio’s campus in western Bastrop County — will have film experts on hand for anyone interested in enticing producers to their property.
“We want to educate the public about the great benefits production has on their community as well as answer any questions since there are a lot of unknowns for those who are not in the film and media industry,” said Mindy Raymond, New Republic Studio’s director of marketing and development. “We are doing all we can to make our studios and Bastrop, Elgin and Smithville a viable option for producers when thinking about locations for their productions.”
The workshops will include a representative from the Texas Film Commission — the state agency that awards incentive dollars to certain projects — to highlight the economic boon the industry can have on communities. Professional location scouts will detail the process of how film productions secure shooting locations through negotiations and permits.
“They will be able to really dive into the nuts and bolts of what it means to have production utilize your home, business, car, boat,” Raymond said.
People will also be able to add their property to a registry of properties collected by New Republic and the Texas Film Commission that will act as a catalog of locations for production crews.
“All three of the cities in Bastrop County, plus Bastrop County itself, are all very, very film-friendly and very aware of the economic impact that film projects have, not only on our businesses but also on individuals,” said Adena Lewis, Bastrop County’s tourism and economic development director.
The area is no stranger to major productions. In 2011, film crews descended on Smithville during the production of “Tree of Life,” the epic drama directed by Austin’s Terrance Malick. The production spent $750,000 in the small town, Lewis said, and created a swell of tax dollars for the city.
Then, there was the fourth installation in the blockbuster “Transformers” franchise, “Transformers: Age of Extension,” which shot scenes in Elgin, as well as Lockhart, Taylor and Pflugerville. And more recently, the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales were spotted in the Elgin area during the filming of a Super Bowl ad, and H-E-B filmed ads in downtown Bastrop.
In total, 52 projects have filmed in the county that received incentive dollars through the state, according to data from the Texas Film Commission.
New Republic Studios is also making significant investments in its Bastrop County studio campus. In 2017, tech businessman and film industry newcomer Jon Robison purchased the 200-acre estate from Tommy Warren, originally called Spiderwood Studios. Last spring, he said he was preparing to invest over $170 million into the studio to build what he calls a “creative campus,” where filmmakers and tech minds converge to help put Texas and Texans on silver screens and phone screens alike.