New streaming service showcases Louisiana films, stories

SHREVEPORT, La. — The Louisiana Film Channel is now live for audiences’ viewing pleasure.

The new streaming site puts Louisiana and its filmmakers at the forefront for international audiences’ entertainment and enlightenment. LFC provides Louisiana filmmakers with distribution and promotion opportunities, celebrates its talented creative industry, and showcases the state’s culture and stories from diverse points of view.

“There’s so much talent in Louisiana. Every time you turn around there’s a great movie being produced,” said Dr. Lucas Fry, president of the Louisiana Film Channel. “I said, ‘These guys need to make money.’ The only way to get discovered is if people can see you and people can delve into your work. In order to do that, we need a platform that promotes Louisiana filmmakers.”

LFC’s content includes feature films, short films, series, music videos, and documentaries viewable by subscription, transactional and premium video on demand with many titles available for free.

The station is not restrictive by location, as its library consists of productions from across the United States, Europe, and other destinations. However, LFC only promotes Louisiana threaded content, meaning it’s filmed in-state, feature stories or subjects about Louisiana, the cast and/or crew is from Louisiana, or it has other ties to Louisiana, he said.

Earlier this year, a component of LFC debuted as a weekly film program, Wednesday Night Movies, hosted by LaTangela Fay. Each week select films were shown via WLFT channel 30.1 and cable channels Cox 117 and Eatel 130 in Baton Rouge, and globally via the 30 on Third app.

Now, LFC will reach more viewers as it’s accessible via MACs and PCs, Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, Android TV, Apple TV, and Android and Apple phones and tablets.

“It gives an opportunity to people who never would be discovered other than in their local film market,” he said.

Nearly 8,000 titles are in the LFC library with many more to be added to the rotation. New releases will come weekly to keep the content fresh.

Shreveport directors’ films featured on LFC include “A Bird’s Nest” by Christine Chen, “Blackout” by Tanesha Morris, and “Devil’s Acid” by Garrett Kruithof.

Since 1977, Fry’s career has entailed running television stations and producing series and movies for various Louisiana and national networks and companies. Frequently, filmmakers have asked him for advice on getting distribution and expanding viewership.

LFC works with the filmmakers in distribution. It offers opportunities and payments to the creatives competitive to other major streaming sites, such as Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Prime, he said. The highly competitive platforms have made it difficult for many filmmakers to get through the door and their work accepted.

“We pay exactly what Amazon Prime used to pay. They have since cut their payment out by 90 percent of what they were paying content providers, but I kept the old rate—I kept the highest rate that they had ever offered. I think (filmmakers) deserve to make money off their films,” Fry said.

The wider reach to audiences increases the chances for opportunities and viewership for the filmmakers, he said. LFC is available to audiences worldwide with subscription data already showing viewers in Romania and across Africa.

“Because it’s out there, people are finding and discovering it and that’s the purpose,” he said.

In addition to the Louisiana-focused channel, Fry is in discussion with groups in other states about launching similar platforms for their area filmmakers, he said.

“We’re hoping that the general public will pick up on this and download the app and enjoy these movies and discover these filmmakers,” Fry said. “More importantly, we hope that someone of means will discover someone that they want to invest in or that they want to do their movie. That’s the purpose of the Louisiana Film Channel.”

Filmmakers may submit original films, series, documentaries, and music videos to LFC at info@louisianafilmchannel.com. There is no cost to the filmmakers. Films have closed caption option and meet FCC broadcast standards with rating not exceeding rated-R.

“Go shoot it, edit it, and get it to us,” Fry said.