Central Ohio proving popular with film industry
Despite COVID-19 closing theaters and disrupting film and television production across the globe, recent months have seen a number of film projects shot in and around Licking County and Columbus.
In fact, a film – one of the very few shot in the United States of late – recently wrapped up shooting in two Columbus neighborhoods, amid the ongoing pandemic.
John Daugherty, executive director of the Greater Columbus Film Commission, said there is a range of reasons why so many films are turning to Franklin and Licking counties, among other central Ohio locales, for their productions.
Financial incentives is one factor. Geography is another, Daugherty said.
Daugherty and the commission recently worked with a production team filming a horror film titled “Evil Takes Root,” partially shot in Pataskala.
“In general, the Film Commission isn’t a funding source,” Daugherty said. “We’re here to support films, and mostly we’re here to advocate for films to come to this area and to promote Columbus and central Ohio to producers and directors. ... That is mostly driven by incentives.
“The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit right now has a minimum spend of $300,000, so those are the films that I mostly deal with – $300,000 and up. Of course, I support local filmmakers as much as I can and provide resources for connections to things like locations that might be low-cost, or free, and that sort of thing.”
“Evil Takes Root” met the $300,000 threshold, “and we just had another film that wrapped, right in the middle of COVID, which was surprising, a film called ‘They/them/us’,” Daugherty said. The film’s locations included Victorian Village and German Village in Columbus.
“That shot through 20 days in October and was one of the only films to shoot in the country under these new
guidelines (enacted by various film-industry unions),” he said.
Daugherty noted that incentives are an important part of getting films made in central Ohio.
“Productions are going to shop around, and if we did not have that incentive here, those films wouldn’t be made here,” Daugherty said. “The incentives do a good thing. It’s all about creating jobs. It’s all about sustaining jobs and more people living in and working in central Ohio, and staying in the industry. It’s all an economic driver.
“The film industry (also) is a great recovery vehicle from COVID. There have been studies done about films coming into an area and how quickly they can spend money in those industries that are hurting the most – the hotels, the restaurants and the hospitality industry.”
Daugherty said the commission also looks to assist or bring into the fold through internships and other opportunities students attending local colleges — including Denison, Kenyon, Columbus College of Art and Design, Ohio State and Ohio University — when going through the film programs in those schools.
Despite the pandemic, other projects are in the pipeline, Daugherty said.
“Surprisingly, I was just out scouting yesterday with a large production I’m not at liberty to talk about. But people are looking here. … They’re looking to Ohio. That’s why it’s important to retain the state tax credit, and even expand it. Right now, it’s capped at $40 million a year and that goes pretty quick. We hope to expand it in the future and really follow Georgia’s playbook. The economic impact it’s had there is just tremendous.”
The Buckeye State and central Ohio also offer geographic advantages.
Central Ohio is famously touted as being within fast delivery distance of the vast majority of the population of North America, which has made it a magnet for distribution and fulfilment centers for major retailers such as Amazon.
That same central positioning also
appeals to filmmakers, Daugherty said.
“One of the great things about Columbus is we’re close to a lot. With us being in the middle of the state, if they need to pull crew from Cleveland, or Cincinnati, or Pittsburgh, everybody is 2 to 3 hours away,” he said. “If you were in Cleveland and need to pull crew from across the state, that’s a 5- or 6-hour drive from Cincinnati. That’s tough. That becomes prohibitive.”
In terms of what can be put in front of the camera, Columbus also offers an attractive visual mix, he said. “In Columbus, you’re in a major city, then get on I-270, and in 10 or 15 minutes you’re in
deep rural country. So you’ve got lots of different locations and looks within 30 minutes of downtown Columbus. Denison University and Granville have been backdrops for a few films, and it’s beautiful out that way.”
Incentives were a lure for filming “Evil Takes Root” in Ohio, but writer/ producer Aaron Mack said it goes deeper than that.
“We’re Ohio-based production companies, making films here in Ohio and it’s a goal of ours to not only hire Ohiobased cast and crew, but to support the growing film and media production industry,” Mack said.
Licking County and Atlanta will be melded onscreen in “Hope Again,” which recently wrapped filming.
Local actor and movie producer Denise Morris teamed with producer John Michael Hightower Jr. for November filming in Newark, Granville and Heath for the faith-based family movie that also features Morris’ daughters.
Morris said the film centers on a woman who is left to raise her three daughters alone “when her husband abandons her and the church shuns her.”
Most of the movie is filmed in the Atlanta area with Atlanta actors, but Morris said Licking County viewers will enjoy picking out local locations and scenery in the finished film.
“We did a good, solid week maybe a little longer, in Newark, Granville and the Heath area,” she said recently. “We did some drone work over Granville, and the Newark Court House ... Granville is so beautiful.”
The fact that much of the film involved Morris’ family members playing roles in a family assisted with local production amid the pandemic, because the principal players were already sharing a living space. Otherwise, COVID-19 filming precautions included temperature-taking and masks for those not in front of cameras.
The eventual distribution goal for the film is a streaming and DVD release, Morris said, “We also want to get to some Christian film festivals that are all over the country.”
Of the Licking County aspect of “Hope Again,” Morris said, “I think it’s going to be fun for people who live in Licking County. There’s going to be some things here that they drive by, or stop at, and will recognize.”