The Baton Rouge film industry has seen a resurgence in activity since last year’s Hollywood strikes were resolved.
That’s according to Katie Pryor, executive director of the Baton Rouge Film Commission, who tells Daily Report that the strikes led to significant production slowdowns across the country but that business has started to pick back up locally.
“About three weeks ago, the phone started ringing like crazy,” she says. “People are calling to ask about location packages and we’ve got location scouts on the ground. Things are looking up right now.”
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While the COVID-19 pandemic hit the national film industry hard, local film production saw a post-pandemic revival in 2022 with high-profile projects like National Treasure: Edge of History, Master Gardener and The Iron Claw all filming in the Capital Region.
Last year’s actors’ and writers’ strikes dealt another blow, though, and major studio productions have been largely absent from Baton Rouge this year. Even so, Pryor says independent filmmakers have stepped up to fill the gap that big-budget projects have left behind—though she’s optimistic that such projects will return to the city soon.
“One of the silver linings of the strikes is that they gave independent filmmakers room to get out there and make stuff,” Pryor says.
Patrick Mulhearn, an industry consultant who served as executive director of Celtic Studios from 2009 to 2017, told Daily Report earlier this year that there are three critical considerations studios must factor in when deciding where to produce their films: incentives, infrastructure and crew base.
Baton Rouge is well positioned when it comes to incentives and infrastructure, but the city needs to rebuild its crew base if it hopes to “get back on the map” as a premier filming destination, according to Mulhearn. Pryor agrees with that assessment, though she notes that organizations like NOVAC are making serious headway in regard to workforce development.
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“We need a permanent, sustainable depth of crew here,” Pryor says. “And I think that comes down to having steady work.”
The Baton Rouge Film Commission is also working on creative ways to showcase the city’s rich history of film production. One such project is a “film tourism trail” that will see plaques erected at various filming locations of note across the city. Locals and visitors alike can already find over 100 of those locations through SetJetters, a film tourism app.
This story originally appeared in a Sept. 17 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.