Fort Worth actors flock to Dallas agents because they can't find any here. When Hollywood filmmakers discuss the Metroplex, they usually refer to Dallas. "It's a bigger city, and they have a bigger economic engine," said Arlington screenwriter Andy Anderson, one of the few local screenwriters on a first-name basis with powerful Hollywood filmmakers. "Las Colinas is tied closer to Dallas than Fort Worth. There isn't much in the way of support in Fort Worth." Film production, even while stacked in Dallas' favor, spreads millions of dollars throughout the Metroplex, and two dozen cities have money at stake. The film industry each year spends about $2 billion statewide, including more than $60 million in the Metroplex. "Right now we have an awful lot of people out of work in the industry," said Burke, who has become increasingly unpopular among peers. "It's having an impact on many people's families." Pan to the horizon, however, where better times may be coming into focus.
Sid Seider, carrying a cane in one hand and a plastic chair in the other, finds a comfortable spot in the shade and sits back to watch a movie crew shoot a scene involving fanatics carrying torches. Seider, 73, lives quietly in far south Grand Prairie. He can hardly fathom that Chuck Norris and a film crew are making a movie, Bells Of Innocence, at his old ranch house. Seider's days are usually uneventful, even lonely, he said. Now, people are all around. Nearby a camera operator tapes an interview with a producer. Norris' grandchildren pluck grass and feed it to horses. An actor paces and silently rehearses his lines. A film crew bustles about. "You sure are strong for such a little thing," Seider says as a pretty young woman walks by carrying a trunk. Seider beams amid the activity. "They're wonderful people, so nice," he says. "I've never had this experience before. This has been fun." Despite being a movie greenhorn, Seider symbolizes what makes the Metroplex an enticing film locale. Finding locations in Los Angeles often involves forking over money. El-Lay residents are comparatively jaded about the movie-making process and want money for loaning property. Texas cities and their residents, on the other hand, frequently offer houses, offices, parking lots, streets, pastures, and other locations at no charge, just for the thrill of watching. "Fort Worth is an easy town to film in," said Gil Stotler, Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau communications director. "There are not a lot of permits or red tape. Some cities are permit-crazy." Southern hospitality is only one draw. Texas is a right-to-work state and allows the employment of non-union crew members. Metroplex production crews have a reputation for being efficient and enthusiastic. Actors aren't hard to find. About 800 are registered with the local Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and thousands of others are non-union. The Metroplex became a trendy movie location during the heyday of Dallas, a tv show that first appeared in 1978, flourished through the 1980s -- and, horrifically, still provides many people worldwide with their only image of Texas. Sally Field, John Malkovich, Danny Glover, and Ed Harris arrived in 1983 to film Places in the Heart. Geraldine Page won an Academy Award for 1985's The Trip to Bountiful, filmed in Dallas and Waxahachie. The boom continued with Baja Oklahoma and Anderson's Positive ID. The buzz had begun. Director Oliver Stone, hot off the successes of Platoon and Wall Street, came to the Metroplex in 1988 to film Born on the Fourth of July and Talk Radio and returned a year later for JFK. The decade closed with Problem Child and Necessary Roughness. Meanwhile, countless independent filmmakers prowled the streets with cameras and crews, often staying below the radar of commissions that track film production. The 1990s saw the heady times fade. Austin -- always the Metroplex's major competitor for Texas movies -- surged ahead in the race to attract film crews. Austin benefited from Ann Richards' 1990 election as governor. Richards charmed the Los Angeles crowd, a fickle group but one eager to jump on the next hot trend. Between 1992 and 1997, almost 20 movies were made in the Austin area, more than three times the number filmed in the Metroplex. Director Richard Linklater's Slacker in 1990 helped ignite the Austin explosion when the low-budget independent film became a surprising success. Linklater followed with Dazed and Confused in 1993. Suddenly, the film industry's hottest young directors were working in and around Austin, including Steven Soderbergh, John Sayles, and Robert Rodriguez. They cranked out well-received movies on small budgets, attracted Los Angeles studios and their money, then stayed in Austin to make more movies. Both Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey settled in Austin at the height of their fame. Established Hollywood directors flocked there, including Clint Eastwood for 1993's A Perfect World. The decade ended with the Austin Film Society working in harmony with city leaders and transforming an old airport and its warehouses into the nonprofit Austin Studios with sprawling soundstages cheaper than those in Las Colinas. The Metroplex spent the 1990s courting television productions, most notably Barney & Friends, Wishbone, and Walker, Texas Ranger. The shows employed hundreds of workers and poured money into the economy but did little to rival Austin's buzz factor. Local film crews became antsy after the tv shows slowed or ceased production. |
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