Oklahoma City and Tulsa make MovieMaker's 2021 list of 'Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker'

Both Oklahoma City and Tulsa are featured on MovieMaker Magazine's coveted list of "Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2021" which was unveiled today.

Oklahoma City is listed at No. 15 on the ranking of the top 25 big cities for making movies, ahead of such metropolitan areas as Washington, D.C.; Memphis, Tennessee; and Seattle, Washington. Topping the list are Albuquerque, New Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; and Austin, Texas: 

1. Albuquerque

2. Atlanta

3. Austin

4. Chicago

5. Vancouver

6. Philadelphia

7. Montreal

8. Miami

9. Boston

10. Calgary, Alberta

11. Toronto

12. Dallas

13. Cincinnati

14. Cleveland

15. Oklahoma City

16. Memphis

17. San Diego

18. Baltimore

19. Portland

20. Washington, D.C.

21. Kansas City, Missouri

22. San Antonio

23. Seattle

24. Milwaukee

25. St. Petersburg

In its OKC ranking, Moviemaker pointed to Sean McNamara's high-profile biopic "Reagan," which lensed in fall in Oklahoma City and Guthrie; Prairie Surf Studios' deal to convert the Cox Convention Center into a production hub; and the state's largest film festival, deadCenter. The hit Netflix series "Tiger King" also gets a mention. 

The magazine's ranking includes a chat with prolific Oklahoma City-based filmmaker Mickey Reece, whose atmospheric vampire thriller "Climate of the Hunter" left a mark on last year's film festival circuit, about what makes OKC's burgeoning film industry special. 

“A lot of out-of-town folks come to shoot in Oklahoma to take advantage of our 35% tax rebate incentive, but just within the last year or two (thanks to filmmakers working outside of the traditional system) our state has become more recognized, nationally, for our talent and work ethic,” Reece told Moviemaker. “We’ve created our own industry outside of Hollywood. Our actors are hungry, our crews are hungry and our locations are among the most unique in the country.”

That echoes what Reece, who hails from Newcastle, told me in December interview: 

"It’s been awesome being a budding filmmaker in Oklahoma because when you have something to offer, they have something to offer," he said. 

Tulsa is listed at No. 7 on Moviemaker's ranking of top 10 small cities and towns, ahead of Richmond, Virginia; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Ashland, Oregon. The list is topped by New Orleans, Santa Fe and Pittsburgh. 

SMALL CITIES AND TOWNS

1. New Orleans

2. Santa Fe, New Mexico

3. Pittsburgh

4. Savannah

5. Victoria, British Columbia

6. Providence

7. Tulsa

8. Richmond

9. Wilmington, North Carolina

10. Ashland, Oregon

“We are ecstatic about this news,” said Abby Kurin, executive director of the Tulsa Office of Film, Music, Arts & Culture, in a statement. “We are grateful to all the talented filmmakers and film crew that call Tulsa home, and we look forward to continuing to assist all the producers that choose Tulsa for their next project.”

Kurin spoke with Moviemaker about Tulsa's "melting pot of culture," Art Deco architecture and strong arts community as key factors in the city's growing film business. 

In its Tulsa ranking, Moviemaker singled out the selection of Circle Cinema as a Satellite Screen for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, which starts Thursday, as well as the filming in Okmulgee and Tulsa County of the pilot for "Reservation Dogs," the anticipated new series from Oscar-winning New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi, who is of Maori ancestry, and Tulsa moviemaker Sterlin Harjo, who is a member of the Seminole and Creek nations. 

The magazine also features Lee Isaac Chung’s acclaimed drama "Minari," which filmed in 2019 in Tulsa and made its world premiere in 2020 at Sundance, where it earned both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.

The pre-Oscar buzz for the Tulsa-made movie was getting louder even as the Moviemaker list dropped: "Minari" was nominated today for six 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay for Chung, Best Male Lead for Steven Yeun and two Best Supporting Female nods, for Yuh-jung Youn and Yeri Han. 

MovieMaker editor-in-chief Tim Molloy noted that the COVID-19 pandemic made the magazine's annual list look different. 

"This was obviously a very different year for our annual list of the 'Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker' — it’s a time of incredible upheaval, but also opportunity. Many in the film and TV industry are looking to change their way of life, and many cities and towns across the country are welcoming these storytellers with open arms,” Molloy said in a statement. “Last year, we moved Los Angeles and New York City to our Hall of Fame, in the belief that their place in moviemaking was so secure that we should make room for communities on the rise. Little did we know how much L.A. and New York would suffer in the months to come. But their discipline and resilience will make them stronger in 2021 and beyond, as they lead movies into an era of innovation and invention.”

MovieMaker determined the rankings using surveys, research on tax incentives and recent productions, plus personal visits to most of the locations on the list, as well as the best available information on how they’re coping with the pandemic, according to a news release. 

"Oklahoma’s commitment to the entertainment industries paired with the state’s low cost of living and doing business is a win-win opportunity for both film and music professionals and our state," Oklahoma Film + Music Office Director Tava Maloy Sofsky said in an email to The Oklahoman. "Not only are filmmakers and music makers poised with creativity, innovation and opportunity to tell their stories in Oklahoma, but our statewide industry members, businesses and communities are being positively impacted by new revenue streams for a more sustainable quality of life."

For more on the 2021 list of "Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker," click here. 

MovieMaker Magazine is dedicated to the art and craft of making movies. The 2021 list of the "Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker" appears in the Winter 2020 issue, which also includes a cover story on Regina King and her acclaimed feature directorial debut, "One Night in Miami." The issue is available on newsstands on Feb. 2.

Features Writer Brandy "BAM" McDonnell covers Oklahoma's arts, entertainment and cultural sectors for The Oklahoman and Oklahoman.com. Reach her at bmcdonnell@oklahoman.com, www.facebook.com/brandybammcdonnell and twitter.com/BAMOK. Please support work by her and her colleagues by subscribing at oklahoman.com/subscribe.  

-BAM