Movies

Can TV save the film star?

If a hearing this past Tuesday in the Texas House is any indication, the Texas-shot television series Prison Break and Friday Night Lights may be key to passage of a film-incentives plan that would offer $10 million this year and next to lure projects.

Gary Brown, producer of Prison Break, told the Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee that the decision to shoot the Fox show's second season in the Dallas area came after a thorough look at New Mexico, Arizona and Louisiana, states that offer incentives. North Texas won partly because the other states' crews were busy with other projects (lured by incentives). The other states also lacked the diverse settings needed for the show. Perhaps most important, Mr. Brown said six years of producing Walker, Texas Ranger showed him that Texas crews are top-notch.

But costs go up each year in episodic television as salaries rise, he said, and that sparked a recent scouting trip to Shreveport, La.

"I think the show is best suited here," Mr. Brown said. "We're on the verge of figuring how financially to do season three in Dallas. We know we can do it here creatively."

Meanwhile, for Austin-shot Friday Night Lights, which has won critical acclaim but achieved only marginal ratings, incentives may be key to NBC keeping the show alive for a second season.

"If the incentives were in effect today, it wouldn't be an issue," said Brian O'Leary, vice president of NBC/Universal. "There are people with a real passion for this show. It's a matter of whether the economics work."

A big question remains: Do the economics of the current film-incentives proposal work? Hector Garcia, head of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, says they don't. His group of film industry folks wants the yearly total pumped up to $30 million. As proposed in the bill sponsored by Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, projects must spend more than $10 million in Texas to be eligible and can receive up to $1.5 million back. Episodic television series that spend at least $10 million locally could get up to $2 million each.

"It's important that we get an incentive program started on the right foot," Mr. Garcia said. "We've seen other states implement programs and make big mistakes at the beginning. One grave mistake is to underfund at the beginning."

Independent dream: Others hope to lower the budget cap for films to include smaller projects such as the current North Texas shoot Fissure from Russ Pond, who made commercials and trade-show videos before taking the plunge into feature films. Mr. Pond describes Fissure as a thriller about a detective whose life is falling apart after he accidentally kills his son. He must then solve a murder in a world of fractured reality.

"It's actually been easier than I expected," Mr. Pond said. "When you're making short films, you have to do everything. But on this, with a good solid crew, you have people to do all of that for you. I can go in and focus on the feel of the film."

HBO 'Junkie': TV Junkie, the Dallas-made documentary of a man whose life falls apart because of drug addiction, will air March 16 on HBO. A separate version of the film aimed at students ages 13 to 18 will launch March 31 at the National Service-Learning Conference in Albuquerque, N.M., said film director Michael Cain, also artistic director of the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, which opens March 22.