Lack of incentives in South Dakota can deter filmmakers

Last month, 1,100 theaters across the country showed a movie ostensibly set in rural South Dakota. The film, “Americana,” features Sydney Sweeney as a small-town diner waitress on the hunt for a rare Lakota ghost shirt. Singer Halsey and Hunkpapa Lakota actor Zahn McLarnon also star.

However, South Dakotans who watched “Americana” may have left confused at how the state was portrayed – vast, arid deserts and low, Southwestern-style buildings.

That’s because it was shot entirely in New Mexico.

And it isn’t the only one: the 2017 film “South Dakota” was, despite its name and setting, filmed across the border in Iowa; “Wild Bill,” a 1995 movie starring Jeff Bridges, is set entirely in Deadwood but was filmed in California.

Lack of film incentives can deter filmmakers

Steve Rausch, who spent most of his career in South Dakota as a provider of video production services, moved his business, Focused Motion Media, to Nevada early this year.

He told News Watch that even though South Dakota has been featured in dozens of iconic films and has played host to filming in many, a lack of filming incentives could cause productions to look elsewhere to shoot movies and television shows — even those that rely on South Dakota as their setting.

Film incentives are programs offered state-by-state that encourage productions to shoot in the area. Those usually take the form of tax credits but can also include cash grants or free shooting locations.

South Dakota does not have any film incentive programs. One of only nine states not to have one in place, it acts as a proverbial island in the Midwest, where Minnesota and Iowa to the east, Wyoming to the west and Nebraska to the south have programs.

Those states may draw filmmakers who want to shoot in South Dakota just a few miles away, with similar landscapes and geography, instead, Rausch said.

“Unfortunately, the industry has evolved to where these incentives are vital to production. So if a state doesn’t have one, they’re crossed off the list immediately,” Rausch told News Watch. “A lot of times the rural Western landscape of South Dakota is actually Wyoming or Colorado.”

New Mexico, where “Americana” was filmed, has one of the most robust incentive programs in the country. Eligible productions receive a minimum tax credit of 25% — which can be instrumental in getting a film over the line, Rausch said.

“If someone gives you a proposal and says that’s going to be $100,000. Then somebody else says, well, it’s going to be $80,000. Where do you go? You go to the $80,000,” Rausch said.

Film industry brings economic benefits to local communities

When a major production comes to town — like “Dances With Wolves,” which was filmed in western South Dakota in 1989 — it brings more than just buzz about the movie to the area. Production crews often stay in hotels or rental properties on-site, and in many cases, contract local workers.

“It’s not just (the film industry) that’s affected by this. It’s all of the small mom-and-pop shops that would be providing meals, catering, hotels, car rentals … everything that’s needed to sustain between 10 and 50 people for a month,” Rausch said. “It just so happens that they’re coming to the area to practice film. But from gas stations to snow cone trucks, everybody benefits from it.”

Tracy Mailloux, owner of Gator Grip and Lighting and administrator of the South Dakota Film and Television Association, said that when a state promotes itself during a film’s rollout, the effects last far beyond the initial release.

He gave Georgia as an example, which provides a tax credit to films that include the state’s logo somewhere in the completed project and a link to the state’s filming website on promotional materials.

“If you’re promoting things, a lot of people might think, that’s a beautiful scene. Where did they shoot this? Oh, they shot it in South Dakota. We should plan a trip there,” Mailloux said.

Film incentive programs may be challenging in South Dakota

Rausch said he led a campaign to instate, or establish, a film incentive program in the state nearly seven years ago. That campaign also aimed to move film resources to the Governor’s Office of Economic Development from the Department of Tourism, where all film queries are currently directed.

It was unsuccessful, mostly because of the logistics and fiscal allocations required to create and maintain a film office in the state, Rausch said. Although South Dakota formerly ran a film office affiliated with the state, that initiative was disbanded in 2007.

“Since the film tax incentive wrapped up a number of years ago, we’ve focused on serving as a resource — connecting production companies with South Dakota’s film industry and helping guide them toward the right local or federal contacts for permits and permissions,” a representative from Travel South Dakota said in a statement.

Travel South Dakota’s website provides information on key benefits for filmmakers in the state as well as a link to the South Dakota Film and Television Association, which maintains a database of local cinematographers, actors and other industry workers.

Mailloux said instating a film tax incentive may be difficult for a state that does not already see many big-budget features coming to the area.

“You’re going to have to have a state auditor going through all the receipts and making sure everything lines up, you know? So then you’ve got to fill in that position. And is that position enough to keep them busy year round? I don’t know,” Mailloux said.

Rausch has not given up on finding a compromise for the state. There are alternatives to film incentives that may prove beneficial to the small but growing industry in the state without dedicating large amounts of dollars and resources, he said.

“I think small steps of at least having people that understand what this business is and how to translate it (to legislators and filmmakers) would make huge grounds,” Rausch said.

Independent and local film thrives in South Dakota

A lack of direct financial film incentives may prevent large, out-of-state productions from coming to town, but it is not necessarily a death sentence for the South Dakota film industry.

Documentaries, especially those that highlight nature or tell Indigenous stories, have been prolific sources of film activity in South Dakota.

Independent films also seem to be a sweet spot for the state, where strong local ties and community interest in regional stories abound.

“There’s three or four films that have been shot this year alone in South Dakota, all independent features,” Mailloux said.

One reason South Dakota can be appealing to independent filmmakers is the lack of permits needed to shoot in the state. Unlike most other areas, where productions need to apply for permission and pay a fee to shoot at a location, South Dakota has a relatively open environment for filming.

Independent and local films, which typically have smaller budgets and crews, are able to harness the state’s wide open spaces and lax requirements for permits in their favor.

“Nomadland,” Chloe Zhao’s independent Oscar-winning film, finds its main character, played by Frances McDormand, spending much of the middle act in the Badlands and Wall Drug.

Western South Dakota’s “East of Wall,” also an independent film, saw major success at the Sundance Film Festival, was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics and recently had a sold-out run at the Sioux Falls State Theatre.

“Fall Is A Good Time To Die” is a film written and directed by Sioux Falls native Dalton Coffey, which The New York Times called “sublime.” It is set and was entirely shot in the vast prairies of central South Dakota.

The smaller population, although it may cause worries about the size of the industry, can also be a major plus to some filmmakers, Mailloux said.

He told the story of a film about the Battle of Little Bighorn, which was originally set to shoot in Montana. One South Dakotan on the crew saw the benefit of shooting elsewhere and sent the production to the state.

“He said, ‘Look, you can shoot there, but you look behind you, you’re going to see the road. There’s a lot of tourism. Over here, there’s a visitor center. Let me bring you to South Dakota. Just entertain me. You don’t have to pay me for the day, and I’ll show you the exact same landscape.’ And they ended up shooting that film in South Dakota just because it was more conducive to what they were doing,” Mailloux said.

And there is no substitute for certain landscapes.

Both the Badlands and Mount Rushmore National Memorial are such unique South Dakotan features that filmmakers cannot replicate them anywhere else, Rausch said.

Kate Beecroft, director of “East of Wall,” told News Watch that filming in South Dakota allowed her to tell a story that was entirely unique to the state.

“If you’re open to the magic, South Dakota is going to provide,” Beecroft said. “But you have to be open to it.”

___

This story was originally published by South Dakota News Watch and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.