The center’s dominance is expected to be tested as a new film production center after Oklahoma City Council unanimously approved an agreement that allows the Cox Convention Center to advertise itself as a studio with sound scenes.
Prairie Surf Media founder Matt Payne and Rachel Cannon have yet to finalize a lease with the city for the conference center, which will be replaced through oklahoma City’s new Convention Center later this year.
The city’s deputy director, Aubrey McDermid, noted that the city did not know what to do with the construction of 1. 3 million square feet until discussions about the concept of film study began this year. The film studio, she says, is the most productive use of transitority. Possible.
“We know this is one of our most prestigious and exciting urban centers,” said McDermid. “We know that it will probably be years away before it becomes something that is its optimal use. So in the meantime, have something to ignite” building and creating jobs in an area of an industry that promises a lot in our city is a very smart deal.
The terms of the lease have not yet been negotiated and a final agreement is expected to be voted on in December. Attorney John Michael Williams told Oklahoman that no incentives or subsidies were being considered.
The timing of the Cox Centre’s availability coincides with what Cannon said: a repressed request for sound scenes, exacerbated by a production slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic that is beginning to increase.
“With the switch to transmission, there was a source and a call to challenge before COVID,” Cannon said. “From 2013 to today, it has had a 700% increase in content progression, but only 15% in sound scenes. “
Producers are “fighting” now to locate the available sound scenes, Cannon said. Oklahoma City may be competitive due to lower cost of living, city efforts to keep COVID-19 rates under control, the state’s film tax credit program, and a developing film community.
The City Council learned that the study is expected to create many jobs with an average annual salary of $106,000.
“When you communicate about film, the first thing that comes to mind is the actors, administrators and producers,” Payne said. “But each and every movie generates a lot of jobs, construction, electricians, seamstresses, catering companies and guys who drive trucks. This creates a massive workforce. “
The proposed Prairie Surf Studio would come with five studios that can accommodate two simultaneous productions.
Prairie Surf was founded last year after Cannon, an actress who returned to Oklahoma after running in Los Angeles for 18 years, visited Payne, a screenwriter who returned home to Oklahoma City at 2015. Su a company supported by an investor organization led by Christian Kanady. and its Echo Capital corporation.
The Cox Convention Center, when it was built about 50 years ago, replaced 4 square blocks of some of the oldest buildings in the city, adding a bar dating to 1893. At that time, the city eliminated California Avenue between EKGaylord Boulevard and Robinson Avenue and Broadway between Sheridan Avenue and Reno Avenue.
Due to the pandemic, market gap and difficulties with retail, progression will not be rapid for the bloc, McDermid said.
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