Independent Films in Louisiana

It’s true that since former Governor Bobby Jindal’s disastrous changes to Louisiana’s film tax incentive program a lot of the work has left the state. But independent filmmaking and homegrown filmmakers continue to take advantage. The good news is I’m still working plenty – the bad news is, with the far lower budgets,  I’m making far less money. That said, there’s plenty to love about what’s happening here. Last year, New Orleans local actor/director Griff Furst shot Cold Moon, a thriller by the the writer of Beetlejuice. Starring Christopher Lloyd, Candy Clark, Frank Whaley, Robbie Kay, Josh Stewart and Rachele Brooke Smith, the movie’s producer list includes Furst’s father, Steven, best known as Flounder in Animal House.

#KnowMonologues Challenge

Earlier this year, I did an interview with Nick Savides for his Baton Rouge-based nsavides Podcast exploring collaboration and local filmmaking. He approached me with an idea of how to reenergize actors disheartened by recent changes to our state’s tax incentive program. We called it the #KnowMonologues Challenge and hoped to get 30 or so submissions. We ended up with about 90 submissions! This morning, I was proud to announce our incredibly talented winners on WWLTV with the help of Eric Paulsen.