Christain Cashmir has made movies before, but they've mostly been produced on his own dime. State lawmakers stripped tax incentives for filmmakers, so may of them are left finding creative ways to shoot.
"We try to get real creative with the budge and make things work," said Cashmir.
He's debuting a new web series called BTS at this week's Sunscreen Film Festival. He didn't receive any state help, but he did receive a grant from the St.Pete/Clearwater Film Commission. Commissioner Tony Armer said his office is being proactive about keeping production in the Tampa Bay area.
"We aren't going to sit around for the state to magically come up with a new incentive program we have to be aggressive," said Armer.
He said his office has already offered grants to about ten production projects. He hopes state lawmakers see the value in bringing movie making back to Florida.
"Something like this particular web series that is going to be spending close to six figures locally and have a six figure economic impact in the area that's something we want to support," said Armer.
BTS will debut this weekend at the Sunscreen Film Festival. The project will also show at Cannes next month.
"You can show a whole other group of people what Florida is like, what Tampa is like, maybe they'll want to come film here too," said Cashmir.
