CLEARWATER, Fla. — In another life, David Siracusa was an insurance agent. Now retired, he has turned to filmmaking.
Siracusa wrote, produced, directed, and starred in "The Uncivil War: America Divided," which is coming to theaters soon.
"The story is about two best friends. One is white, and one is black. They never talked politics before, and then darn it all, COVID hits and George Floyd and everything that happened then, and they start talking politics," Siracusa said. "And all of a sudden, they hated each other, and it's like, guys, you all loved each other before what happened to everyone, what happened to us, and it was just tough to watch."
Siracusa said he felt compelled to make the film and wanted to film it across Pinellas County.
"This is where I want to get it done. And I mean, this is beautiful. We shot it at Clear Sky on Cleveland; the place is fantastic," Siracusa said. "We shot at the Ace Hardware in Dunedin and the pier. There are so many beautiful vistas here. And clearly, we have so much natural beauty here. So many more films should be shooting here."
In 2016, state incentives for movie productions ended. Ever since, Florida's reputation as a film-friendly state has faded to black.
Experts told ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska that commercials, Hallmark movies, and Indie films are now the engine keeping the industry afloat.
"The local independent filmmakers are huge for Florida right now; they always have been," John Lux, Executive Director for the non-profit Film Florida, told Paluska. "We're losing literally millions and millions of dollars and jobs and all of these types of things. The goal of Film Florida is to grow and strengthen our industry. And so you do that through marketing, professional development, networking, just trying to get as many projects, jobs, and opportunities here for Floridians as possible."
Lux said the state's scoring of previous legislation made it appear that the incentives were a loss for taxpayers.
"Because they only graded the amount of tax dollars going out versus tax dollars coming in on a statewide level, they didn't take into account it on the local level," Lux said. "And so the industry was branded as a poor return on investment when, in reality, it was just a single piece of legislation that had some challenges. Our industry spends money hand over fist in local areas. But we have figured out how to make at least a one-to-one return on investment."
"How far have we fallen off the map?" Paluska asked Lux.
"About 20 years ago, Florida was in the top 3 in terms of production destinations; we were right up there with New York and California," Lux said.
He continued, "Right now, we're not even in the top 10. We're just not competing with the other states. Even in our region, we're not competing. Florida is the only state in the southeast without an incentive statewide program. We're one of only 15 in the entire country. So when you look at a map of the United States, everything from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast states all have them, especially Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. So, it isn't easy to convince a large-budget project to come to Florida when every state around us has this program, which makes it more financially advantageous to go there. Because in the end, just like any other business, our industry is a business, and people will always go where they get the best bang for their buck."
"I didn't realize that we're one of three states with no incentives, zero," Mark Pentecost, Executive Producer of the"Florida Wild," told Paluska.
Pentecost is filming the movie at his 10,000-acre ranch in Myakka. He is spending more money to shoot it in Florida, as opposed to other more film-friendly states.
"And you go just a little ways away, you're in Georgia, up to 30%, well, that's major money. I wanted to bring Hollywood stars. I wanted to be a big-name cast. And so now I had a choice not to do it or spend the money," Pentecost said. "And I said, You know what? They pioneered in the old days. Let's pioneer now that we're gonna do a movie, prove it, and maybe we get some more incentives for the future."
Pentecost said his team told him not to film it in Florida.
"Our group didn't want to, and the other producers and directors were like, 'Mark, you will get incentives (in other states). You know, you spend 10 million, you get 3 million in incentives. What do you think?' And I'm like, I don't know what I'm thinking, except I wanted it here."
ABC Action News got a behind-the-scenes tour of the movie set and saw firsthand the number of people it takes to assemble a major motion picture.
"What would you say about what you're spending here when you could have gone somewhere else?" Paluska asked.
"I think two things: the value of letting people see Florida and people coming to Florida to do this. There are 250 people on that set right now, and they thank me for paying the price to do a movie here in Florida because people need to see this," Pentecost said. "And, so I think that value along with the jobs. And then if you could feel the spirit of we're doing a little town here called Myakka. And the people have just come around us and said they've been extras; they're helping build sets. The civic pride has been amazing. And they'll never forget this. This will be something they always carry. I was in a movie, and I helped build that set. I think not to have that we're robbing ourselves of beauty and a story that needs to be told."
An indie movie will bring in less money than major Hollywood blockbusters, but some mom-and-pop theater owners are making a profit.
"Financially. It does help us," Chanel Casteel said.
Paluska first profiled Casteel during the pandemic. In 2020, when theaters were closed, Casteel was curious to know if she could survive.
"That was scary. We were shut down for quite a few months," Casteel said.
With more streaming services, Casteel said movie studios are releasing fewer movies for first runs in theaters. So, Independent films are helping her bridge that gap.
"When I don't have enough Hollywood movies to be able to fill all these screens, and I've got an empty theater. Heck, yeah, I'll stick your movie in there. We might not make a lot off of it. But it's still bringing in some income," Casteel said. "We get all these extra people come in, and they buy concessions and everything that gives us money. It's advertising for us because they will post on their social media where they're holding their independent film.'
She continued, "They'll sell tickets to it. So we'll charge them a rental fee, which is the best part: we charge them a rental fee, and they sell their tickets for it. And they usually average about $10 per ticket. Once we meet our budget, which we had to do for the rental and everything else, we give them back whatever's left over. So they're making some money off of their film to be able to sell tickets. 519 So it's almost like we're also helping them because they're using that money for their next project. Because independent filmmakers pay for all that in their pockets, it's not cheap."
Siracusa knows that all too well. He plans to shoot more movies in Pinellas and hopes the state changes its position toward filmmakers. He estimated his budget for the film to be around $300k.
"I was very happy to spend the money on this film because I know it's coming into our community," Siracusa said. "If someone in Tallahassee is listening, please get the incentives here, state of Florida incentives, because we want to shoot your people want to shoot here, but it does help if we can get some money back. Because we are, we're pumping it into the economy. And it's a shame, especially because we want to bring stuff to our city and our local places and help the community."