An imposing figure in a snazzy suit and slick sunglasses, Sylvester Stallone sweeps his considering gaze over the unfamiliar plains of Oklahoma.
The Sooner State is touted as a far-off, untapped land of opportunity for the Oscar-nominated icon's character, an aging New York mobster and recently released convict by the name of Dwight "The General" Manfredi, in an early scene from his new streaming series "Tulsa King."
Since the starry new show — Stallone's first lead role in a television series and first collaboration with Academy Award nominee and "Yellowstone" mastermind Taylor Sheridan — is premiering just 18 months after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law a new $30 million tax incentive for TV and film productions, it could be argued that some aspects of "Tulsa King" imitate life.
"As soon as that rebate went live, we went whale hunting," said Rachel Cannon, co-founder and co-CEO of downtown Oklahoma City's Prairie Surf Studios, where much of "Tulsa King" was filmed.
"We started looking for a series, and we wanted the one that made the most sense in Oklahoma. So, it was very intentional to go and grab a show of that scale — and of that size — to really prove out that this industry can exist on a much, much larger scale for television here in Oklahoma. ... To see them breathe life into our studio and use our stages as intended, it was wonderful."
Passed by the state Legislature and inked by Stitt last May, the Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021 was designed to create a more robust film program for the state — and it spurred quick, dramatic growth in the already burgeoning industry.
But with that growth has come growing pains that have several Sooner State filmmakers hoping that legislators will tweak the incentive when the new session starts next year.
How is 'Tulsa King' making a mark ahead of its premiere?
"Tulsa King" is not only the largest scripted television series to be produced in Oklahoma using the incentives under the new Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021, but the Stallone vehicle also is believed to be the largest scripted TV series ever made in the Sooner State.
"I spent 20 years on soundstages specifically doing television shows. ... It was very fulfilling and gratifying seeing Sylvester Stallone and Terence Winter in the hallways here," said Cannon, an Oklahoma native who built an acting career in Los Angeles before returning to her home state a few years ago.
The hotly anticipated crime drama will premiere with two episodes Sunday exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming service, where subsequent episodes will drop weekly on Sundays. Plus, the Paramount Network cable channel will air "Tulsa King's" first two episodes on Nov. 20 following a new installment of Sheridan's smash hit "Yellowstone."
Along with creating "Tulsa King," Sheridan serves as an executive producer alongside Winter, an Oscar nominee and Emmy winner whose previous projects include "The Sopranos,” "Boardwalk Empire" and “The Wolf of Wall Street."
Also listed among the executive producers, Stallone stars as a 75-year-old New York gangster newly released after serving a 25-year prison sentence. He is quickly banished by his former boss' son to Tulsa, where he sets out to establish a new criminal empire in a strange new land.
"For this to be our first big thing here in Oklahoma City, that really validates the Filmed in Oklahoma Act. ... I think it did exactly what we wanted it to do: It created a lot more jobs and a lot more opportunity. We were able to bring in big projects and little projects, and we were able to create a lot more opportunities within the workforce program to educate people to work in this industry," Cannon said.
"'Tulsa King' was literally grabbing people out of Walmart that were making $7 an hour bagging groceries. They pulled them onto a set, and they're getting $34 an hour doing a 16-hour day. … This is the proof of concept."
What changed with the Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021?
The Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021 increased the cap on the state's film rebate program from $8 million to $30 million a year for 10 years and devised a new structure for filmmakers to qualify for the incentive. Productions have to spend more than $50,000 to be considered for the new rebate.
Of the $30 million available under the new incentive, $7.5 million is set aside for projects with total expenditures of less than $7.5 million.
The remaining $22.5 million is designated for productions with total expenditures of $7.5 million or more, like "Tulsa King."
Through the former Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program — also known as the “Compete with Canada Film Act" — prequalified productions received a 35% rebate on qualified labor, goods and services, and those that spent at least $20,000 on Oklahoma music could get a 37% rebate.
The new act created a more involved tiered structure for the incentive: Productions can qualify for a base 20% rebate on qualified Oklahoma expenditures and then gain additional incentive amounts up to 38% for filming in rural areas, creating TV series or multiple movies in Oklahoma, lensing on state soundstages or meeting other qualifications.
"I think we have value in the things that create more sustainable jobs and growth. ... The reason soundstage shows are important is because they create a number of jobs that shows (filmed) on location don't: You think about all the construction and the electric and the rigging," Cannon said. "And television trains people to work in the industry at a different level because it’s repetitive.”
How many productions have used the new incentive, and how many have been turned away?
On the last day of production of his long-awaited sophom*ore feature film, OKC director Kyle William Roberts stood on a green screen stage in Spencer and pondered how much flailing was too much.
Gattlin Griffith, the lead actor of Roberts' upcoming inspirational teen adventure "What Rhymes with Reason," reclined in a curved chair and mimed falling into an abyss for several afternoon takes at Green Pastures Film Studio, a former elementary school that has been converted into a full-service production hub.
It's a far cry from the last day of filming on Roberts' first movie, the 2014 sci-fi coming-of-age indie "The Posthuman Project": A night shoot on location in a real alley off Automobile Alley dragged almost until dawn as Roberts and his small crew struggled to keep a key prop from shattering on the concrete while capturing a crucial action sequence.
"It's just pretty incredible where we've come from 10 years ago — even two years ago. … I can't imagine where we'll be in 10 years," Roberts said during a break in filming "What Rhymes with Reason," one of the projects that qualified for the state's new film rebate.
After the new program started taking applications in August 2021, the Oklahoma Film + Music Office received 77 applications in the first fiscal year. Of those Fiscal Year 2022 applicants, 27 projects were approved for the incentive.
So far in Fiscal Year 2023, which started July 1, 2022, the program has received 95 applications. Of those, 10 productions have been approved for the rebate, although third-quarter applicants have not yet been reviewed, according to an Oklahoma Department of Commerce spokeswoman.
For Roberts, those numbers are impressive but troubling, a reminder that demand for the incentive is well outstripping the program's $30 million annual cap.
"It was bittersweet when I found out we got in: Obviously, it was a huge blessing. But then I also was thinking, 'Man, there's like 20 other films that are not happening right now because they didn't get in,'" Roberts said.
"Obviously, we need to keep growing that so that we can provide more jobs and grow this industry even more, because now a lot of people are going different places — leaving (the state) — when those jobs aren't happening."
How did the new incentive's limits keep an Oklahoma filmmaker from coming home?
It seemed like a touchdown in June when director, actor and writer Brian Presley announced that he was moving the headquarters of his company, P12 Films, from Los Angeles to Tulsa, where he grew up.
It was a move about film, family and football: A 1996 Jenks High School graduate, Presley played on the 1993 state championship team, and his son, Jackson Presley — one of the most sought-after high school quarterbacks in the country, even as a freshman — was eager to follow in his father's footsteps.
In August, though, the family revealed they were staying in California after the filmmaker was unable to tap into his home state's new tax incentive as he hoped.
"I thought by relocating and being an Oklahoma-based company that the chips would fall in our direction. ... But the cards didn't play out that way," Presley told The Oklahoman.
"I know there's a lot of big, high-profile projects coming, and they have a tough job picking who gets it. ... The tax incentives are in high demand, which is good for the state of Oklahoma. That means there's a lot of money being spent in state."
After making his last two outdoorsy historical dramas, "Hostile Territory" and "The Great Alaskan Race," in Colorado, Presley said he is looking to film several upcoming projects — including a Western series in the vein of "Yellowstone" — in Montana.
Although he still hopes to make a project in his home state soon, relocating his business and family to Oklahoma probably isn't happening.
"There's no guarantees with the incentive at the moment ... but I have no ill will towards anybody. We're regrouping and going to make some decisions — like if we're going to be all moving towards Montana — but one of the main things is I want my kids to be settled,” Presley said.
"Everything originates here in L.A., but in today's world, you don't need to live here in order to make movies."
Why is the upcoming legislative session a 'pivotal time' for the state's film incentive?
Back in March — about the time Stallone and his co-stars were starting production on "Tulsa King" — local director Richard Janes was wrapping filming on his upcoming inspirational musical drama "Cricket” at Green Pastures, the film studio he helped build.
In the editing suite where he was working on "Cricket" over the summer, Janes pointed to a whiteboard with a running tally of the number of projects the new incentive program had taken on — like "Cricket" — and the growing number that had been turned down.
"That it's so oversubscribed is a real testament to where Oklahoma has gone but also to the way the industry is. From that standpoint, it's done exactly what it needed to: It's proven that Oklahoma can attract a huge amount of business very, very easily," said Janes, who co-founded Green Pastures as well as the fledgling Oklahoma Motion Picture Alliance.
"This is a great position to be in — but you also don't want this for too long and for people to get the impression that it's a real lottery ticket."
When the legislature reconvenes next year, Janes said he hopes lawmakers will be willing to raise the annual cap beyond the current $30 million and tweak the incentive's structure to make it easier for filmmakers to plan on it — and to ensure that Oklahoma filmmakers who have decided to build their businesses in the state aren't forced to film elsewhere.
"How do we meet the demand in a way that keeps it growing, keeps people coming here, but more importantly than that, has them making long-term investments for the future? Because it's all very well having a TV show or film come in and then leave ... but we need to be qualifying more projects that are focused on employing a large number of Oklahomans and spending a large amount of money on Oklahoma vendors," Janes said.
"I think we are in a pivotal time period, really, where it's 'How much do we really want this? ... Do we want more investment in the state? Are we happy with where it is?' I think everyone's in agreement: We want to attract more investment."
How is the state's new incentive program inspiring other Oklahoma communities?
In Fiscal Year 2021 (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021), the state's film industry created more than 11,000 job opportunities, with a direct fiscal impact of $170.4 million from 32 film and television productions using the state’s previous incentive program, according to the Oklahoma Film + Music Office.
Not only is the new incentive program expected to build on those numbers, but since the Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021 passed, Oklahoma City, Bethany and the Cherokee Nation also have announced their own incentive programs.
Launched in March, theCherokee Nation's $1 million annual incentive landed the tribe an early holiday gift: The first recipient to film entirely within its borders was “A Christmas ... Present,” the anticipated yuletide telefilm starring "Full House" icon Candace Cameron Bure that will debut Nov. 27 on Great American Family.
It's the first project from Bure’s massive new deal with Great American Media, which has her developing, producing and starring in original content across the company’s portfolio.
"Especially with our new virtual production soundstage, people come in and they're blown away. They're like, 'You guys have this here in Oklahoma, in the Cherokee Nation? This could be in L.A.' So, that's really exciting — and we want to keep building that momentum," Jennifer Loren, director of Cherokee Nation Film Office and Original Content, told The Oklahoman.
What's next for the state's film and TV industry as 'Tulsa King' bows?
The blockbuster success of the film and TV industry in states like Georgia and New Mexico has proven that content creators have options outside Hollywood. But Oklahoma isn't the only one trying to tap into that potential: The new Arizona Motion Picture Production Program will start at $75 million in 2023 and grow to $125 million by 2025, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Still, Oklahoma has a head start with a potential blockbuster like "Tulsa King." Stallone's media blitz ahead of Sunday's premiere has put Oklahoma in the Hollywood spotlight, and if the show is renewed for a second season, that means the king — and his court of cast, crew and extras — soon will return to the Sooner State.
"It's really exciting — but it's also really economically smart for our state to get into this business," said Cannon, standing amid pallets of "Tulsa King" furniture and set pieces readied for storage at Prairie Surf Studios.
"I'm really proud that this is our first big show out of the gate. We're just getting started: This is the first of many to come."
