New Arena (formerly Prairie Surf)

[scottk]

Oklahoma becomes prime destination for TV and movie productions: "Hollywood on the prairie"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahom...n-the-prairie/

[Laramie]

Oklahoma becomes prime destination for TV and movie productions: "Hollywood on the prairie"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahom...n-the-prairie/

Very good crafted article. Let's hope Prairie Surf Media can build its own studio and we see more of our state universities and
colleges follow Oklahoma City Community Colleges (OCCC) with a department offering film & digital production:

OCCC Named a Top Film School in the Nation: https://www.occc.edu/news/2022/top-film-school/

[soonerguru]

Very good crafted article. Let's hope Prairie Surf Media can build its own studio and we see more of our state universities and
colleges follow Oklahoma City Community Colleges (OCCC) with a department offering film & digital production:

OCCC Named a Top Film School in the Nation: https://www.occc.edu/news/2022/top-film-school/

Love the recognition. Hopefully the program will continue to be a leader following the death of Gray Frederickson; he put it on the map.

[caaokc]

https://twitter.com/thelostogle/stat...jiN0ATNQfquXAg doesn’t seem great

[soonerguru]

Wow. There is something off about their constant self promotion. A lot of talk with not much action.

[Pete]

^

I've said from the beginning that Prairie Surf's primary business seems to be charging people for workshops.

You can't deliver quality production with a crew of people with only a few days in a workshop. The two principals of PS are a former writer and a former actress.

The anti-union stuff is troubling because unions are the heart and soul of TV and film. If union workers are excluded as claimed, it will be cheaper but everything is going to suffer in terms of experience and professionalism.

[jn1780]

Oklahoma becomes prime destination for TV and movie productions: "Hollywood on the prairie"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahom...n-the-prairie/

This didn't age well. Not that we couldn't, we just made bad decisions and don't want to actually work with experience professionals in the industry.

[Mott]

Is there any real oversight into the taxpayers monies going to Prairie Surf? Socialism is fine with me, I.e. Maps, but the money needs to be well spent, there needs to honest oversight and accountability, not some con job.

[Laramie]

Would love to see Prairie Surf Media (PSM) become successful in the Film Industry based right here in Oklahoma and attract other film makers.

Once the City of Oklahoma City and the NBA Thunder decide on a new arena (preferable PSM/old Cox Convention Center site) are there buildings at the Fairgrounds were PSM could set up permanent shop and expand their operations.

My opinion the 440 acre Fairgrounds and its buildings could be utilized for more permanent commercial use (like PSM) in addition to the annual State Fair of Oklahoma.

[Jersey Boss]

I thought no one trusted Twitter anymore.

The credability of Twitter is not at issue.

The allegation of putting students into professional positions to avoid union labor is.

There were union issues with Praire last year.

[Jake]

Prairie Surf shouldn't have blocked local workers from joining a union if they wanted to become "successful in the Film Industry based right here in Oklahoma and attract other film makers."

Tulsa King leaving looks bad for Oklahoma's film industry as a whole, but especially for Prairie Surf. Green Pastures Studio sounds like a more legitimate operation.

[Pete]

Attracting businesses that create well-paying jobs involves a ton more than "we are cheaper than anywhere else".

That's a mindset and strategy that only attracts call centers.

You have to have highly skilled professionals to recruit and keep the companies that pay well. And I can tell you that even though the TV and film industry cares about costs, the people making the big decisions care much more about a quality product because the upside of revenues is massive (often hundreds of millions) and that only comes with well-regarded shows and movies.

The percentage of the budget for the production crew is extremely low; a single actor usually makes many multiples of the entire staff. Anyone who makes their business decision on saving pennies is never going to bring much money into the state.

[soonerguru]

A friend of mine who is now an associate producer told me that Green Pastures is the more legitimate operation, and that while she likes them personally, the people at Prairie Surf are mostly big talkers.

I had forgotten about the union-busting move. Wonder if there is an ideological component at work, but I agree with Pete: What a dumb move.

Not sure if this is going to leave a black eye like OKC losing GM, but it's not a good look at all for our nascent film industry.

[chssooner]

The amount of typos in that "Ogle Mole" email scream hit piece to me, but I am just an innocent bystander.

[Mississippi Blues]

The amount of typos in that "Ogle Mole" email scream hit piece to me, but I am just an innocent bystander.

In my anecdotal experience, the amount of people that struggle to write properly despite their prominence in their industry is high enough that it shouldn’t give reason to doubt outside of an official line of communication. If every “leak” was dismissed because of the amount of mistakes in the writing, there would be very little we could trust.

[jn1780]

In my anecdotal experience, the amount of people that struggle to write properly despite their prominence in their industry is high enough that it shouldn’t give reason to doubt outside of an official line of communication. If every “leak” was dismissed because of the amount of mistakes in the writing, there would be very little we could trust.

Makes them more real if you ask me. Their just talking freely and not trying to convince anyone. We live in a day and age where people try to squeeze things into short tweets or tiktoks.

[Dob Hooligan]

Would love to see Prairie Surf Media (PSM) become successful in the Film Industry based right here in Oklahoma and attract other film makers.

Once the City of Oklahoma City and the NBA Thunder decide on a new arena (preferable PSM/old Cox Convention Center site) are there buildings at the Fairgrounds were PSM could set up permanent shop and expand their operations.

My opinion the 440 acre Fairgrounds and its buildings could be utilized for more permanent commercial use (like PSM) in addition to the annual State Fair of Oklahoma.

The fairgrounds stays busy 50 weeks a year. I don’t think Prairie Surf would be a positive

[Pete]

We don't need anonymous emails to know:

1. A big production that specifically chose OKC and Prairie Surf has now decided to leave after their first season
2. There had been problems with the unions and productions at PS for some time; this was documented in the press
3. PS has been pushing paid workshops almost from the day they started and the productions hired at least some of those who had given PS money

I'd be very surprised if they land another big production anytime soon, if ever.

I won't be surprised at all if they end up lobbying for even bigger taxpayer incentives.

[April in the Plaza]

Holt has been awfully silent about this failure. But sure had a lot to say about the show while it was in production.

[Just the facts]

According to the sources I read Stallone just didn't like Oklahoma

[Pete]

According to the sources I read Stallone just didn't like Oklahoma

Link?

[caaokc]

Holt has been awfully silent about this failure. But sure had a lot to say about the show while it was in production.

He hardly ever comments about something negative regarding OKC, and if he does he claims someone else is responsible.

[Bowser214]

I read he didn't care for the heat. We did have a brutal summer last year. Hope we don't have a repeat.

[Pete]

Stallone made one post about it being hot; it was an unusually hot summer almost everywhere last year.

That hardly qualifies as a 'source' that he didn't want to film in Oklahoma.

In fact, he made a bunch of posts like this:

Greetings from the set of “Tulsa King “ I’m in the wonderful state of Oklahoma enjoying every second of it, KeepPunching and go for it every time you can!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc3hU1QJ0ws/

[sooner88]

We don't need anonymous emails to know:

1. A big production that specifically chose OKC and Prairie Surf has now decided to leave after their first season
2. There had been problems with the unions and productions at PS for some time; this was documented in the press
3. PS has been pushing paid workshops almost from the day they started and the productions hired at least some of those who had given PS money

I'd be very surprised if they land another big production anytime soon, if ever.

I won't be surprised at all if they end up lobbying for even bigger taxpayer incentives.

I was at a luncheon where they spoke this week, and they are in the process of lobbying to increase the taxpayer incentive pretty significantly (I want to say it was $80-100mm?). From what they presented, the current incentive in place is very low compared to other states we're in competition with (i.e. Georgia), and Killers of the Flower Moon ate up what little they had left. I know very little about the film industry, but it sounded like they were in over their heads getting started, but are slowly getting things ironed out.

They did say they are in the final negotiation stages to get the Spielberg-helmed Twister sequel, but have had some ups and downs in negotiations. While it's not a recurring TV show, that would be a nice shot in the arm to continue their momentum.