November 25, 2025 • 42 mins
Why Houston? Texas' New State Film Incentives.
Producers Without Borders is proud to present its Hometown Edition podcast with Houston Film Commissioner, Alfred Cervantes. Houston is the birthplace of the company that created the network that has gone global, rooted in the characteristics that define our DNA worldwide: Authenticity, Integrity and Loyalty.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kayvan Mashayekh (00:03):
Hi everyone, uh welcome to Producers Without
Borders.
Our podcast today is fromHouston, Texas, my hometown.
I couldn't be happier andprouder to have my dear friend
Alfred Cervantes, who I've knownfor I want to say umptien
years, but let's say 23 sincechildhood.
And uh I'm very grateful tohave him here.
He is the Houston FilmCommissioner, and he's going to
(00:24):
be talking a lot about the newstate tax incentives here in the
state of Texas, and also theHouston tax incentive.
And everybody always asks me,you know, with all the events
that we do globally and all theconnectivity and all the people
that we bring together fromdifferent walks of life and
different professions that feedinto the ecosystem of producers
without borders in theentertainment business, why have
(00:44):
we chosen Houston?
Well, Houston is the mostimportant city in the world to
me because I everything that Ideveloped as a filmmaker is the
skills, the personality, the uhthe camaraderie, the ability to
bring people together, I learnedright here in my hometown of
Houston, Texas.
So uh, and I couldn't beprouder of this individual, uh
(01:07):
Alfred, who's been with theHouston Film Commission now for
30 years and has done anexemplary job in trying to
promote Houston internationally,to create opportunities for
filmmakers and creatives fromall over the world to come here
and uh engage and and and reallytap into what the city is all
about.
But I'm not gonna say anythingelse anymore.
I'm gonna introduce you toAlfred.
(01:28):
Alfred, take it away from here.
Alfred Cervantes (01:29):
Take it away.
Kayvan, welcome home, by theway.
Thank you.
Um very happy to be here.
Thanks for having me on theProducers Without Borders
podcast.
Um we are here, you are here intown, so we can do the PWB
Houston dinner, which this isthe fourth year uh that we are
doing that here uh in Houston,in addition to all the other
amazing cities that you do yourevent in.
(01:51):
So thank you very much for uhuh doing that.
Kayvan Mashayekh (01:55):
Let's let's jump right in and and and it's
answer my question.
Let's go and find out whyHouston, why is Houston
something that should be onpeople's radar uh regarding
creativity and and in this wholenew uh opportunity where uh we
are engaging in a newbattlefield, so to speak, of
content creation where the thecreators are king.
(02:15):
Uh IP is is the name of thegame now, and if you know how to
control your IP and createcontent, which is very easy now
uh when it comes to uhfilmmakers having access to
resources that they didn't havewhen we started 10, 15 years
ago.
Um so let's go ahead and talkabout that.
Alfred Cervantes (02:32):
Yeah.
Um well um I would say thatthere's always been filmmaking
in Houston, although we've neverbeen really known as a film
town, right?
Um movies have been made uh uhall different places since
movies being started being made,right?
Since the 1920s.
In fact, the firstOscar-winning film, Wings, was
made in Texas.
(02:52):
So they shot around Houston,they shot around San Antonio,
and it was mostly in biplanes,right?
Uh this was like 1929, I think,something like that.
But anyway, uh that was one ofthe first winning film that won
an Oscar for Best Picture.
But uh so there's always been arich history of movies being
made in Texas.
Again, that uh Houston has hadfilmmaking, but we were not
(03:15):
known as a film town.
Now, as you mentioned oralluded to, uh things are
changing and things are a littlebit different than they used to
be, right?
Uh Los Angeles is the filmcenter, has been uh in New York,
a lot of stuff going on there.
But people can make filmsoutside of those areas and make
good pictures.
And so uh the name of the gamelately has been these the
incentives, right?
(03:36):
So um it when I first startedin film in the early 1990s here
in Houston, working on studiolevel projects.
We've had uh feature films inthe early mid-90s.
Some of the famous ones are uhReality Bites, part of Logan's
Run.
We had a part of part of Apollo13.
Uh these are some of the filmsthat I worked on in the early
mid-90s, but uh that was beforeincentives were a thing.
(03:59):
And now uh a big component ofwhere a producer will select to
film is what does your state andwhat does your city have to
offer to help uh go on locationand film there, right?
So it's kind of a competitionwith a lot of different places
now.
Now, Houston, as the fourthlargest city in the country, we
have everything you need,basically.
(04:20):
We have a great infrastructure.
Uh sometimes I forget how luckywe are here in Houston that you
can fly directly to 70different countries from our
airport, our internationalairport, which is astounding
almost, right?
So um it's incredible.
Um, but we also have a lot ofdifferent looks.
We're 45 miles from the Gulf ofMexico.
So we have beach, we have pineywoods, we have flat farmland,
(04:40):
we have all these looks within a60-mile radius that uh for
people to tell their stories.
And now, lately, starting thispast September 1st, we have a
very competitive state levelincentive and a new local
incentive.
So that's where where we areand we're excited about that.
Kayvan Mashayekh (04:56):
Yeah, tell us a little bit more about that
because when I I was not able toavail myself of those
incentives when uh I made myfilm here, which is how I met
you.
I ironically, when I waslooking for a distributor, uh
you had uh introduced me to thisamazing guy.
Uh his name is Charles Acostafrom Arrival Pictures, who ended
up becoming not just my friend,but my distributor for uh uh a
(05:18):
film that had a single printrelease that went out to five
different prints in 53 weeksacross the United States, and it
was all because of you and thatintroduction that you made.
So you are uh the in theembryonic stages of how PWB was
created, it was these kinds ofconnections that uh that stood
the test of time through thefriendships and the uh
acknowledgement of the peoplethat are worthwhile, that are
(05:38):
trusty, that are authentic, thathave integrity, that have
loyalty, are that's exactly howthe genesis of PWB was first
planted in this uh basicallylike this desert uh of landscape
of when you're trying toconnect with people in an
entertainment business, but youdon't know if they're legitimate
or not.
So and and to and to alsofurther what you're saying, you
(06:00):
know, the the fact that thiscity has 90 over 90 consulates
uh here, that means it's anincredibly international city.
So for a guy who's createdProducers Without Borders, this
is incredibly uh uhopportunistic for me to be able
to understand that there arepeople from all over the world
here that I can, you know, getinformation regarding what is it
(06:22):
like in that culture?
What's the language?
What's it what what are thepower how do those people
actually uh fit into the the thethis whole matrix that I'm
trying to create of bringingpeople not just from the outside
of this country to hear to touh to avail themselves of all
the great things that we havehere, but also learn from them
and take our things and and andshoot it over there.
(06:43):
You know what I'm saying?
So it's it's this kind of across-promotional thing that I'm
I'm working on um in in andletting people understand what
uh what we're doing.
So uh please tell us a littlebit more about what the exactly
the uh state tax incentives arein in Texas and also the the
bump that you get now inHouston.
Alfred Cervantes (07:01):
Okay.
Um I'll do that, but first Iwant to uh let the audience know
that this podcast is beingrecorded by Charles Acosta, who
you met was your filmdistributor so many years ago,
uh, who now owns a mediaservices company and Texas in
Texas and moved into the podcastrecording space.
So uh he's uh Charles is stillin production.
We're still all friends thismany years later.
(07:28):
You mean it's not his AI sitting over there! No,it's the real thing.
I mean it's the real thing.
I can attest to that.
He's the real deal, and uh for sure.
And uh again, way back whenwhen I referred him to you, and
still uh, of course, I would uhrefer him to anybody looking for
information and help andresources and things like that.
So uh as somebody that's beenin uh the media Texas space for
many, many, many years, right?
So anyway, but going back to acouple things.
(07:49):
One is um this business thatwe're in is a lot about
networking and makingconnections, right?
You don't make a film alone.
Um, I have been called this byother people is like a connector
because uh something that I doregularly is put people together
uh because uh you want to findtalented people and put them
(08:10):
together to hopefully makethings uh here.
Uh, or honestly, they'll makesomething else, but possibly
somewhere else too.
But still, um uh I've learnedthis over the years.
The best thing I can do as afilm commissioner is help a
filmmaker, help a director getas close to their original
vision as possible, becausefilmmaking is nothing but a
compromise from when you writeit to when you make it to when
(08:31):
you edit it.
You're giving on all the uhreality things that set in, your
budget, uh talent availability,all these other things.
And so you want to get as closeto your vision as possible.
So over the many years I'vebeen doing this, that's my goal
is to help somebody achieve whatthey're setting out to achieve
in their storytelling, becausethey should be that's what they
should be most passionate about,is that story they're telling.
(08:52):
So that's one thing that Istrive for is to uh put people
together who can make thathappen, make it a re
realization.
And so that the other thing isum, which I'll get to now is the
state incentives, right?
So um way back when uh Texas'sfirst incentive program was the
2007-2009 legislative session.
(09:14):
Back then we were spending alot of time educating our
representatives in Austin onwhat the film industry is again
up against uh with ourneighboring states and Canada at
that time and a lot of otherplaces where we did not have uh
an incentive to attract studiolevel production, right?
So we spent years with uhstarting organizations and all
(09:34):
this educating ourrepresentatives that we are
losing uh Texas stories to ourneighboring states, uh Louisiana
and New Mexico, but then itstarted to be Canada and other
places.
And so uh over the many yearssince 2007-2009 session, um the
Texas the state uh governmenthas assigned the Texas Film
Commission a certain amount ofmoney to use as rebate incentive
(09:57):
money or grant incentive money.
Um, the problem before thisyear was that the amount of
money they were giving them hadfluctuated wildly every two
years.
So even two sessions ago, uh,the Texas Film Commission was
given $43 million split over atwo-year biennium, and the Texas
Film Commission ran out ofincentive money 14 months into a
(10:19):
24-month program.
So, from for for that manymonths, the remainder of those
months, productions that wereTexas stories went to other
states that had a bottomlessbucket of motion picture tax
credits to offer.
Such as Georgia.
So such as Georgia.
I I know I don't like sayingtheir name too often, the state
name of the state.
Uh but yes, that is correct.
So, but actually that one wentto a different state, which I'm
(10:42):
not gonna name, but um, butanyway, we did lose production
in the state because we ran outof incentive money.
Now, what's amazing and justhappened this year is that the
state has committed to givingthe Texas Film Commission $300
million split every two yearsover a two-year period for the
next 10 years.
And that's a game changer forour state.
(11:04):
Um, it's the most money they'veever allocated.
And giving the Texas FilmCommission that longevity, we
are now a state that televisionseries can consider as a viable
location because they know ifthey do a season one here of a
scripted TV series, if it'ssuccessful, they can go on and
do five more seasons or sevenmore seasons, right?
So they can guarantee theythey'll know that our state has
(11:26):
money to accommodate thatnarrative television series,
where in the past and recentyears, some narrative scripted
television shows picked up andleft the state because they were
out of incentive.
Kayvan Mashayekh (11:36):
So that this brings up something very
interesting to me because uh Iwant to no, I mean, because this
it it comes up and I want to beable to understand it better
because I don't.
I mean, of course, the mostfamous person in Texas right now
that that is availingthemselves of this incentive is
uh Taylor Sheridan and and thewonderful series that he does.
Uh, you know, they'readdictive.
And and and it and if he tapsinto this, how much of it really
(12:00):
is left for other filmmakerswhen when you think about it,
it's a one one and a halfbillion dollars over ten years,
correct?
Correct.
So 150 million a year.
So if he uses up, let's say 100million, there's only 50
million left?
Is that how it works?
Or please educate me because Ijust want to kind of know how
much of that is uh ourfilmmakers, independent
filmmakers, able to tap into andwhat's the procedure to go
(12:22):
about tapping into those funds.
Alfred Cervantes (12:24):
Sure.
The uh the new percentages arealso something that's very
attractive because uhpreviously, previously to
September 1st of this year, themaximum percentage you can ask
for back from the state of Texaswas 22.5%.
That was the highest you canget with um your baseline
percentage back plus someuplifts that were available.
Now the highest percentage aproducer can get uh back from
(12:47):
the state of Texas is 31%.
So uh a much bigger number thanwe've ever had before.
Now, if you are a producer thatuh spends 1.5 million or more
in the state of Texas on yourproduction, um, then you can ask
for a baseline back of 25% backfrom the state of Texas.
(13:07):
And on top of that, there are anumber of uplifts that you can
add to that to bring the numberup to 31%.
And the uplifts are uh I'm letme see if I can remember all of
them.
There's like six or sevenuplifts.
One of them is that if you do acertain percentage of your
filming in a r in a ruralcommunity that has 300,000 or
less residents, you can ask foran extra 2.5% back from the
(13:30):
state.
If you hire 5% of your castercrew that's U.S.
Armed Service veterans, you canask for an extra 2.5% back from
the state of Texas.
If you work with an instituteof higher education by hiring
students as interns or PAs orsomething like that, uh then you
can ask for an extra 2.5% backfrom the state of Texas.
If you film in what's deemed anunder you underutilized area
(13:53):
around the state of Texas, youcan ask for an extra 2.5% back.
If you are considered to be, asdeemed by the Texas Film
Commission, a faith-based film,you can ask for an extra 2.5%
back.
If you are doing a story thatrelates to Texas heritage or
Texas history, you can ask foran extra 2.5% back.
If you are, I believe this isone of them, if you are deemed
to be a family-friendly film,you can ask for an extra 2.5%
(14:16):
back.
And then the final one, allthose are 2.5%, but the final 1%
is if you're a production thatcommits to spending a certain
percentage of yourpost-production budget in the
state of Texas, you get an extra1% back.
And that's where the one comesfrom in the 31%, right?
So all those uplifts arestackable on top of the baseline
25% for a maximum of 35%, 31%.
Kayvan Mashayekh (14:39):
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.
That is chat Alfred GP,whatever.
Alfred Cervantes (14:43):
Oh my gosh.
Kayvan Mashayekh (14:44):
That isn't the best explanation I've ever
heard in the most most detailedmanner.
That's very impressive, Alfred.
But I want to ask yousomething.
So when they uh when a when afilmmaker submits their budget,
uh, what's the time frame fromthe time they submit their
budget to the time just we'llwe'll ballpark this from the
then the when they go intoproduction after the production
ends, what's a time period wherethey can get their money back?
(15:06):
If they have all their ducks ina row, so to speak.
Right.
Because I think that's whatproducers are always concerned
about.
Okay, well, we did everythingwe could.
Why is there a delay in gettingour money back from the state,
right?
And so that's always been achallenge because producers talk
and they they they they willscram if they if if if a state
doesn't act quickly because theyhave debt to consider and you
know the rest.
Alfred Cervantes (15:27):
So, the states out there that have a
resellable, transferable taxcredit system, some of them have
a backlog of years for likebrokering those credits and
getting the money back, right?
So I've heard that about uhsome other states that operate
on that tax credit mechanism.
So um, what Texas does, how itworks in Texas, I should say, is
(15:48):
that it's a it's a grant, theycall it a grant.
I say it's actually a rebatebecause how it works in Texas,
if you intend to make yourproject in Texas, you get into
the queue with the Texas FilmCommission by submitting your
your initial information.
And it's a first come, firstserve uh program.
So um, and it can never be tooearly to get into their queue.
(16:08):
You can actually apply forstate incentive monies um 180
days before principalphotography.
So you can begin the process180 days before principal
photography, but no less thanfive days before uh principal
photography.
So you do have to uh have asubmit your information.
I would suggest having ameeting with them to make sure
(16:30):
that you have all your materialssubmitted.
And then it still could takemuch longer for you to receive
your acceptance letter into theprogram.
But once you receive thatacceptance letter, you know
you're going to get backwhatever you whatever your
qualified spend is.
And it could be, it couldfluctuate.
Even though you're eligible for31%, after you make your after
(16:50):
you come here, you spend yourmoney, you may only qualify for
like 28% back because maybe noteverything qualifies as in-state
spend, meaning that um they'regonna give you money back on
Texas-based crew that you hire,Texas-based cast that you hire,
and Texas-based companies thatyou use as vendors.
That's what you're gettingmoney back on.
Um so if you use Amazon toorder things, you don't get
(17:13):
money back on that.
Uh, if you use an airline um uhcompany that's not based in
Texas, you don't get money backon that.
So again, it's all based onTexas spend.
Kayvan Mashayekh (17:23):
Yeah, well, yeah, full disclosure, United
Airlines is our sponsor as ourbrand partner.
So that's considered, I guessthat's considered Texas-based
because it's a very importantthing.
Well, actually, no, they're inChicago now.
Yeah, they're in Chicago now.
If we use United, that's that'sthat doesn't matter.
Alfred Cervantes (17:37):
That doesn't count.
I think it's American andSouthwest, I believe.
I see.
So um, but uh but again,anything that's a Texas-based
company, whatever you spend,you're eligible to get money
back on that.
And what they're doing now withthis new program is they are
hiring a lot of new people towork at the Texas Film
Commission.
I think they're hiring sixadditional people just for the
(17:57):
incentive department becausetheir goal now is with this
brand new program that justbecame effective September 1st.
Their goal is for futureproductions that that film in
the state and are eligible andaccepted to the incentive
program, they want to getproducers a check back between
six and nine months after theyturn their books in, which is
pretty fast.
Kayvan Mashayekh (18:18):
If you um I'm sure there's a lot of like
minutiae in the details andstuff on, and and that there's
all these devil in the detailsbecause they'll they'll be
scraping through theseagreements to make sure that
they're complying with the withthe with the law.
And uh my question is like, forexample, uh, you know, if if a
Texas-based company, they'reusing a Texas-based company and
that Texas-based company turnsaround and uses flights from
different airlines, what happensthen?
(18:39):
I mean, they can still get theincentive if if they're using if
they're using a Texas-basedcompany or not.
Um Because it's if if the ifthe vendor that they're using is
a Texas-based company and thosethat vendor subs out to get the
get tickets, is that acceptableor not?
Alfred Cervantes (18:53):
Oh, that's a great question.
Um, and like you justmentioned, there's um there's uh
minutiae points to this, right?
My suggestion would be when uhas a producer, if you're head s
heading towards making a featurefilm in Texas, have a meeting
with the Texas Film Commissionand ask all these questions.
But but very basically, um youare eligible to get money back
on Tex whatever you spend withTexas-based companies.
(19:16):
That's the very basic incentiveprogram.
Yeah.
Kayvan Mashayekh (19:19):
Um so let's let's go ahead and uh uh is
there any a website or somethingthat you want to kind of uh let
people know how they can getall this information very
easily?
And also not only not only justfor the Texas side, from the
Houston side, because theHouston side also is is the
additional bump that you weretalking about where you so
eloquently stated the the twoand a half percents that led up
to the eleven percent, Ibelieve, right?
(19:39):
What is that what is it that wekicked up to the thirty-one
percent.
Alfred Cervantes (19:42):
Oh, all the two and a half bumps uh with the
state office, right.
Kayvan Mashayekh (19:45):
I just want to make sure that the the audience
that's listening to this, ifthey're curious, where could
they go and get this informationother than like you know
googling it and sells, but Ijust want them to Right.
Alfred Cervantes (19:53):
Well, we're very easy to find.
It's filmhouston.com.
Okay.
Filmhouston.com.
Filmhouston.com.
Filmhouston.com.
I want you to wake up in themiddle of the night saying
filmhouston.com.
Kayvan Mashayekh (20:08):
I want you to wake up in the middle of the
night and say pwbnetwork.org,but hey, you know, I don't I
doubt you do that either also.
Alfred Cervantes (20:15):
Um if I can uh chime on or go on a little bit
longer and and talk about thelocal incentive because that's a
brand new thing as well.
Uh we knew the new state levelincentive was coming, so we've
been laying the groundwork for acouple of years now to have a
local incentive that producerscan use in conjunction with the
state incentive, or they can useit else as standalone as well.
(20:36):
So we just announced a new Cityof Houston area local incentive
for narrative feature films andnarrative television where it's
a very basic incentive wherewe're going to give a producer
who's making a narrative featureor a narrative scripted series
uh 10% back of what they spendwithin a 60 mile radius of City
(20:57):
Hall Houston, between zero and60 miles on local cast, local
crew, and local vendors.
So similar to the state one,but this is strictly for 60 mile
radius of City Hall Houston.
We're going to give a producer10% back on qualified those
qualifying items with a maximumback per project of 100,000 back
per project.
So if you are eligible for thatfull 100,000, that means you
(21:20):
spent a million dollars betweenzero and 60 miles of City Hall
Houston making your narrativefeature film or your narrative
scripted series.
And so that's something we justannounced a few weeks ago.
And there are we already havetwo projects that wrapped up
this fall that took advantage ofit.
And we have two more that uh wehave sent applications to.
So it's um uh already beingwell received, and these are
(21:43):
qualifying projects in themillions of dollars, but they
know that they can do it here uhcost effectively, and also we
have this new local incentive asan extra bump for producers as
well.
Kayvan Mashayekh (21:53):
This brings me to another uh subject matter,
which is the microdramas thatyou're hearing a lot about
recently, especially in the newHollywood Reporter, which is, by
the way, our other brandpartner for this.
Um there's an article therethis this week about microdramas
and how much money is goinginto microdramas, which are
basically feature-length filmsthat are chopped up into
two-minute segments.
And that's uh is does do youthink something like that would
(22:16):
qualify?
Because originally it is afeature-length film that is
being shot.
But it the format is on avertical.
Alfred Cervantes (22:22):
Right.
Uh, because everyone has the uhuh uh an amazing device in
their pockets these days and umuh they film, you know, you can
film uh video vertically andtell the story, and people watch
videos on their phoneregularly.
I mean, things have changed,right?
Um we just were approachedrecently for our first vertical
uh program, and yes, we willtreat it like a feature film uh
(22:45):
because it's a scripted series,and we will treat it like a
scripted series or a featurefilm.
And so they would qualify ifthey spend a certain amount,
like our local incentive uh toget to qualify for our local
incentive, you have to uh spendat least $500,000 on your
production within that zero to60 miles.
So anything $500,000 or moreyou can qualify to get money
(23:08):
back on.
And then the state filmcommission, the threshold to um
apply for their state incentiveis you have to spend at least
$250,000 in the state of Texasto get their minimal amount,
which would be a baseline of 5%,but it can go up from there
with those stack of the code.
Kayvan Mashayekh (23:24):
That's interesting because I mean
microdramas are they they can umI I know the budgets because uh
one of our members is is a veryprolific producer in that
field.
Uh and she's done like 112movies in this area.
Uh so she she's told me that uhthey can they can range
anywhere between 150,000 up to700,000.
And the the way they do the700,000 budgets is they stack
(23:48):
the series to it comes, it'slike a a series of films that
that's like a version like uh uhseason one, season two.
But it's not it's not a it'snot a reality series, but it's a
film that's split into twosegments.
Yeah.
I guess something like thatcould cooperate.
But but uh these are all issuesthat I think that would come up
uh uh when they have theapproach the uh That's exactly
(24:09):
right.
Alfred Cervantes (24:09):
I'm working with producers right now that um
so we love working withindependent filmmakers, we love
working with first-time featurefilmmakers, which we've had a
number of really good films madein Houston last year that are
making the festival circuit thisyear uh really, really well
done.
And their budgets were, youknow, around a million or
something like that.
But uh one of the producersrecently uh I always ask what
(24:30):
your target budget is to see howwe can help.
And uh one of them, theirtarget budget was just under our
threshold.
So um I'm hoping they come upwith more, you know, we we uh
with a little bit more money tomake their project because we do
have to.
Um our incentive program, likeany incentive program, is
considered to benefit uh or forworkforce development, right?
(24:50):
So we want to um enticeprojects with a certain budget
so they will hire qualified crewand train crew too, right?
That's a big, that's a big umuh a big effort on any of these
incentive programs is haveconsistent sizable production.
So you're training crew to workon these sizable productions.
And that's where we're at rightnow, really, here in Houston,
is uh we've had regularproduction of projects between
(25:13):
two and three million, and nowwe have crew that's used to
working on the these type, theselevel projects.
The biggest one in the arearecently was a $10 million
project.
So uh and they hired a lot ofcrew out of Houston as well.
So we are building our crewbase in the the with features of
those budget levels.
But yes, we want a project likethe the example you just uh put
(25:33):
out there is that if they do aseries of these um uh narrative
scripted verticals, if theirbudget's 700,000, then yes,
we're gonna treat it like afeature film or a regular
scripted series.
Kayvan Mashayekh (25:44):
So what does it not include?
Because I'm it's myunderstanding uh their uh
reality series do not qualify,correct?
Alfred Cervantes (25:50):
On the state level, if if a producer is
utilizing the state levelincentive, reality TV does
qualify.
Okay.
Uh you can be making a lot ofdifferent types of projects,
scripted tel narrative TV,reality television, of course,
independent uh feature films, uha number of different types of
things.
Even the state incentive moneyis also available to video game
(26:11):
developers, believe it or not.
So it's not just for the motionpicture industry, but it's for
like media production industriesand video game development
falls under that as well.
Now, our local incentive isstrictly for scripted narrative
projects, features, and scriptednarrative television series.
And the reason is that um herein Houston, we have an ongoing
(26:31):
commercial market, we have anongoing reality TV market, and
uh we don't need to bolsterthose areas.
Not that we don't need to, butwhere we've been bringing up uh
the rear in Texas as far asproductions is the scripted uh
feature world and the scriptedtelevision world.
So we want to um have somethingto entice those types of
productions.
Kayvan Mashayekh (26:51):
Right.
And you can find out all aboutthat on filmhouston.com because
I've been told that that's thewebsite to go to.
But anyway, uh that being said,uh I wanted to get your
thoughts about what type ofmovies would you'd like to see
come to Houston.
I mean, this is a very uhsubjective thing.
I remember since I've known youfor so long, your favorite film
(27:12):
that was shot in Houston wasTerms of Endearment.
Yeah, that's true.
So I mean, you know, and youknow, Hollywood's of course
changed a lot, and that youknow, the the but that doesn't
mean a uh uh an independentcan't come up with a storyline
like that that could be shot inRiver Oaks or, you know,
somewhere, you know, around townin memorial area, whatever,
around the park or and and havethat kind of depth.
(27:34):
What what kind of move whatkind of movie would make you
very, very excited about AlfredCervantes being with the Houston
Film Commission for 30 years,like wow, man, this is the movie
that I saw that I'm happy tohave helped them get this one
off the ground on a personallevel because it resonated with
you.
Alfred Cervantes (27:52):
I tell you what, it's it's from uh again
doing this for so long, um, Ihave learned a number of things.
Of course, one is that ifyou're a producer worth your
salt, you can make a movieanywhere with anything if you're
driven enough to tell thatstory, right?
So I love meeting filmmakersthat are passionate about the
story they're telling.
A recent one, it was which wasnot a big film at all.
(28:13):
Um, it's a film that was filmedjust south of Houston in
Dickinson League City area ofHouston, that was filmed in the
summer of 2024, and it premiereduh the first week of June of
this year, 2025, and it w at theTribeca Film Festival in New
York, and it won the TopNarrative Award uh at Tribeca
(28:33):
Film Festival.
Now, when the programmers wereintroducing this film, they let
the audience know that for theirnarrative feature category,
they get 5,000 entries.
They whittle it down to 12contenders, and this film that
was filmed in Houston won theTop Narrative Award, narrative
award of the Tribeca FilmFestival.
So those are pretty big odds,right?
So the movie's called CharlieBird.
(28:55):
It's a debut feature filmmakernamed Libby Ewing.
She directed it.
But Samantha Smart, Sam Smart,she's the writer of the
screenplay.
She is the producer of theproject, Charlie Bird, and she's
the lead actor in the movieCharlie Bird.
And it's about a musictherapist that works in a
hospital.
She forms a bond with a teenageteenager patient, a young lady,
(29:16):
and it's a drama.
Um it's it's really a drama.
It's not really a dramedy.
There's some funny moments init, but it's really a drama.
But it's it's been being beenvery well received on the
festival circuit and very welldone for a debut feature.
Um, she's working on her nextproject here, and I uh got a
really nice note from Libby theother day because we screened it
here in Houston recently.
(29:36):
And again, it's been playingall over the country, and it
will be out soon, so people willbe able to stream it.
But I like a good movie, right?
Uh that that's a uh story welltold.
Another film that is on thefestival circuit this year is a
story about a male nurse who isoverworked and tired, and he
makes a mistake with a patient,and he can't really recall if he
(29:58):
actually made a mistake.
Or if it was something that thepatient did or whatever.
It's called Do No Harm.
And it's kind of a thriller.
And that's been playing allover the country as well as a
film about a nurse, also.
They just so happen to be aboutmedical professionals.
Houston is known for a numberof things.
We are known for as Space City,Johnson Space Center.
We have the biggest medicalcenter in the world here.
(30:21):
It's not surprising that thesetwo filmmakers created these
stories around medicalprofessionals here in our city
because it's such a big industryhere as well.
And we had two other movies.
Of course, a great one comingout soon is called Love You Bum,
a feature documentary about theuh Houston Oilers football
coach uh uh Bum Phillips, andthat'll be out later at the end
(30:41):
of this year.
Uh, you know, and in this film,uh I actually learned something
about my city, which is aboutBum Phillips, that he was kind
of, once you see the film, yourealize he was kind of the
original Ted Lasso as a coachfor the Houston Oilers.
It's an amazing story that Ididn't, I was a you know, I was
a tween, I think, when they werefamous, uh, the Oilers and
going through their heyday.
But I learned a lot fromwatching this uh feature
(31:04):
documentary.
So so there's been a number ofgood films coming out of the
Houston market recently that areplaying in notable festivals,
wing it winning awards, and willbe on streaming soon.
And the goal again is to umwith these incentives, the state
level incentives and localincentive, is to help tell
stories that come out ofHouston, right?
Kayvan Mashayekh (31:21):
Let's not forget there are some great
Houston filmmakers that came outof Houston, too.
Not necessarily have have theymade their movie in in the city
of Houston, or but you know,their footprint around the world
is, you know, very well um umrecognized, you know.
Uh Richard Linklater, uh WesAnderson.
These are Houston filmmakers.
Um and Tracy Lehman, I believe,is uh Tracy Lehman.
(31:44):
Tracy Lehman, whose film wasabsolutely beautiful.
Bob Trevino likes it.
And once again, it was you andCharles that, you know, uh were
kind enough to invite me to herher uh party, her after party at
South by Southwest, and sheended up winning the festival.
And I thought it was such abeautiful, heartfelt story that,
(32:05):
you know, with this incrediblygifted filmmaker who who has a
very international backgroundand you know, who had suffered
so much uh, you know, personaltragedy in her life, and she was
able to put together thisbeautiful story that you could
see was like, where did thisstory come from?
You know, that's that's thebeautiful thing about Houston.
And it's the intangible thatnot a lot of people talk about.
(32:27):
Houstonians are are verygiving, they're very um uh
thoughtful, they're veryconscientious, the ones that
I've had the privilege and beenblessed to to know for so many
years, uh from my advisory boardmember Arturo Chavez to all the
way down to uh you know, thepeople that I've met through
years and years of friendshipsfrom law school and college and
(32:49):
high school and junior high andall that.
It's incredible because you yourealize where these stories
come from are have a humanelement that is fully ingrained
in the DNA of the city, which isthe authenticity, integrity,
and and loyalty that I look forin our members at PWB.
Now, one of the things I alsowanted to mention about that is
the fact that even though theydidn't they were not able to
(33:12):
make their films here beforebecause those incentives were
not available, perhaps this isan opportunity for them to
revisit that um and understandthat you know they there is more
to the city now that they hadskipped over because of some
reason that wasn't uh like forexample, Tracy's film uh had to
go out of state at the time.
I believe it went to the stateof Kentucky.
(33:33):
I I'm not sure exactly.
Alfred Cervantes (33:35):
I wasn't gonna name the state, but whatever.
Kayvan Mashayekh (33:37):
I mean, I I I'm I'm a little bit more open
than you are, but uh I'm tryingto understand because I I I'm
trust I'm simply trying toeducate myself and and and
finding out that the reason whythese filmmakers aren't able
weren't able to do it because itwasn't available.
It's not because of the peoplethat don't want them here.
Because people are very kind,they're very open.
When you come home from comecome to Texas, the first thing I
(33:59):
always notice is people don'tsay, you know, what are you
gonna do for me?
It's the exact opposite.
What can I do for you?
Well, it is that reversepsychology that's at play the
moment you meet somebody fromthe state of Texas, especially
in Houston where I grew up, thatthat really opens doors that,
you know, uh that's anunquantifiable incentive.
And I don't think you talkabout that enough, Alfred.
Alfred Cervantes (34:22):
Well, um I uh let me talk about Tracy just
very briefly because TracyLehman is one of my favorite
filmmakers.
I've known her I've seen all ofher short film work that she
did over the years.
She's my favorite type offilmmaker in that if she tells
me she's gonna make a project,she gets it done, no matter
what, right?
Um and yes, she did go toDifferent State for her debut
(34:42):
feature, which is for youraudience, if you want to see a
great film, Bob Trevino likesit.
Uh it's streamable, you canfind it on all the platforms,
and it has a great rating onRotten Tomatoes.
Uh, but it's a wonderful filmthat everybody that sees it
really loves it.
And now she's writing otherscripts that, you know,
filmmakers write stories aboutwhere they're from, right?
Because over the past fewyears, I was meeting with Tracy
(35:06):
about this project, and she didgo to a different state strictly
for that state's incentives.
And what she learned was isthat even though the particular
state she chose uh had a uhdecent incentive, she had to
bring in more people than shethought and really did uh kind
of offset the incentive theywere offering because they
didn't have a crew base, right?
(35:26):
So you need to go to a marketthat does have a crew base where
you can save that incentivemoney that you're being promised
anyway, right?
So she told me, um relayed thatstory afterwards, but still um
it's a great film.
I would suggest it to anyone towatch.
But uh we're still love Tracy.
She's a proud Houstonian, shedoes spend a lot of time in LA,
of course, but we want her tomake her next film here in
(35:47):
Houston.
And exactly right, now we haveuh local incentives uh for, you
know, it's a business, right?
It's a business.
Kayvan Mashayekh (35:54):
You use uh Tracy as an example.
There's a lot more to Tracyalso.
Like the fact that, you know, II know women come from reading
about her history, she went toMoscow, learned how to speak
Russian, and she spent sevenyears or six or seven years
there.
It's incredible.
So this is the this is, Ithink, what Houston lacks the
ability to take somebody locallyand project them
internationally to make peopleunderstand that people like that
(36:17):
exist in Houston.
They come from Houston.
And so if you want to make afilm in Houston, we're not just
a bunch of dumb rednecks.
I'm sorry.
I mean, I'm just telling you.
I mean, I'm I mean, I used tobe known as the Persian cowboy,
whatever.
I mean, I I grew up in anothercountry.
I mean, I was born in anothercountry, but I came here as a
young man that that you know,what where you're trying to
assimilate and and understandwhat this culture is all about.
(36:40):
And yeah, you get roughed up abit, but at the end of the day,
you realize that people in thiscity value loyalty, integrity,
and authenticity.
That's the only thing thatmatters.
And these filmmakers have allof those characteristics that
you're talking about, the WesAndersons, the Richard Link
ladies, because you see the wmovies that they make and they
have international impact.
(37:00):
So I think that if we projectan image uh of our hometown in a
way that um that has uh has thepromise of the greatest social
impact, it's the the the way youcan do that is to champion
them, whether they make theirfilm in Houston or not, because
they are from Houston.
And you are all about thegreatest things that this the
(37:21):
city can then offer filmmakersfrom outside.
And I think uh we're coming upto the end of this podcast.
So if you have any questionsfor me, Mr.
Cervantes, I'll be happy toanswer them.
Alfred Cervantes (37:34):
Oh, it's my turn?
Yes, it is.
Kayvan Mashayekh (37:35):
Yeah, you have one minute.
Alfred Cervantes (37:42):
Um I know you've done PWB at all the
amazing festivals around theworld.
So um for next year, 2026, isthere are there any new cities
you're adding to your lineup?
Kayvan Mashayekh (37:52):
I would love to do Mexico City.
Mexico City is uh somethingthat uh is a dream of mine to
do.
I've I am guilty as charged.
I've never been to Mexico City,but I've heard so many great
things about it.
I have the I know that theyhave a thriving film community,
they have incredible talent, uhbeautiful people, and uh it's uh
it was brought up to me by bythe suggestion, it was brought
(38:16):
up to me by you and my advisoryboard member, uh Arturo Chavez.
So, you know, yes, I would liketo do it there.
Hong Kong is another city, um,that I'd like to to Baku,
Azerbaijan is another one, uh,Istanbul, Turkey.
These are all places that, youknow, if we feel that there is
enough interest and and uh andquite frankly, sponsorship that
(38:37):
is going to help us do a qualityevent there, then we are going
to put it on our calendar.
But but the thing about PWBthat you gotta understand, it's
not about the events.
The events are just refuelingstops for the most important
thing about the network, whichis finding what I call the
Dunbar number.
The Dunbar number is 150 peoplethat you can find that in your
(38:58):
in your circle uh of people thatcan put things together that
nobody else can.
And it's based on a Britishanthropologist's uh analysis.
His name is Robin Dunbar, heteaches at Oxford, and he had
written about it was writtenabout him uh in a book called uh
The Tipping Point by MalcolmGladwell about two twenty twenty
twenty-five years ago orsomething.
(39:19):
And in it he states that theneocortex, your your mind can
only handle, as a human being, acertain number of relationships
where you can socially engagewith people and be active
mentally, physically,psychologically, socially, and
based on the feudal system ofcommunities working together to
get things done.
So your Dunbar number it reallyis a basically an onion layer
(39:39):
that you can peel, but the coreis what you the is your capacity
to engage and socialize andreact and and be involved in
those people's lives because youdon't have a lot of time left.
We none of us have a lot oftime left.
And as we get older, that timecollapses and the value and the
purpose of those relationshipsare enhanced.
(40:00):
So your ability to be able todo things with your group, with
your network, becomes a lot moreimportant.
You don't want to waste time.
So this is uh this is what Iwas uh I've always been focused
on with PWB.
And hopefully as we engage andwe go to these other cities that
you know I mentioned, if ithappens, you want to find those
(40:20):
kind of capable individuals thatare understand that the ethos
of what we're trying to get at.
Alfred Cervantes (40:25):
And I want to say thank you for always being a
champion of Houston and doingPWB Houston because I have
always felt that Houston doesbelong uh right beside Paris,
London, New York City, uh allthese great cities, because
again, we as you pointed out,we're a very international city
that uh in my travels in thepast number of years, not only
(40:45):
attending PW events in othermajor cities, but just in my
travels, I all wherever I go, Imeet somebody that has a friend
or family member in Houston.
And it's pretty amazing to me.
Uh Houston is my home.
Kayvan Mashayekh (40:57):
It's it's my it might it's where my heart
will always be because you knowuh I was I was raised here and
uh my education I mean I was Ialways say this, you've heard
this many times before.
I mean, I uh I went to juniorhigh, high school, college, and
law school within a five-mileradius of my house.
So it took a while for me toget out of this town to kind of
go and explore the world.
But the the the the impact thatthis city has had on the
(41:19):
development of me, not justpersonally, but also
professionally.
And when I travel outside theUnited States, they can never
believe that I come fromHouston, Texas.
I mean, yes, they can say, Oh,you get a little bit of this,
and no, you're not from there.
You're not yeah, and I tellpeople, I am.
You don't understand whatHouston's all about because it
is this multi-ethnic quilt ofethnicities that comes together
(41:41):
to make the city what it is.
And with that, we're gonna wrapit and we're gonna thank
Charles Acosta, our champion.
But thanks again, everybody.
And we're gonna we're gonna beuh wrapping up uh here right
now, and uh our final podcastwill be from London, England,
where I will be doing a talkwith uh Dr.
Edward Frankel of theUniversity of Berk University of
(42:02):
California, Berkeley, uh onhuman intelligence versus
artificial intelligence at theFocus London Conference.
And that will be an incredibleway to end the year before we
engage on a lot more podcasts.
Thanks to Charles, who keepspushing me.
We got to keep doing this.
This is awesome.
We have we have we have we havewe have to build out, build
out.
But you know, it's people likeyourselves that you know make
(42:24):
PWB great.
So thank you very much.
And we'll see you next time.
Alfred Cervantes (42:27):
Thank you for having me.
I have one more thing to sayfilmhouston.com.
Hi everyone, uh welcome to Producers Without
Borders.
Our podcast today is fromHouston, Texas, my hometown.
I couldn't be happier andprouder to have my dear friend
Alfred Cervantes, who I've knownfor I want to say umptien
years, but let's say 23 sincechildhood.
And uh I'm very grateful tohave him here.
He is the Houston FilmCommissioner, and he's going to
(00:24):
be talking a lot about the newstate tax incentives here in the
state of Texas, and also theHouston tax incentive.
And everybody always asks me,you know, with all the events
that we do globally and all theconnectivity and all the people
that we bring together fromdifferent walks of life and
different professions that feedinto the ecosystem of producers
without borders in theentertainment business, why have
(00:44):
we chosen Houston?
Well, Houston is the mostimportant city in the world to
me because I everything that Ideveloped as a filmmaker is the
skills, the personality, the uhthe camaraderie, the ability to
bring people together, I learnedright here in my hometown of
Houston, Texas.
So uh, and I couldn't beprouder of this individual, uh
(01:07):
Alfred, who's been with theHouston Film Commission now for
30 years and has done anexemplary job in trying to
promote Houston internationally,to create opportunities for
filmmakers and creatives fromall over the world to come here
and uh engage and and and reallytap into what the city is all
about.
But I'm not gonna say anythingelse anymore.
I'm gonna introduce you toAlfred.
(01:28):
Alfred, take it away from here.
Alfred Cervantes (01:29):
Take it away.
Kayvan, welcome home, by theway.
Thank you.
Um very happy to be here.
Thanks for having me on theProducers Without Borders
podcast.
Um we are here, you are here intown, so we can do the PWB
Houston dinner, which this isthe fourth year uh that we are
doing that here uh in Houston,in addition to all the other
amazing cities that you do yourevent in.
(01:51):
So thank you very much for uhuh doing that.
Kayvan Mashayekh (01:55):
Let's let's jump right in and and and it's
answer my question.
Let's go and find out whyHouston, why is Houston
something that should be onpeople's radar uh regarding
creativity and and in this wholenew uh opportunity where uh we
are engaging in a newbattlefield, so to speak, of
content creation where the thecreators are king.
(02:15):
Uh IP is is the name of thegame now, and if you know how to
control your IP and createcontent, which is very easy now
uh when it comes to uhfilmmakers having access to
resources that they didn't havewhen we started 10, 15 years
ago.
Um so let's go ahead and talkabout that.
Alfred Cervantes (02:32):
Yeah.
Um well um I would say thatthere's always been filmmaking
in Houston, although we've neverbeen really known as a film
town, right?
Um movies have been made uh uhall different places since
movies being started being made,right?
Since the 1920s.
In fact, the firstOscar-winning film, Wings, was
made in Texas.
(02:52):
So they shot around Houston,they shot around San Antonio,
and it was mostly in biplanes,right?
Uh this was like 1929, I think,something like that.
But anyway, uh that was one ofthe first winning film that won
an Oscar for Best Picture.
But uh so there's always been arich history of movies being
made in Texas.
Again, that uh Houston has hadfilmmaking, but we were not
(03:15):
known as a film town.
Now, as you mentioned oralluded to, uh things are
changing and things are a littlebit different than they used to
be, right?
Uh Los Angeles is the filmcenter, has been uh in New York,
a lot of stuff going on there.
But people can make filmsoutside of those areas and make
good pictures.
And so uh the name of the gamelately has been these the
incentives, right?
(03:36):
So um it when I first startedin film in the early 1990s here
in Houston, working on studiolevel projects.
We've had uh feature films inthe early mid-90s.
Some of the famous ones are uhReality Bites, part of Logan's
Run.
We had a part of part of Apollo13.
Uh these are some of the filmsthat I worked on in the early
mid-90s, but uh that was beforeincentives were a thing.
(03:59):
And now uh a big component ofwhere a producer will select to
film is what does your state andwhat does your city have to
offer to help uh go on locationand film there, right?
So it's kind of a competitionwith a lot of different places
now.
Now, Houston, as the fourthlargest city in the country, we
have everything you need,basically.
(04:20):
We have a great infrastructure.
Uh sometimes I forget how luckywe are here in Houston that you
can fly directly to 70different countries from our
airport, our internationalairport, which is astounding
almost, right?
So um it's incredible.
Um, but we also have a lot ofdifferent looks.
We're 45 miles from the Gulf ofMexico.
So we have beach, we have pineywoods, we have flat farmland,
(04:40):
we have all these looks within a60-mile radius that uh for
people to tell their stories.
And now, lately, starting thispast September 1st, we have a
very competitive state levelincentive and a new local
incentive.
So that's where where we areand we're excited about that.
Kayvan Mashayekh (04:56):
Yeah, tell us a little bit more about that
because when I I was not able toavail myself of those
incentives when uh I made myfilm here, which is how I met
you.
I ironically, when I waslooking for a distributor, uh
you had uh introduced me to thisamazing guy.
Uh his name is Charles Acostafrom Arrival Pictures, who ended
up becoming not just my friend,but my distributor for uh uh a
(05:18):
film that had a single printrelease that went out to five
different prints in 53 weeksacross the United States, and it
was all because of you and thatintroduction that you made.
So you are uh the in theembryonic stages of how PWB was
created, it was these kinds ofconnections that uh that stood
the test of time through thefriendships and the uh
acknowledgement of the peoplethat are worthwhile, that are
(05:38):
trusty, that are authentic, thathave integrity, that have
loyalty, are that's exactly howthe genesis of PWB was first
planted in this uh basicallylike this desert uh of landscape
of when you're trying toconnect with people in an
entertainment business, but youdon't know if they're legitimate
or not.
So and and to and to alsofurther what you're saying, you
(06:00):
know, the the fact that thiscity has 90 over 90 consulates
uh here, that means it's anincredibly international city.
So for a guy who's createdProducers Without Borders, this
is incredibly uh uhopportunistic for me to be able
to understand that there arepeople from all over the world
here that I can, you know, getinformation regarding what is it
(06:22):
like in that culture?
What's the language?
What's it what what are thepower how do those people
actually uh fit into the the thethis whole matrix that I'm
trying to create of bringingpeople not just from the outside
of this country to hear to touh to avail themselves of all
the great things that we havehere, but also learn from them
and take our things and and andshoot it over there.
(06:43):
You know what I'm saying?
So it's it's this kind of across-promotional thing that I'm
I'm working on um in in andletting people understand what
uh what we're doing.
So uh please tell us a littlebit more about what the exactly
the uh state tax incentives arein in Texas and also the the
bump that you get now inHouston.
Alfred Cervantes (07:01):
Okay.
Um I'll do that, but first Iwant to uh let the audience know
that this podcast is beingrecorded by Charles Acosta, who
you met was your filmdistributor so many years ago,
uh, who now owns a mediaservices company and Texas in
Texas and moved into the podcastrecording space.
So uh he's uh Charles is stillin production.
We're still all friends thismany years later.
(07:28):
You mean it's not his AI sitting over there! No,it's the real thing.
I mean it's the real thing.
I can attest to that.
He's the real deal, and uh for sure.
And uh again, way back whenwhen I referred him to you, and
still uh, of course, I would uhrefer him to anybody looking for
information and help andresources and things like that.
So uh as somebody that's beenin uh the media Texas space for
many, many, many years, right?
So anyway, but going back to acouple things.
(07:49):
One is um this business thatwe're in is a lot about
networking and makingconnections, right?
You don't make a film alone.
Um, I have been called this byother people is like a connector
because uh something that I doregularly is put people together
uh because uh you want to findtalented people and put them
(08:10):
together to hopefully makethings uh here.
Uh, or honestly, they'll makesomething else, but possibly
somewhere else too.
But still, um uh I've learnedthis over the years.
The best thing I can do as afilm commissioner is help a
filmmaker, help a director getas close to their original
vision as possible, becausefilmmaking is nothing but a
compromise from when you writeit to when you make it to when
(08:31):
you edit it.
You're giving on all the uhreality things that set in, your
budget, uh talent availability,all these other things.
And so you want to get as closeto your vision as possible.
So over the many years I'vebeen doing this, that's my goal
is to help somebody achieve whatthey're setting out to achieve
in their storytelling, becausethey should be that's what they
should be most passionate about,is that story they're telling.
(08:52):
So that's one thing that Istrive for is to uh put people
together who can make thathappen, make it a re
realization.
And so that the other thing isum, which I'll get to now is the
state incentives, right?
So um way back when uh Texas'sfirst incentive program was the
2007-2009 legislative session.
(09:14):
Back then we were spending alot of time educating our
representatives in Austin onwhat the film industry is again
up against uh with ourneighboring states and Canada at
that time and a lot of otherplaces where we did not have uh
an incentive to attract studiolevel production, right?
So we spent years with uhstarting organizations and all
(09:34):
this educating ourrepresentatives that we are
losing uh Texas stories to ourneighboring states, uh Louisiana
and New Mexico, but then itstarted to be Canada and other
places.
And so uh over the many yearssince 2007-2009 session, um the
Texas the state uh governmenthas assigned the Texas Film
Commission a certain amount ofmoney to use as rebate incentive
(09:57):
money or grant incentive money.
Um, the problem before thisyear was that the amount of
money they were giving them hadfluctuated wildly every two
years.
So even two sessions ago, uh,the Texas Film Commission was
given $43 million split over atwo-year biennium, and the Texas
Film Commission ran out ofincentive money 14 months into a
(10:19):
24-month program.
So, from for for that manymonths, the remainder of those
months, productions that wereTexas stories went to other
states that had a bottomlessbucket of motion picture tax
credits to offer.
Such as Georgia.
So such as Georgia.
I I know I don't like sayingtheir name too often, the state
name of the state.
Uh but yes, that is correct.
So, but actually that one wentto a different state, which I'm
(10:42):
not gonna name, but um, butanyway, we did lose production
in the state because we ran outof incentive money.
Now, what's amazing and justhappened this year is that the
state has committed to givingthe Texas Film Commission $300
million split every two yearsover a two-year period for the
next 10 years.
And that's a game changer forour state.
(11:04):
Um, it's the most money they'veever allocated.
And giving the Texas FilmCommission that longevity, we
are now a state that televisionseries can consider as a viable
location because they know ifthey do a season one here of a
scripted TV series, if it'ssuccessful, they can go on and
do five more seasons or sevenmore seasons, right?
So they can guarantee theythey'll know that our state has
(11:26):
money to accommodate thatnarrative television series,
where in the past and recentyears, some narrative scripted
television shows picked up andleft the state because they were
out of incentive.
Kayvan Mashayekh (11:36):
So that this brings up something very
interesting to me because uh Iwant to no, I mean, because this
it it comes up and I want to beable to understand it better
because I don't.
I mean, of course, the mostfamous person in Texas right now
that that is availingthemselves of this incentive is
uh Taylor Sheridan and and thewonderful series that he does.
Uh, you know, they'readdictive.
And and and it and if he tapsinto this, how much of it really
(12:00):
is left for other filmmakerswhen when you think about it,
it's a one one and a halfbillion dollars over ten years,
correct?
Correct.
So 150 million a year.
So if he uses up, let's say 100million, there's only 50
million left?
Is that how it works?
Or please educate me because Ijust want to kind of know how
much of that is uh ourfilmmakers, independent
filmmakers, able to tap into andwhat's the procedure to go
(12:22):
about tapping into those funds.
Alfred Cervantes (12:24):
Sure.
The uh the new percentages arealso something that's very
attractive because uhpreviously, previously to
September 1st of this year, themaximum percentage you can ask
for back from the state of Texaswas 22.5%.
That was the highest you canget with um your baseline
percentage back plus someuplifts that were available.
Now the highest percentage aproducer can get uh back from
(12:47):
the state of Texas is 31%.
So uh a much bigger number thanwe've ever had before.
Now, if you are a producer thatuh spends 1.5 million or more
in the state of Texas on yourproduction, um, then you can ask
for a baseline back of 25% backfrom the state of Texas.
(13:07):
And on top of that, there are anumber of uplifts that you can
add to that to bring the numberup to 31%.
And the uplifts are uh I'm letme see if I can remember all of
them.
There's like six or sevenuplifts.
One of them is that if you do acertain percentage of your
filming in a r in a ruralcommunity that has 300,000 or
less residents, you can ask foran extra 2.5% back from the
(13:30):
state.
If you hire 5% of your castercrew that's U.S.
Armed Service veterans, you canask for an extra 2.5% back from
the state of Texas.
If you work with an instituteof higher education by hiring
students as interns or PAs orsomething like that, uh then you
can ask for an extra 2.5% backfrom the state of Texas.
If you film in what's deemed anunder you underutilized area
(13:53):
around the state of Texas, youcan ask for an extra 2.5% back.
If you are considered to be, asdeemed by the Texas Film
Commission, a faith-based film,you can ask for an extra 2.5%
back.
If you are doing a story thatrelates to Texas heritage or
Texas history, you can ask foran extra 2.5% back.
If you are, I believe this isone of them, if you are deemed
to be a family-friendly film,you can ask for an extra 2.5%
(14:16):
back.
And then the final one, allthose are 2.5%, but the final 1%
is if you're a production thatcommits to spending a certain
percentage of yourpost-production budget in the
state of Texas, you get an extra1% back.
And that's where the one comesfrom in the 31%, right?
So all those uplifts arestackable on top of the baseline
25% for a maximum of 35%, 31%.
Kayvan Mashayekh (14:39):
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.
That is chat Alfred GP,whatever.
Alfred Cervantes (14:43):
Oh my gosh.
Kayvan Mashayekh (14:44):
That isn't the best explanation I've ever
heard in the most most detailedmanner.
That's very impressive, Alfred.
But I want to ask yousomething.
So when they uh when a when afilmmaker submits their budget,
uh, what's the time frame fromthe time they submit their
budget to the time just we'llwe'll ballpark this from the
then the when they go intoproduction after the production
ends, what's a time period wherethey can get their money back?
(15:06):
If they have all their ducks ina row, so to speak.
Right.
Because I think that's whatproducers are always concerned
about.
Okay, well, we did everythingwe could.
Why is there a delay in gettingour money back from the state,
right?
And so that's always been achallenge because producers talk
and they they they they willscram if they if if if a state
doesn't act quickly because theyhave debt to consider and you
know the rest.
Alfred Cervantes (15:27):
So, the states out there that have a
resellable, transferable taxcredit system, some of them have
a backlog of years for likebrokering those credits and
getting the money back, right?
So I've heard that about uhsome other states that operate
on that tax credit mechanism.
So um, what Texas does, how itworks in Texas, I should say, is
(15:48):
that it's a it's a grant, theycall it a grant.
I say it's actually a rebatebecause how it works in Texas,
if you intend to make yourproject in Texas, you get into
the queue with the Texas FilmCommission by submitting your
your initial information.
And it's a first come, firstserve uh program.
So um, and it can never be tooearly to get into their queue.
(16:08):
You can actually apply forstate incentive monies um 180
days before principalphotography.
So you can begin the process180 days before principal
photography, but no less thanfive days before uh principal
photography.
So you do have to uh have asubmit your information.
I would suggest having ameeting with them to make sure
(16:30):
that you have all your materialssubmitted.
And then it still could takemuch longer for you to receive
your acceptance letter into theprogram.
But once you receive thatacceptance letter, you know
you're going to get backwhatever you whatever your
qualified spend is.
And it could be, it couldfluctuate.
Even though you're eligible for31%, after you make your after
(16:50):
you come here, you spend yourmoney, you may only qualify for
like 28% back because maybe noteverything qualifies as in-state
spend, meaning that um they'regonna give you money back on
Texas-based crew that you hire,Texas-based cast that you hire,
and Texas-based companies thatyou use as vendors.
That's what you're gettingmoney back on.
Um so if you use Amazon toorder things, you don't get
(17:13):
money back on that.
Uh, if you use an airline um uhcompany that's not based in
Texas, you don't get money backon that.
So again, it's all based onTexas spend.
Kayvan Mashayekh (17:23):
Yeah, well, yeah, full disclosure, United
Airlines is our sponsor as ourbrand partner.
So that's considered, I guessthat's considered Texas-based
because it's a very importantthing.
Well, actually, no, they're inChicago now.
Yeah, they're in Chicago now.
If we use United, that's that'sthat doesn't matter.
Alfred Cervantes (17:37):
That doesn't count.
I think it's American andSouthwest, I believe.
I see.
So um, but uh but again,anything that's a Texas-based
company, whatever you spend,you're eligible to get money
back on that.
And what they're doing now withthis new program is they are
hiring a lot of new people towork at the Texas Film
Commission.
I think they're hiring sixadditional people just for the
(17:57):
incentive department becausetheir goal now is with this
brand new program that justbecame effective September 1st.
Their goal is for futureproductions that that film in
the state and are eligible andaccepted to the incentive
program, they want to getproducers a check back between
six and nine months after theyturn their books in, which is
pretty fast.
Kayvan Mashayekh (18:18):
If you um I'm sure there's a lot of like
minutiae in the details andstuff on, and and that there's
all these devil in the detailsbecause they'll they'll be
scraping through theseagreements to make sure that
they're complying with the withthe with the law.
And uh my question is like, forexample, uh, you know, if if a
Texas-based company, they'reusing a Texas-based company and
that Texas-based company turnsaround and uses flights from
different airlines, what happensthen?
(18:39):
I mean, they can still get theincentive if if they're using if
they're using a Texas-basedcompany or not.
Um Because it's if if the ifthe vendor that they're using is
a Texas-based company and thosethat vendor subs out to get the
get tickets, is that acceptableor not?
Alfred Cervantes (18:53):
Oh, that's a great question.
Um, and like you justmentioned, there's um there's uh
minutiae points to this, right?
My suggestion would be when uhas a producer, if you're head s
heading towards making a featurefilm in Texas, have a meeting
with the Texas Film Commissionand ask all these questions.
But but very basically, um youare eligible to get money back
on Tex whatever you spend withTexas-based companies.
(19:16):
That's the very basic incentiveprogram.
Yeah.
Kayvan Mashayekh (19:19):
Um so let's let's go ahead and uh uh is
there any a website or somethingthat you want to kind of uh let
people know how they can getall this information very
easily?
And also not only not only justfor the Texas side, from the
Houston side, because theHouston side also is is the
additional bump that you weretalking about where you so
eloquently stated the the twoand a half percents that led up
to the eleven percent, Ibelieve, right?
(19:39):
What is that what is it that wekicked up to the thirty-one
percent.
Alfred Cervantes (19:42):
Oh, all the two and a half bumps uh with the
state office, right.
Kayvan Mashayekh (19:45):
I just want to make sure that the the audience
that's listening to this, ifthey're curious, where could
they go and get this informationother than like you know
googling it and sells, but Ijust want them to Right.
Alfred Cervantes (19:53):
Well, we're very easy to find.
It's filmhouston.com.
Okay.
Filmhouston.com.
Filmhouston.com.
Filmhouston.com.
I want you to wake up in themiddle of the night saying
filmhouston.com.
Kayvan Mashayekh (20:08):
I want you to wake up in the middle of the
night and say pwbnetwork.org,but hey, you know, I don't I
doubt you do that either also.
Alfred Cervantes (20:15):
Um if I can uh chime on or go on a little bit
longer and and talk about thelocal incentive because that's a
brand new thing as well.
Uh we knew the new state levelincentive was coming, so we've
been laying the groundwork for acouple of years now to have a
local incentive that producerscan use in conjunction with the
state incentive, or they can useit else as standalone as well.
(20:36):
So we just announced a new Cityof Houston area local incentive
for narrative feature films andnarrative television where it's
a very basic incentive wherewe're going to give a producer
who's making a narrative featureor a narrative scripted series
uh 10% back of what they spendwithin a 60 mile radius of City
(20:57):
Hall Houston, between zero and60 miles on local cast, local
crew, and local vendors.
So similar to the state one,but this is strictly for 60 mile
radius of City Hall Houston.
We're going to give a producer10% back on qualified those
qualifying items with a maximumback per project of 100,000 back
per project.
So if you are eligible for thatfull 100,000, that means you
(21:20):
spent a million dollars betweenzero and 60 miles of City Hall
Houston making your narrativefeature film or your narrative
scripted series.
And so that's something we justannounced a few weeks ago.
And there are we already havetwo projects that wrapped up
this fall that took advantage ofit.
And we have two more that uh wehave sent applications to.
So it's um uh already beingwell received, and these are
(21:43):
qualifying projects in themillions of dollars, but they
know that they can do it here uhcost effectively, and also we
have this new local incentive asan extra bump for producers as
well.
Kayvan Mashayekh (21:53):
This brings me to another uh subject matter,
which is the microdramas thatyou're hearing a lot about
recently, especially in the newHollywood Reporter, which is, by
the way, our other brandpartner for this.
Um there's an article therethis this week about microdramas
and how much money is goinginto microdramas, which are
basically feature-length filmsthat are chopped up into
two-minute segments.
And that's uh is does do youthink something like that would
(22:16):
qualify?
Because originally it is afeature-length film that is
being shot.
But it the format is on avertical.
Alfred Cervantes (22:22):
Right.
Uh, because everyone has the uhuh uh an amazing device in
their pockets these days and umuh they film, you know, you can
film uh video vertically andtell the story, and people watch
videos on their phoneregularly.
I mean, things have changed,right?
Um we just were approachedrecently for our first vertical
uh program, and yes, we willtreat it like a feature film uh
(22:45):
because it's a scripted series,and we will treat it like a
scripted series or a featurefilm.
And so they would qualify ifthey spend a certain amount,
like our local incentive uh toget to qualify for our local
incentive, you have to uh spendat least $500,000 on your
production within that zero to60 miles.
So anything $500,000 or moreyou can qualify to get money
(23:08):
back on.
And then the state filmcommission, the threshold to um
apply for their state incentiveis you have to spend at least
$250,000 in the state of Texasto get their minimal amount,
which would be a baseline of 5%,but it can go up from there
with those stack of the code.
Kayvan Mashayekh (23:24):
That's interesting because I mean
microdramas are they they can umI I know the budgets because uh
one of our members is is a veryprolific producer in that
field.
Uh and she's done like 112movies in this area.
Uh so she she's told me that uhthey can they can range
anywhere between 150,000 up to700,000.
And the the way they do the700,000 budgets is they stack
(23:48):
the series to it comes, it'slike a a series of films that
that's like a version like uh uhseason one, season two.
But it's not it's not a it'snot a reality series, but it's a
film that's split into twosegments.
Yeah.
I guess something like thatcould cooperate.
But but uh these are all issuesthat I think that would come up
uh uh when they have theapproach the uh That's exactly
(24:09):
right.
Alfred Cervantes (24:09):
I'm working with producers right now that um
so we love working withindependent filmmakers, we love
working with first-time featurefilmmakers, which we've had a
number of really good films madein Houston last year that are
making the festival circuit thisyear uh really, really well
done.
And their budgets were, youknow, around a million or
something like that.
But uh one of the producersrecently uh I always ask what
(24:30):
your target budget is to see howwe can help.
And uh one of them, theirtarget budget was just under our
threshold.
So um I'm hoping they come upwith more, you know, we we uh
with a little bit more money tomake their project because we do
have to.
Um our incentive program, likeany incentive program, is
considered to benefit uh or forworkforce development, right?
(24:50):
So we want to um enticeprojects with a certain budget
so they will hire qualified crewand train crew too, right?
That's a big, that's a big umuh a big effort on any of these
incentive programs is haveconsistent sizable production.
So you're training crew to workon these sizable productions.
And that's where we're at rightnow, really, here in Houston,
is uh we've had regularproduction of projects between
(25:13):
two and three million, and nowwe have crew that's used to
working on the these type, theselevel projects.
The biggest one in the arearecently was a $10 million
project.
So uh and they hired a lot ofcrew out of Houston as well.
So we are building our crewbase in the the with features of
those budget levels.
But yes, we want a project likethe the example you just uh put
(25:33):
out there is that if they do aseries of these um uh narrative
scripted verticals, if theirbudget's 700,000, then yes,
we're gonna treat it like afeature film or a regular
scripted series.
Kayvan Mashayekh (25:44):
So what does it not include?
Because I'm it's myunderstanding uh their uh
reality series do not qualify,correct?
Alfred Cervantes (25:50):
On the state level, if if a producer is
utilizing the state levelincentive, reality TV does
qualify.
Okay.
Uh you can be making a lot ofdifferent types of projects,
scripted tel narrative TV,reality television, of course,
independent uh feature films, uha number of different types of
things.
Even the state incentive moneyis also available to video game
(26:11):
developers, believe it or not.
So it's not just for the motionpicture industry, but it's for
like media production industriesand video game development
falls under that as well.
Now, our local incentive isstrictly for scripted narrative
projects, features, and scriptednarrative television series.
And the reason is that um herein Houston, we have an ongoing
(26:31):
commercial market, we have anongoing reality TV market, and
uh we don't need to bolsterthose areas.
Not that we don't need to, butwhere we've been bringing up uh
the rear in Texas as far asproductions is the scripted uh
feature world and the scriptedtelevision world.
So we want to um have somethingto entice those types of
productions.
Kayvan Mashayekh (26:51):
Right.
And you can find out all aboutthat on filmhouston.com because
I've been told that that's thewebsite to go to.
But anyway, uh that being said,uh I wanted to get your
thoughts about what type ofmovies would you'd like to see
come to Houston.
I mean, this is a very uhsubjective thing.
I remember since I've known youfor so long, your favorite film
(27:12):
that was shot in Houston wasTerms of Endearment.
Yeah, that's true.
So I mean, you know, and youknow, Hollywood's of course
changed a lot, and that youknow, the the but that doesn't
mean a uh uh an independentcan't come up with a storyline
like that that could be shot inRiver Oaks or, you know,
somewhere, you know, around townin memorial area, whatever,
around the park or and and havethat kind of depth.
(27:34):
What what kind of move whatkind of movie would make you
very, very excited about AlfredCervantes being with the Houston
Film Commission for 30 years,like wow, man, this is the movie
that I saw that I'm happy tohave helped them get this one
off the ground on a personallevel because it resonated with
you.
Alfred Cervantes (27:52):
I tell you what, it's it's from uh again
doing this for so long, um, Ihave learned a number of things.
Of course, one is that ifyou're a producer worth your
salt, you can make a movieanywhere with anything if you're
driven enough to tell thatstory, right?
So I love meeting filmmakersthat are passionate about the
story they're telling.
A recent one, it was which wasnot a big film at all.
(28:13):
Um, it's a film that was filmedjust south of Houston in
Dickinson League City area ofHouston, that was filmed in the
summer of 2024, and it premiereduh the first week of June of
this year, 2025, and it w at theTribeca Film Festival in New
York, and it won the TopNarrative Award uh at Tribeca
(28:33):
Film Festival.
Now, when the programmers wereintroducing this film, they let
the audience know that for theirnarrative feature category,
they get 5,000 entries.
They whittle it down to 12contenders, and this film that
was filmed in Houston won theTop Narrative Award, narrative
award of the Tribeca FilmFestival.
So those are pretty big odds,right?
So the movie's called CharlieBird.
(28:55):
It's a debut feature filmmakernamed Libby Ewing.
She directed it.
But Samantha Smart, Sam Smart,she's the writer of the
screenplay.
She is the producer of theproject, Charlie Bird, and she's
the lead actor in the movieCharlie Bird.
And it's about a musictherapist that works in a
hospital.
She forms a bond with a teenageteenager patient, a young lady,
(29:16):
and it's a drama.
Um it's it's really a drama.
It's not really a dramedy.
There's some funny moments init, but it's really a drama.
But it's it's been being beenvery well received on the
festival circuit and very welldone for a debut feature.
Um, she's working on her nextproject here, and I uh got a
really nice note from Libby theother day because we screened it
here in Houston recently.
(29:36):
And again, it's been playingall over the country, and it
will be out soon, so people willbe able to stream it.
But I like a good movie, right?
Uh that that's a uh story welltold.
Another film that is on thefestival circuit this year is a
story about a male nurse who isoverworked and tired, and he
makes a mistake with a patient,and he can't really recall if he
(29:58):
actually made a mistake.
Or if it was something that thepatient did or whatever.
It's called Do No Harm.
And it's kind of a thriller.
And that's been playing allover the country as well as a
film about a nurse, also.
They just so happen to be aboutmedical professionals.
Houston is known for a numberof things.
We are known for as Space City,Johnson Space Center.
We have the biggest medicalcenter in the world here.
(30:21):
It's not surprising that thesetwo filmmakers created these
stories around medicalprofessionals here in our city
because it's such a big industryhere as well.
And we had two other movies.
Of course, a great one comingout soon is called Love You Bum,
a feature documentary about theuh Houston Oilers football
coach uh uh Bum Phillips, andthat'll be out later at the end
(30:41):
of this year.
Uh, you know, and in this film,uh I actually learned something
about my city, which is aboutBum Phillips, that he was kind
of, once you see the film, yourealize he was kind of the
original Ted Lasso as a coachfor the Houston Oilers.
It's an amazing story that Ididn't, I was a you know, I was
a tween, I think, when they werefamous, uh, the Oilers and
going through their heyday.
But I learned a lot fromwatching this uh feature
(31:04):
documentary.
So so there's been a number ofgood films coming out of the
Houston market recently that areplaying in notable festivals,
wing it winning awards, and willbe on streaming soon.
And the goal again is to umwith these incentives, the state
level incentives and localincentive, is to help tell
stories that come out ofHouston, right?
Kayvan Mashayekh (31:21):
Let's not forget there are some great
Houston filmmakers that came outof Houston, too.
Not necessarily have have theymade their movie in in the city
of Houston, or but you know,their footprint around the world
is, you know, very well um umrecognized, you know.
Uh Richard Linklater, uh WesAnderson.
These are Houston filmmakers.
Um and Tracy Lehman, I believe,is uh Tracy Lehman.
(31:44):
Tracy Lehman, whose film wasabsolutely beautiful.
Bob Trevino likes it.
And once again, it was you andCharles that, you know, uh were
kind enough to invite me to herher uh party, her after party at
South by Southwest, and sheended up winning the festival.
And I thought it was such abeautiful, heartfelt story that,
(32:05):
you know, with this incrediblygifted filmmaker who who has a
very international backgroundand you know, who had suffered
so much uh, you know, personaltragedy in her life, and she was
able to put together thisbeautiful story that you could
see was like, where did thisstory come from?
You know, that's that's thebeautiful thing about Houston.
And it's the intangible thatnot a lot of people talk about.
(32:27):
Houstonians are are verygiving, they're very um uh
thoughtful, they're veryconscientious, the ones that
I've had the privilege and beenblessed to to know for so many
years, uh from my advisory boardmember Arturo Chavez to all the
way down to uh you know, thepeople that I've met through
years and years of friendshipsfrom law school and college and
(32:49):
high school and junior high andall that.
It's incredible because you yourealize where these stories
come from are have a humanelement that is fully ingrained
in the DNA of the city, which isthe authenticity, integrity,
and and loyalty that I look forin our members at PWB.
Now, one of the things I alsowanted to mention about that is
the fact that even though theydidn't they were not able to
(33:12):
make their films here beforebecause those incentives were
not available, perhaps this isan opportunity for them to
revisit that um and understandthat you know they there is more
to the city now that they hadskipped over because of some
reason that wasn't uh like forexample, Tracy's film uh had to
go out of state at the time.
I believe it went to the stateof Kentucky.
(33:33):
I I'm not sure exactly.
Alfred Cervantes (33:35):
I wasn't gonna name the state, but whatever.
Kayvan Mashayekh (33:37):
I mean, I I I'm I'm a little bit more open
than you are, but uh I'm tryingto understand because I I I'm
trust I'm simply trying toeducate myself and and and
finding out that the reason whythese filmmakers aren't able
weren't able to do it because itwasn't available.
It's not because of the peoplethat don't want them here.
Because people are very kind,they're very open.
When you come home from comecome to Texas, the first thing I
(33:59):
always notice is people don'tsay, you know, what are you
gonna do for me?
It's the exact opposite.
What can I do for you?
Well, it is that reversepsychology that's at play the
moment you meet somebody fromthe state of Texas, especially
in Houston where I grew up, thatthat really opens doors that,
you know, uh that's anunquantifiable incentive.
And I don't think you talkabout that enough, Alfred.
Alfred Cervantes (34:22):
Well, um I uh let me talk about Tracy just
very briefly because TracyLehman is one of my favorite
filmmakers.
I've known her I've seen all ofher short film work that she
did over the years.
She's my favorite type offilmmaker in that if she tells
me she's gonna make a project,she gets it done, no matter
what, right?
Um and yes, she did go toDifferent State for her debut
(34:42):
feature, which is for youraudience, if you want to see a
great film, Bob Trevino likesit.
Uh it's streamable, you canfind it on all the platforms,
and it has a great rating onRotten Tomatoes.
Uh, but it's a wonderful filmthat everybody that sees it
really loves it.
And now she's writing otherscripts that, you know,
filmmakers write stories aboutwhere they're from, right?
Because over the past fewyears, I was meeting with Tracy
(35:06):
about this project, and she didgo to a different state strictly
for that state's incentives.
And what she learned was isthat even though the particular
state she chose uh had a uhdecent incentive, she had to
bring in more people than shethought and really did uh kind
of offset the incentive theywere offering because they
didn't have a crew base, right?
(35:26):
So you need to go to a marketthat does have a crew base where
you can save that incentivemoney that you're being promised
anyway, right?
So she told me, um relayed thatstory afterwards, but still um
it's a great film.
I would suggest it to anyone towatch.
But uh we're still love Tracy.
She's a proud Houstonian, shedoes spend a lot of time in LA,
of course, but we want her tomake her next film here in
(35:47):
Houston.
And exactly right, now we haveuh local incentives uh for, you
know, it's a business, right?
It's a business.
Kayvan Mashayekh (35:54):
You use uh Tracy as an example.
There's a lot more to Tracyalso.
Like the fact that, you know, II know women come from reading
about her history, she went toMoscow, learned how to speak
Russian, and she spent sevenyears or six or seven years
there.
It's incredible.
So this is the this is, Ithink, what Houston lacks the
ability to take somebody locallyand project them
internationally to make peopleunderstand that people like that
(36:17):
exist in Houston.
They come from Houston.
And so if you want to make afilm in Houston, we're not just
a bunch of dumb rednecks.
I'm sorry.
I mean, I'm just telling you.
I mean, I'm I mean, I used tobe known as the Persian cowboy,
whatever.
I mean, I I grew up in anothercountry.
I mean, I was born in anothercountry, but I came here as a
young man that that you know,what where you're trying to
assimilate and and understandwhat this culture is all about.
(36:40):
And yeah, you get roughed up abit, but at the end of the day,
you realize that people in thiscity value loyalty, integrity,
and authenticity.
That's the only thing thatmatters.
And these filmmakers have allof those characteristics that
you're talking about, the WesAndersons, the Richard Link
ladies, because you see the wmovies that they make and they
have international impact.
(37:00):
So I think that if we projectan image uh of our hometown in a
way that um that has uh has thepromise of the greatest social
impact, it's the the the way youcan do that is to champion
them, whether they make theirfilm in Houston or not, because
they are from Houston.
And you are all about thegreatest things that this the
(37:21):
city can then offer filmmakersfrom outside.
And I think uh we're coming upto the end of this podcast.
So if you have any questionsfor me, Mr.
Cervantes, I'll be happy toanswer them.
Alfred Cervantes (37:34):
Oh, it's my turn?
Yes, it is.
Kayvan Mashayekh (37:35):
Yeah, you have one minute.
Alfred Cervantes (37:42):
Um I know you've done PWB at all the
amazing festivals around theworld.
So um for next year, 2026, isthere are there any new cities
you're adding to your lineup?
Kayvan Mashayekh (37:52):
I would love to do Mexico City.
Mexico City is uh somethingthat uh is a dream of mine to
do.
I've I am guilty as charged.
I've never been to Mexico City,but I've heard so many great
things about it.
I have the I know that theyhave a thriving film community,
they have incredible talent, uhbeautiful people, and uh it's uh
it was brought up to me by bythe suggestion, it was brought
(38:16):
up to me by you and my advisoryboard member, uh Arturo Chavez.
So, you know, yes, I would liketo do it there.
Hong Kong is another city, um,that I'd like to to Baku,
Azerbaijan is another one, uh,Istanbul, Turkey.
These are all places that, youknow, if we feel that there is
enough interest and and uh andquite frankly, sponsorship that
(38:37):
is going to help us do a qualityevent there, then we are going
to put it on our calendar.
But but the thing about PWBthat you gotta understand, it's
not about the events.
The events are just refuelingstops for the most important
thing about the network, whichis finding what I call the
Dunbar number.
The Dunbar number is 150 peoplethat you can find that in your
(38:58):
in your circle uh of people thatcan put things together that
nobody else can.
And it's based on a Britishanthropologist's uh analysis.
His name is Robin Dunbar, heteaches at Oxford, and he had
written about it was writtenabout him uh in a book called uh
The Tipping Point by MalcolmGladwell about two twenty twenty
twenty-five years ago orsomething.
(39:19):
And in it he states that theneocortex, your your mind can
only handle, as a human being, acertain number of relationships
where you can socially engagewith people and be active
mentally, physically,psychologically, socially, and
based on the feudal system ofcommunities working together to
get things done.
So your Dunbar number it reallyis a basically an onion layer
(39:39):
that you can peel, but the coreis what you the is your capacity
to engage and socialize andreact and and be involved in
those people's lives because youdon't have a lot of time left.
We none of us have a lot oftime left.
And as we get older, that timecollapses and the value and the
purpose of those relationshipsare enhanced.
(40:00):
So your ability to be able todo things with your group, with
your network, becomes a lot moreimportant.
You don't want to waste time.
So this is uh this is what Iwas uh I've always been focused
on with PWB.
And hopefully as we engage andwe go to these other cities that
you know I mentioned, if ithappens, you want to find those
(40:20):
kind of capable individuals thatare understand that the ethos
of what we're trying to get at.
Alfred Cervantes (40:25):
And I want to say thank you for always being a
champion of Houston and doingPWB Houston because I have
always felt that Houston doesbelong uh right beside Paris,
London, New York City, uh allthese great cities, because
again, we as you pointed out,we're a very international city
that uh in my travels in thepast number of years, not only
(40:45):
attending PW events in othermajor cities, but just in my
travels, I all wherever I go, Imeet somebody that has a friend
or family member in Houston.
And it's pretty amazing to me.
Uh Houston is my home.
Kayvan Mashayekh (40:57):
It's it's my it might it's where my heart
will always be because you knowuh I was I was raised here and
uh my education I mean I was Ialways say this, you've heard
this many times before.
I mean, I uh I went to juniorhigh, high school, college, and
law school within a five-mileradius of my house.
So it took a while for me toget out of this town to kind of
go and explore the world.
But the the the the impact thatthis city has had on the
(41:19):
development of me, not justpersonally, but also
professionally.
And when I travel outside theUnited States, they can never
believe that I come fromHouston, Texas.
I mean, yes, they can say, Oh,you get a little bit of this,
and no, you're not from there.
You're not yeah, and I tellpeople, I am.
You don't understand whatHouston's all about because it
is this multi-ethnic quilt ofethnicities that comes together
(41:41):
to make the city what it is.
And with that, we're gonna wrapit and we're gonna thank
Charles Acosta, our champion.
But thanks again, everybody.
And we're gonna we're gonna beuh wrapping up uh here right
now, and uh our final podcastwill be from London, England,
where I will be doing a talkwith uh Dr.
Edward Frankel of theUniversity of Berk University of
(42:02):
California, Berkeley, uh onhuman intelligence versus
artificial intelligence at theFocus London Conference.
And that will be an incredibleway to end the year before we
engage on a lot more podcasts.
Thanks to Charles, who keepspushing me.
We got to keep doing this.
This is awesome.
We have we have we have we havewe have to build out, build
out.
But you know, it's people likeyourselves that you know make
(42:24):
PWB great.
So thank you very much.
And we'll see you next time.
Alfred Cervantes (42:27):
Thank you for having me.
I have one more thing to sayfilmhouston.com.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.