A Paducah-based marketing agency is launching a Western Kentucky Film Commission.
20/20 Xtreme co-owner Jon Deaton held a launch meeting Thursday at the Paducah School of Art & Design. The Paducah Convention & Visitors Bureau co-sponsored the event.
Deaton said Governor Matt Bevin’s budget proposal to shutdown the state film incentive program would give the new commission a slight advantage.
“We feel that the two year moratorium of the incentives won’t hold us back,” Deaton said. “We feel that gives us two years to really be up and running so we can compete when those tax incentives come back.”
The state requires a $250,000 minimum for companies producing films and TV shows in Kentucky in order to receive tax incentives.
Deaton says west Kentucky has a ‘plethora’ of creative talent and geographic assets that film companies are looking for.
“For too long we’ve all been trying to do our own thing as individual video production companies, as individual counties and communities, and ultimately pooling all of our resources together we stand much more to gain,” Deaton said.
The Western Kentucky Film Commission will be funded through membership and meetings will be held around the region.
While the commission includes the Purchase Area, the region’s largest city Paducah is home to the River's Edge International Film Festival and the Cinema Systers Film Festival.
Famous films that have been shot in the region include How the West Was Won and In Country.
