Tyler Morning Telegraph
John Key City/Features Editor
August 8, 2023

​​​​​​​Chandra Eggemeyer, West Texas Field Representative for the Office of the Governor’s Division for Economic Development and Tourism, was in town Tuesday at the regular meeting of the Dumas City Commission on behalf of the Texas Film Commission (TFC) to present the commissioners and Dumas Mayor Bob Brinkmann with an official certificate designating the city as a Film Friendly Texas Community.

“Dumas is now part of a network of over 175 film-friendly-certified communities across the state and is now positioned to provide media productions with increased assurance that your community is industry savy and serious about welcoming their business to Dumas,” said Eggemeyer.  “You are now prepared to accommodate on-location filming activity … and match Dumas businesses with media production related needs and services.  Film-friendly-Texas certification is another avenue to create jobs for the local community and bring production investment into Dumas. … Your work sends a clear message that communities across Texas are ready to welcome media productions in their communities.”

Designation as a film-friendly community has been a long-term goal of Michael Running, the executive director of the Dumas Economic Development Corporation.  He has listed film and television production among the target industries for Dumas and Moore County and created economic incentives to try to attract production companies, with some success.   Carl Watson, the executive director of the Dumas Moore County Chamber of Commerce, joined the effort shortly after arriving in Dumas.  He and Running crafted film production ordinances and a fee schedule modeled after those of Marfa, Texas, site of several major film productions over the years, including the classic film “Giant.”  The Dumas City Commission approved them and voted to formally apply to the state for the designation in 2021.  Approval came in August of 2022. Tuesday’s presentation was the final act in the process for Dumas.  Designation for Sunray, Cactus, and the rest of Moore County is in the works.  Amarillo, Canadian, Shamrock, and Childress are other Panhandle cities in the program

Inclusion in the program brings a number of benefits to Dumas, according to Watson.  “It gives us the opportunity to get our name out there on a state-wide basis,” he said last year.  Dumas is now one of the communities that TFC officials promote to film makers from around the world as they tout the benefits of Texas as a place to make movies, commercials, television series, and even video games.  Dumas will be profiled with pictures of potential shooting locations on the TFC website, and Dumas will have a Film Friendly Texas logo to display on the city and Chamber websites.

Film and television production can bring in a lot of money to a community.  Eggemeyer said Tuesday that statewide, the incentive programs of the TFC, which was created in 1971, had attracted $1.95 billion in local spending and created 183,000 production jobs in the state between 2007 and 2022.

Dumas and the nearby area have already seen some recent film work take place, even before the film-friendly designation, including a Toyota commercial and a feature film from an Amarillo film maker that is currently in post production, according to Watson.  In addition, the makers of the television series “Yellowstone”  filmed scenes in Borger and parts of Carson, Hutchinson and Sherman counties.  They even purchased the nearby historic 6666 Ranch, all 266,000 acres, for the project and future productions.

The Amarillo film maker, Emil Minasyan, who also goes by the name Emil Ink, premiered the trailer for his sci-fi movie, “Dead Community Guild,” in Dumas last fall.  It was shot in and around Dumas and stars Eric Roberts.  It also has Dumas’ own Travis Gibbins in a part.  According to Watson, the director is putting the finishing touches to post production and plans to premier the movie in Dumas in the near future.

Watson said he knows of other productions that could possibly find their way to Dumas in the next year or so, adding that the film-friendly designation makes it easier to reach out to film makers and let them see what Dumas has to offer.  

Texas has been a popular choice for film makers over the years, and some of the most important films ever made have been shot in Texas, including the Academy-Award-winning “Hud,” starring Paul Newman, which was filmed in Claude.  Other Academy-Award-winning movies shot in Texas include Giant, The Last Picture Show, Tender Mercies, Places in the Heart, No Country For Old Men, Terms of Endearment, and others.

Originally published on moorenews.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.