shoot for the stars

San Antonio reels in recognition among best cities for filmmakers in 2024

San Antonio ranked No. 24 out of a total 25 North American cities.

Things are looking up for San Antonio's film scene in 2024, but there's still room for growth. The Alamo City has been deemed the No. 24 best place to live and work as a moviemaker by film industry magazine MovieMaker. That's only a slight drop from its previous rank of No. 22 in 2023.

MovieMaker's annual list ranks the best cities in North America for individuals to live while working in film, based on surveys, production spending, tax incentives, additional research, and personal visits whenever possible. The list is divided into two categories: 25 big cities and 10 smaller cities or towns.

The magazine praised San Antonio's blossoming film groups, unions, and rental houses. The city's rank is also bolstered by its 7.5 percent film incentive, on top of Texas' rebates that can go up to 22.5 percent.

"Notable equipment rental houses include Indie Grip & Lighting, Cinemills TX and Bauhaus Media Group, and local production facilities include Alamo City Studios, Quarter Moon Productions and Geomedia, as well as the city of San Antonio’s SA-CAN Studios, co-located in the San Antonio Film Commission’s office building," the report said, noting the forthcoming Hill Country Studios, a $267 million production hub in the works between San Antonio and Austin.

Also factored into San Antonio's rank were major events like the San Antonio Film Festival and CineFestival that draw in thousands of industry experts, filmmakers, and fans to the city every year.

"CineFestival, the long-running Latino film festival, celebrated its 44th edition this past summer at the historic Guadalupe Theater," the report said. "Presented by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, it emphasized Texas cinema, with bountiful free screenings."

MovieMaker continues, "The San Antonio Film Festival, meanwhile, celebrates its 30th edition this year. Its latest edition, based at the majestic Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, gave out awards aplenty with a strong emphasis on encouragement, positivity, and helping people break into the industry."

But most importantly, San Antonio's affordability solidified its spot among the top 25 big cities in the report. In comparison to other cities on the list – like top-five earner Austin (No. 4) – San Antonio has a much lower cost of living, and there are hundreds of properties throughout the city that are perfect spots for filming.

"[San Antonio has] rolling Hill Country landscapes, dude ranches and farmland just outside of a thriving downtown, and 300 years of architecture, from Spanish colonial missions to dance halls to sleek new buildings to industrial warehouses," the report said. "There are no film permit fees for more than 250 city-owned properties, including the colorful River Walk, Historic Market Square and La Villita Historic Arts Village."

MovieMaker predicts 2024 will be a vast improvement for all members of the film industry after a tumultuous 2023.

"Last year, like the pandemic years, was a time to reset, as much of the industry shut down so striking writers and actors could get the respect and money they deserve for their work," the report said.

The city that earned the crown as No. 1 in 2024 was Toronto, the capital of Ontario in Canada.

Notably absent from the report are Los Angeles and New York. MovieMaker famously excludes them from the big cities list — taking into consideration that both cities are already so packed full of industry creatives and opportunities — and instead focuses on more affordable places in North America.

"It’s easy in New York and L.A. to get trapped in a cycle of doing industry-adjacent jobs that won’t lead to your dream projects, or that leave you too exhausted to make your own films as you endure a long commute and testy roommates," the report's authors wrote. "When you’ve made your breakthrough — when agents and managers and studio executives and fellow filmmakers start demanding regular face-to-face meetings — maybe that’s when it’s time to move to New York or Los Angeles."

Other Texas cities that earned spots in the report include Dallas, which tied for No. 25 with El Paso.

The top 10 places to live in North America for filmmakers in 2024 are:

No. 1 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
No. 2 – Albuquerque, New Mexico
No. 3 – New Orleans, Louisiana
No. 4 – Austin, Texas
No. 5 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
No. 6 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 7 – Miami, Florida
No. 8 – Calgary, Alberta, Canada
No. 9 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 10 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The report can be found on moviemaker.com.

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Red Light

San Antonio City Council votes to end horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

Life for a horse in San Antonio is about to look a lot different. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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