Opinion | Winston-Salem has everything needed to become a film destination — except one thing
By Algenon Cash
Economic development is often measured by the factories a community recruits, the corporate headquarters it lands or the next billion-dollar investment announced with elected officials standing behind ceremonial shovels.
Film production rarely enters that conversation.
It should.
A film production does more than create entertainment. It creates jobs for electricians, carpenters, caterers, truck drivers, security personnel, accountants, hotel workers and countless others. Crews rent vehicles, book hotel rooms, eat in local restaurants and spend money throughout communities that otherwise might never experience that level of private investment.
Film is more than culture. It is commerce.
I recently spoke with Rebecca Mills, executive director of the Piedmont Triad Film Commission, after North Carolina lawmakers approved changes to the state’s film incentive program. While she welcomed the legislation as a step forward, she said it still leaves much of the state at a competitive disadvantage when trying to attract larger productions.
Her concern is not that Charlotte or Wilmington should receive fewer opportunities. Instead, she argues that Winston-Salem, Greensboro and many rural communities deserve a stronger chance to compete.
“It’s business,” Mills said. “It’s big, big business, and it creates well-paying jobs.”
For years, critics have portrayed film incentives as little more than government subsidies for Hollywood. Yet North Carolina routinely competes for manufacturers, aerospace companies, technology firms and distribution centers because policymakers recognize the economic ripple effects those industries generate.
Film deserves to be viewed through the same economic lens.
Unlike many traditional economic development projects, film production is highly mobile.
A manufacturing facility typically concentrates its investment in one location. A film production, however, may establish its headquarters in Winston-Salem while shooting scenes in Rockingham County one week, Surry County the next and Davie County after that. The economic impact travels with the production.
“Film goes out to these rural areas,” Mills said. “They’re spending money and hiring people. In that way, it’s a really unique industry.”
For decades, Winston-Salem has invested in the foundations of a creative economy. The city proudly brands itself as the City of Arts and Innovation. It is home to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, one of the nation’s premier filmmaking programs. It offers historic neighborhoods, former industrial campuses, small-town main streets, modern research facilities and rural landscapes — all within a short drive of one another.
The region has the talent.
It has the locations.
It has the stories.
What it has not fully created is the opportunity.
Each year, North Carolina educates talented filmmakers, cinematographers, editors and production professionals. Too many leave the state because the jobs leave first.
“We are funding these universities that are training people for jobs in this industry, only to have a majority of them leave the state to get work,” Mills said.
That is more than disappointing.
It represents a missed economic opportunity.
The recent changes to North Carolina’s incentive program move the state in a positive direction by expanding support for film production. But Mills believes they stop short of addressing one of the Piedmont Triad’s greatest competitive challenges.
Charlotte and Wilmington have long-established pools of union film crews. Larger productions can reduce costs by filming in those markets because they do not have to transport and house as many workers. Productions considering the Piedmont Triad often must bring in additional union crews, increasing costs before filming even begins.
Mills believes the solution is not to take opportunities away from Charlotte or Wilmington but to help offset the additional costs of filming elsewhere.
“It isn’t about competition with Wilmington or Charlotte,” she said. “It’s just making the state more attractive as a whole.”
This is not a debate over whether Wilmington has earned its reputation as one of the South’s premier production centers. It has.
Nor is it about diminishing Charlotte’s success.
It is about asking whether North Carolina should pursue a strategy that allows more communities to participate in an industry capable of generating millions of dollars in economic activity.
Mills also sees an opportunity for regional collaboration.
“It is an opportunity for the cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point to work together,” she said.
She is right.
The Piedmont Triad has spent years learning that its greatest strength is not the individual identities of Winston-Salem, Greensboro or High Point, but the collective power of the region. That philosophy is increasingly shaping economic development, transportation, higher education and tourism.
Film should be no different.
A production based in Winston-Salem does not benefit only Winston-Salem. It fills hotel rooms across the region, hires workers from neighboring counties, purchases goods and services from local businesses and introduces audiences around the country — and around the world — to communities they may never have otherwise discovered.
That is not just good for the film industry.
It is good for North Carolina.
Lawmakers deserve credit for continuing to strengthen the state’s film incentive program. Incremental progress is still progress. But if the goal is to unlock the industry’s full economic potential, the conversation should not end here.
North Carolina has already demonstrated that it can compete for the industries shaping its future.
The film industry should be one of them.
And Winston-Salem has already assembled nearly everything it needs to become one of the state’s next success stories.
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Algenon Cash is a nationally recognized speaker and managing director of Wharton Gladden & Co., an investment banking firm. He can be reached at alc@whartongladden.com.