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City proclaims Film Day, approves $309,439 rebate for independent film 'Nostalgia'
Summary
Oklahoma City proclaimed Jan. 14 as Film Day and unanimously approved a joint resolution to allocate a $309,439 rebate from the city's film incentive program for the feature film code-named 'Nostalgia.'
Mayor David Holt read a proclamation the council adopted declaring Jan. 14, 2025, Film Day in Oklahoma City and recognized the Oklahoma City Film and Creative Industries Office and local production partners for recent industry growth.
Later in the meeting the council unanimously approved a joint resolution with the Economic Development Trust to allocate a $309,439 rebate to an independent feature film the film office identified as code-named "Nostalgia." Jill Simpson of the Oklahoma City Film and Creative Industries Office presented the application and the staff recommendation.
Simpson said the production has an estimated budget of about $8.5 million and intends to shoot most of its practical-location scenes in Oklahoma City between early February and early March, with a few days in Los Angeles. The production anticipates hiring 85% of crew locally and forecasting roughly $6.2 million in Oklahoma City-qualified expenditures; the film qualified for the city's 5% rebate level because the production expects to meet other program thresholds but, as presented, would not reach the local 10% tier unless a higher share of filming days were moved to Oklahoma City.
Staff presented economic-impact estimates prepared with the state and chamber modeler: an estimated $14.3 million total economic impact statewide for the project, about 812 direct and indirect jobs supported, and qualifying local labor income of roughly $4.1 million. The city’s recommended rebate of $309,439 reflects the program calculation at the 5% level based on the qualifying expenditures presented.
Simpson said the production schedule was “in flux” and that staff will verify that the production meets program thresholds before executing final contracts; she told council that if the project falls below the program’s 50% local-filming threshold staff would notify council and deal with contract terms at that stage.
Council unanimously adopted the joint resolution; staff will finalize the rebate contract and monitor the production schedule and local hire commitments when completing the contract.
