Meet the Woman Leading Kentucky’s Push to Attract Hollywood

I can't believe it's been four years since I learned that the crime thriller Red Right Hand was being filmed right here in Kentucky. Since then, I've periodically checked on filmmaking activity in the Commonwealth and have been rewarded.

Since that time, we've seen a flurry of activity that has included Ethan Hawke shooting a biopic here, Christmas movies being shot in Somerset and Owensboro, and A-listers like Bill Skarsgard and Al Pacino appearing in Kentucky-made projects. Up to that point, I was screaming, "If they make tons of films and TV series in Georgia, why not Kentucky?"

Why not, indeed?

Kentucky Has a New Film Office Chief

Thankfully, someone with far more pull than me wants the same thing to happen. Yes, that was my "Hallelujah" if you heard one. Her name is Meg Fister, and she's been chosen by Governor Andy Beshear to head up the Kentucky Film Office. Her ambitions are right up my alley.

A Kentucky native, Fister has nearly 20 years under her belt in film and television, having held positions at NBC, Universal, and Warner Brothers. Making Kentucky "a premier destination for film and television production" is her top priority. The increasingly invaluable Kentucky Entertainment Incentive merely sweetens the pot.

Kentucky Entertainment Incentive

The KEI is the chief reason we're seeing so many projects coming together here in the Commonwealth. It offers filmmakers refundable tax credits of up to 35% for productions (film or TV) that spend money and hire people in Kentucky.

Producers and directors are always looking for inexpensive shooting locales. It's why so many of them use European sites as doubles for U.S. locations. It's why Marvel movies are shot in Georgia. It's why Vancouver and Toronto have so often doubled for large American cities.