Kayvan Mashayekh 0:03

Hi everyone, uh welcome to Producers Without Borders. Our podcast today is from Houston, Texas, my hometown. I couldn't be happier and prouder to have my dear friend Alfred Cervantes, who I've known for I want to say umptien years, but let's say 23 since childhood. And uh I'm very grateful to have him here. He is the Houston Film Commissioner, and he's going to be talking a lot about the new state tax incentives here in the state of Texas, and also the Houston tax incentive. And everybody always asks me, you know, with all the events that we do globally and all the connectivity and all the people that we bring together from different walks of life and different professions that feed into the ecosystem of producers without borders in the entertainment business, why have we chosen Houston? Well, Houston is the most important city in the world to me because I everything that I developed as a filmmaker is the skills, the personality, the uh the camaraderie, the ability to bring people together, I learned right here in my hometown of Houston, Texas. So uh, and I couldn't be prouder of this individual, uh Alfred, who's been with the Houston Film Commission now for 30 years and has done an exemplary job in trying to promote Houston internationally, to create opportunities for filmmakers and creatives from all over the world to come here and uh engage and and and really tap into what the city is all about. But I'm not gonna say anything else anymore. I'm gonna introduce you to Alfred. Alfred, take it away from here.

Alfred Cervantes 1:29

Take it away. Kayvan, welcome home, by the way. Thank you. Um very happy to be here. Thanks for having me on the Producers Without Borders podcast. Um we are here, you are here in town, so we can do the PWB Houston dinner, which this is the fourth year uh that we are doing that here uh in Houston, in addition to all the other amazing cities that you do your event in. So thank you very much for uh uh doing that.

Kayvan Mashayekh 1:55

Let's let's jump right in and and and it's answer my question. Let's go and find out why Houston, why is Houston something that should be on people's radar uh regarding creativity and and in this whole new uh opportunity where uh we are engaging in a new battlefield, so to speak, of content creation where the the creators are king. Uh IP is is the name of the game now, and if you know how to control your IP and create content, which is very easy now uh when it comes to uh filmmakers having access to resources that they didn't have when we started 10, 15 years ago. Um so let's go ahead and talk about that.

Alfred Cervantes 2:32

Yeah. Um well um I would say that there's always been filmmaking in Houston, although we've never been really known as a film town, right? Um movies have been made uh uh all different places since movies being started being made, right? Since the 1920s. In fact, the first Oscar-winning film, Wings, was made in Texas. So they shot around Houston, they shot around San Antonio, and it was mostly in biplanes, right? Uh this was like 1929, I think, something like that. But anyway, uh that was one of the first winning film that won an Oscar for Best Picture. But uh so there's always been a rich history of movies being made in Texas. Again, that uh Houston has had filmmaking, but we were not known as a film town. Now, as you mentioned or alluded to, uh things are changing and things are a little bit different than they used to be, right? Uh Los Angeles is the film center, has been uh in New York, a lot of stuff going on there. But people can make films outside of those areas and make good pictures. And so uh the name of the game lately has been these the incentives, right? So um it when I first started in film in the early 1990s here in Houston, working on studio level projects. We've had uh feature films in the early mid-90s. Some of the famous ones are uh Reality Bites, part of Logan's Run. We had a part of part of Apollo 13. Uh these are some of the films that I worked on in the early mid-90s, but uh that was before incentives were a thing. And now uh a big component of where a producer will select to film is what does your state and what does your city have to offer to help uh go on location and film there, right? So it's kind of a competition with a lot of different places now. Now, Houston, as the fourth largest city in the country, we have everything you need, basically. We have a great infrastructure. Uh sometimes I forget how lucky we are here in Houston that you can fly directly to 70 different countries from our airport, our international airport, which is astounding almost, right? So um it's incredible. Um, but we also have a lot of different looks. We're 45 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. So we have beach, we have piney woods, we have flat farmland, we have all these looks within a 60-mile radius that uh for people to tell their stories. And now, lately, starting this past September 1st, we have a very competitive state level incentive and a new local incentive. So that's where where we are and we're excited about that.

Kayvan Mashayekh 4:56

Yeah, tell us a little bit more about that because when I I was not able to avail myself of those incentives when uh I made my film here, which is how I met you. I ironically, when I was looking for a distributor, uh you had uh introduced me to this amazing guy. Uh his name is Charles Acosta from Arrival Pictures, who ended up becoming not just my friend, but my distributor for uh uh a film that had a single print release that went out to five different prints in 53 weeks across the United States, and it was all because of you and that introduction that you made. So you are uh the in the embryonic stages of how PWB was created, it was these kinds of connections that uh that stood the test of time through the friendships and the uh acknowledgement of the people that are worthwhile, that are trusty, that are authentic, that have integrity, that have loyalty, are that's exactly how the genesis of PWB was first planted in this uh basically like this desert uh of landscape of when you're trying to connect with people in an entertainment business, but you don't know if they're legitimate or not. So and and to and to also further what you're saying, you know, the the fact that this city has 90 over 90 consulates uh here, that means it's an incredibly international city. So for a guy who's created Producers Without Borders, this is incredibly uh uh opportunistic for me to be able to understand that there are people from all over the world here that I can, you know, get information regarding what is it like in that culture? What's the language? What's it what what are the power how do those people actually uh fit into the the the this whole matrix that I'm trying to create of bringing people not just from the outside of this country to hear to to uh to avail themselves of all the great things that we have here, but also learn from them and take our things and and and shoot it over there. You know what I'm saying? So it's it's this kind of a cross-promotional thing that I'm I'm working on um in in and letting people understand what uh what we're doing. So uh please tell us a little bit more about what the exactly the uh state tax incentives are in in Texas and also the the bump that you get now in Houston.

Alfred Cervantes 7:01

Okay. Um I'll do that, but first I want to uh let the audience know that this podcast is being recorded by Charles Acosta, who you met was your film distributor so many years ago, uh, who now owns a media services company and Texas in Texas and moved into the podcast recording space. So uh he's uh Charles is still in production. We're still all friends this many years later.

Kayvan Mashayekh 7:28

You mean it's not his AI sitting over there! No, it's the real thing. I mean it's the real thing. I can attest to that.

Alfred Cervantes 7:31

He's the real deal, and uh for sure. And uh again, way back when when I referred him to you, and still uh, of course, I would uh refer him to anybody looking for information and help and resources and things like that. So uh as somebody that's been in uh the media Texas space for many, many, many years, right? So anyway, but going back to a couple things. One is um this business that we're in is a lot about networking and making connections, right? You don't make a film alone. Um, I have been called this by other people is like a connector because uh something that I do regularly is put people together uh because uh you want to find talented people and put them together to hopefully make things uh here. Uh, or honestly, they'll make something else, but possibly somewhere else too. But still, um uh I've learned this over the years. The best thing I can do as a film commissioner is help a filmmaker, help a director get as close to their original vision as possible, because filmmaking is nothing but a compromise from when you write it to when you make it to when you edit it. You're giving on all the uh reality things that set in, your budget, uh talent availability, all these other things. And so you want to get as close to your vision as possible. So over the many years I've been doing this, that's my goal is to help somebody achieve what they're setting out to achieve in their storytelling, because they should be that's what they should be most passionate about, is that story they're telling. So that's one thing that I strive for is to uh put people together who can make that happen, make it a re realization. And so that the other thing is um, which I'll get to now is the state incentives, right? So um way back when uh Texas's first incentive program was the 2007-2009 legislative session. Back then we were spending a lot of time educating our representatives in Austin on what the film industry is again up against uh with our neighboring states and Canada at that time and a lot of other places where we did not have uh an incentive to attract studio level production, right? So we spent years with uh starting organizations and all this educating our representatives that we are losing uh Texas stories to our neighboring states, uh Louisiana and New Mexico, but then it started to be Canada and other places. And so uh over the many years since 2007-2009 session, um the Texas the state uh government has assigned the Texas Film Commission a certain amount of money to use as rebate incentive money or grant incentive money. Um, the problem before this year was that the amount of money they were giving them had fluctuated wildly every two years. So even two sessions ago, uh, the Texas Film Commission was given $43 million split over a two-year biennium, and the Texas Film Commission ran out of incentive money 14 months into a 24-month program. So, from for for that many months, the remainder of those months, productions that were Texas stories went to other states that had a bottomless bucket of motion picture tax credits to offer. Such as Georgia. So such as Georgia. I I know I don't like saying their name too often, the state name of the state. Uh but yes, that is correct. So, but actually that one went to a different state, which I'm not gonna name, but um, but anyway, we did lose production in the state because we ran out of incentive money. Now, what's amazing and just happened this year is that the state has committed to giving the Texas Film Commission $300 million split every two years over a two-year period for the next 10 years. And that's a game changer for our state. Um, it's the most money they've ever allocated. And giving the Texas Film Commission that longevity, we are now a state that television series can consider as a viable location because they know if they do a season one here of a scripted TV series, if it's successful, they can go on and do five more seasons or seven more seasons, right? So they can guarantee they they'll know that our state has money to accommodate that narrative television series, where in the past and recent years, some narrative scripted television shows picked up and left the state because they were out of incentive.

Kayvan Mashayekh 11:36

So that this brings up something very interesting to me because uh I want to no, I mean, because this it it comes up and I want to be able to understand it better because I don't. I mean, of course, the most famous person in Texas right now that that is availing themselves of this incentive is uh Taylor Sheridan and and the wonderful series that he does. Uh, you know, they're addictive. And and and it and if he taps into this, how much of it really is left for other filmmakers when when you think about it, it's a one one and a half billion dollars over ten years, correct? Correct. So 150 million a year. So if he uses up, let's say 100 million, there's only 50 million left? Is that how it works? Or please educate me because I just want to kind of know how much of that is uh our filmmakers, independent filmmakers, able to tap into and what's the procedure to go about tapping into those funds.

Alfred Cervantes 12:24

Sure. The uh the new percentages are also something that's very attractive because uh previously, previously to September 1st of this year, the maximum percentage you can ask for back from the state of Texas was 22.5%. That was the highest you can get with um your baseline percentage back plus some uplifts that were available. Now the highest percentage a producer can get uh back from the state of Texas is 31%. So uh a much bigger number than we've ever had before. Now, if you are a producer that uh spends 1.5 million or more in the state of Texas on your production, um, then you can ask for a baseline back of 25% back from the state of Texas. And on top of that, there are a number of uplifts that you can add to that to bring the number up to 31%. And the uplifts are uh I'm let me see if I can remember all of them. There's like six or seven uplifts. One of them is that if you do a certain percentage of your filming in a r in a rural community that has 300,000 or less residents, you can ask for an extra 2.5% back from the state. If you hire 5% of your caster crew that's U.S. Armed Service veterans, you can ask for an extra 2.5% back from the state of Texas. If you work with an institute of higher education by hiring students as interns or PAs or something like that, uh then you can ask for an extra 2.5% back from the state of Texas. If you film in what's deemed an under you underutilized area around the state of Texas, you can ask for an extra 2.5% back. If you are considered to be, as deemed by the Texas Film Commission, a faith-based film, you can ask for an extra 2.5% back. If you are doing a story that relates to Texas heritage or Texas history, you can ask for an extra 2.5% back. If you are, I believe this is one of them, if you are deemed to be a family-friendly film, you can ask for an extra 2.5% back. And then the final one, all those are 2.5%, but the final 1% is if you're a production that commits to spending a certain percentage of your post-production budget in the state of Texas, you get an extra 1% back. And that's where the one comes from in the 31%, right? So all those uplifts are stackable on top of the baseline 25% for a maximum of 35%, 31%.

Kayvan Mashayekh 14:39

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. That is chat Alfred GP, whatever.

Alfred Cervantes 14:43

Oh my gosh.

Kayvan Mashayekh 14:44

That isn't the best explanation I've ever heard in the most most detailed manner. That's very impressive, Alfred. But I want to ask you something. So when they uh when a when a filmmaker submits their budget, uh, what's the time frame from the time they submit their budget to the time just we'll we'll ballpark this from the then the when they go into production after the production ends, what's a time period where they can get their money back? If they have all their ducks in a row, so to speak. Right. Because I think that's what producers are always concerned about. Okay, well, we did everything we could. Why is there a delay in getting our money back from the state, right? And so that's always been a challenge because producers talk and they they they they will scram if they if if if a state doesn't act quickly because they have debt to consider and you know the rest.

Alfred Cervantes 15:27

So, the states out there that have a resellable, transferable tax credit system, some of them have a backlog of years for like brokering those credits and getting the money back, right? So I've heard that about uh some other states that operate on that tax credit mechanism. So um, what Texas does, how it works in Texas, I should say, is that it's a it's a grant, they call it a grant. I say it's actually a rebate because how it works in Texas, if you intend to make your project in Texas, you get into the queue with the Texas Film Commission by submitting your your initial information. And it's a first come, first serve uh program. So um, and it can never be too early to get into their queue. You can actually apply for state incentive monies um 180 days before principal photography. So you can begin the process 180 days before principal photography, but no less than five days before uh principal photography. So you do have to uh have a submit your information. I would suggest having a meeting with them to make sure that you have all your materials submitted. And then it still could take much longer for you to receive your acceptance letter into the program. But once you receive that acceptance letter, you know you're going to get back whatever you whatever your qualified spend is. And it could be, it could fluctuate. Even though you're eligible for 31%, after you make your after you come here, you spend your money, you may only qualify for like 28% back because maybe not everything qualifies as in-state spend, meaning that um they're gonna give you money back on Texas-based crew that you hire, Texas-based cast that you hire, and Texas-based companies that you use as vendors. That's what you're getting money back on. Um so if you use Amazon to order things, you don't get money back on that. Uh, if you use an airline um uh company that's not based in Texas, you don't get money back on that. So again, it's all based on Texas spend.

Kayvan Mashayekh 17:23

Yeah, well, yeah, full disclosure, United Airlines is our sponsor as our brand partner. So that's considered, I guess that's considered Texas-based because it's a very important thing. Well, actually, no, they're in Chicago now. Yeah, they're in Chicago now. If we use United, that's that's that doesn't matter.

Alfred Cervantes 17:37

That doesn't count. I think it's American and Southwest, I believe. I see. So um, but uh but again, anything that's a Texas-based company, whatever you spend, you're eligible to get money back on that. And what they're doing now with this new program is they are hiring a lot of new people to work at the Texas Film Commission. I think they're hiring six additional people just for the incentive department because their goal now is with this brand new program that just became effective September 1st. Their goal is for future productions that that film in the state and are eligible and accepted to the incentive program, they want to get producers a check back between six and nine months after they turn their books in, which is pretty fast.

Kayvan Mashayekh 18:18

If you um I'm sure there's a lot of like minutiae in the details and stuff on, and and that there's all these devil in the details because they'll they'll be scraping through these agreements to make sure that they're complying with the with the with the law. And uh my question is like, for example, uh, you know, if if a Texas-based company, they're using a Texas-based company and that Texas-based company turns around and uses flights from different airlines, what happens then? I mean, they can still get the incentive if if they're using if they're using a Texas-based company or not. Um Because it's if if the if the vendor that they're using is a Texas-based company and those that vendor subs out to get the get tickets, is that acceptable or not?

Alfred Cervantes 18:53

Oh, that's a great question. Um, and like you just mentioned, there's um there's uh minutiae points to this, right? My suggestion would be when uh as a producer, if you're head s heading towards making a feature film in Texas, have a meeting with the Texas Film Commission and ask all these questions. But but very basically, um you are eligible to get money back on Tex whatever you spend with Texas-based companies. That's the very basic incentive program. Yeah.

Kayvan Mashayekh 19:19

Um so let's let's go ahead and uh uh is there any a website or something that you want to kind of uh let people know how they can get all this information very easily? And also not only not only just for the Texas side, from the Houston side, because the Houston side also is is the additional bump that you were talking about where you so eloquently stated the the two and a half percents that led up to the eleven percent, I believe, right? What is that what is it that we kicked up to the thirty-one percent.

Alfred Cervantes 19:42

Oh, all the two and a half bumps uh with the state office, right.

Kayvan Mashayekh 19:45

I just want to make sure that the the audience that's listening to this, if they're curious, where could they go and get this information other than like you know googling it and sells, but I just want them to Right.

Alfred Cervantes 19:53

Well, we're very easy to find. It's filmhouston.com. Okay. Filmhouston.com. Filmhouston.com. Filmhouston.com. I want you to wake up in the middle of the night saying filmhouston.com.

Kayvan Mashayekh 20:08

I want you to wake up in the middle of the night and say pwbnetwork.org, but hey, you know, I don't I doubt you do that either also.

Alfred Cervantes 20:15

Um if I can uh chime on or go on a little bit longer and and talk about the local incentive because that's a brand new thing as well. Uh we knew the new state level incentive was coming, so we've been laying the groundwork for a couple of years now to have a local incentive that producers can use in conjunction with the state incentive, or they can use it else as standalone as well. So we just announced a new City of Houston area local incentive for narrative feature films and narrative television where it's a very basic incentive where we're going to give a producer who's making a narrative feature or a narrative scripted series uh 10% back of what they spend within a 60 mile radius of City Hall Houston, between zero and 60 miles on local cast, local crew, and local vendors. So similar to the state one, but this is strictly for 60 mile radius of City Hall Houston. We're going to give a producer 10% back on qualified those qualifying items with a maximum back per project of 100,000 back per project. So if you are eligible for that full 100,000, that means you spent a million dollars between zero and 60 miles of City Hall Houston making your narrative feature film or your narrative scripted series. And so that's something we just announced a few weeks ago. And there are we already have two projects that wrapped up this fall that took advantage of it. And we have two more that uh we have sent applications to. So it's um uh already being well received, and these are qualifying projects in the millions of dollars, but they know that they can do it here uh cost effectively, and also we have this new local incentive as an extra bump for producers as well.

Kayvan Mashayekh 21:53

This brings me to another uh subject matter, which is the microdramas that you're hearing a lot about recently, especially in the new Hollywood Reporter, which is, by the way, our other brand partner for this. Um there's an article there this this week about microdramas and how much money is going into microdramas, which are basically feature-length films that are chopped up into two-minute segments. And that's uh is does do you think something like that would qualify? Because originally it is a feature-length film that is being shot. But it the format is on a vertical.

Alfred Cervantes 22:22

Right. Uh, because everyone has the uh uh uh an amazing device in their pockets these days and um uh they film, you know, you can film uh video vertically and tell the story, and people watch videos on their phone regularly. I mean, things have changed, right? Um we just were approached recently for our first vertical uh program, and yes, we will treat it like a feature film uh because it's a scripted series, and we will treat it like a scripted series or a feature film. And so they would qualify if they spend a certain amount, like our local incentive uh to get to qualify for our local incentive, you have to uh spend at least $500,000 on your production within that zero to 60 miles. So anything $500,000 or more you can qualify to get money back on. And then the state film commission, the threshold to um apply for their state incentive is you have to spend at least $250,000 in the state of Texas to get their minimal amount, which would be a baseline of 5%, but it can go up from there with those stack of the code.

Kayvan Mashayekh 23:24

That's interesting because I mean microdramas are they they can um I I know the budgets because uh one of our members is is a very prolific producer in that field. Uh and she's done like 112 movies in this area. Uh so she she's told me that uh they can they can range anywhere between 150,000 up to 700,000. And the the way they do the 700,000 budgets is they stack the series to it comes, it's like a a series of films that that's like a version like uh uh season one, season two. But it's not it's not a it's not a reality series, but it's a film that's split into two segments. Yeah. I guess something like that could cooperate. But but uh these are all issues that I think that would come up uh uh when they have the approach the uh That's exactly right.

Alfred Cervantes 24:09

I'm working with producers right now that um so we love working with independent filmmakers, we love working with first-time feature filmmakers, which we've had a number of really good films made in Houston last year that are making the festival circuit this year uh really, really well done. And their budgets were, you know, around a million or something like that. But uh one of the producers recently uh I always ask what your target budget is to see how we can help. And uh one of them, their target budget was just under our threshold. So um I'm hoping they come up with more, you know, we we uh with a little bit more money to make their project because we do have to. Um our incentive program, like any incentive program, is considered to benefit uh or for workforce development, right? So we want to um entice projects with a certain budget so they will hire qualified crew and train crew too, right? That's a big, that's a big um uh a big effort on any of these incentive programs is have consistent sizable production. So you're training crew to work on these sizable productions. And that's where we're at right now, really, here in Houston, is uh we've had regular production of projects between two and three million, and now we have crew that's used to working on the these type, these level projects. The biggest one in the area recently was a $10 million project. So uh and they hired a lot of crew out of Houston as well. So we are building our crew base in the the with features of those budget levels. But yes, we want a project like the the example you just uh put out there is that if they do a series of these um uh narrative scripted verticals, if their budget's 700,000, then yes, we're gonna treat it like a feature film or a regular scripted series.

Kayvan Mashayekh 25:44

So what does it not include? Because I'm it's my understanding uh their uh reality series do not qualify, correct?

Alfred Cervantes 25:50

On the state level, if if a producer is utilizing the state level incentive, reality TV does qualify. Okay. Uh you can be making a lot of different types of projects, scripted tel narrative TV, reality television, of course, independent uh feature films, uh a number of different types of things. Even the state incentive money is also available to video game developers, believe it or not. So it's not just for the motion picture industry, but it's for like media production industries and video game development falls under that as well. Now, our local incentive is strictly for scripted narrative projects, features, and scripted narrative television series. And the reason is that um here in Houston, we have an ongoing commercial market, we have an ongoing reality TV market, and uh we don't need to bolster those areas. Not that we don't need to, but where we've been bringing up uh the rear in Texas as far as productions is the scripted uh feature world and the scripted television world. So we want to um have something to entice those types of productions.

Kayvan Mashayekh 26:51

Right. And you can find out all about that on filmhouston.com because I've been told that that's the website to go to. But anyway, uh that being said, uh I wanted to get your thoughts about what type of movies would you'd like to see come to Houston. I mean, this is a very uh subjective thing. I remember since I've known you for so long, your favorite film that was shot in Houston was Terms of Endearment. Yeah, that's true. So I mean, you know, and you know, Hollywood's of course changed a lot, and that you know, the the but that doesn't mean a uh uh an independent can't come up with a storyline like that that could be shot in River Oaks or, you know, somewhere, you know, around town in memorial area, whatever, around the park or and and have that kind of depth. What what kind of move what kind of movie would make you very, very excited about Alfred Cervantes being with the Houston Film Commission for 30 years, like wow, man, this is the movie that I saw that I'm happy to have helped them get this one off the ground on a personal level because it resonated with you.

Alfred Cervantes 27:52

I tell you what, it's it's from uh again doing this for so long, um, I have learned a number of things. Of course, one is that if you're a producer worth your salt, you can make a movie anywhere with anything if you're driven enough to tell that story, right? So I love meeting filmmakers that are passionate about the story they're telling. A recent one, it was which was not a big film at all. Um, it's a film that was filmed just south of Houston in Dickinson League City area of Houston, that was filmed in the summer of 2024, and it premiered uh the first week of June of this year, 2025, and it w at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and it won the Top Narrative Award uh at Tribeca Film Festival. Now, when the programmers were introducing this film, they let the audience know that for their narrative feature category, they get 5,000 entries. They whittle it down to 12 contenders, and this film that was filmed in Houston won the Top Narrative Award, narrative award of the Tribeca Film Festival. So those are pretty big odds, right? So the movie's called Charlie Bird. It's a debut feature filmmaker named Libby Ewing. She directed it. But Samantha Smart, Sam Smart, she's the writer of the screenplay. She is the producer of the project, Charlie Bird, and she's the lead actor in the movie Charlie Bird. And it's about a music therapist that works in a hospital. She forms a bond with a teenage teenager patient, a young lady, and it's a drama. Um it's it's really a drama. It's not really a dramedy. There's some funny moments in it, but it's really a drama. But it's it's been being been very well received on the festival circuit and very well done for a debut feature. Um, she's working on her next project here, and I uh got a really nice note from Libby the other day because we screened it here in Houston recently. And again, it's been playing all over the country, and it will be out soon, so people will be able to stream it. But I like a good movie, right? Uh that that's a uh story well told. Another film that is on the festival circuit this year is a story about a male nurse who is overworked and tired, and he makes a mistake with a patient, and he can't really recall if he actually made a mistake. Or if it was something that the patient did or whatever. It's called Do No Harm. And it's kind of a thriller. And that's been playing all over the country as well as a film about a nurse, also. They just so happen to be about medical professionals. Houston is known for a number of things. We are known for as Space City, Johnson Space Center. We have the biggest medical center in the world here. It's not surprising that these two filmmakers created these stories around medical professionals here in our city because it's such a big industry here as well. And we had two other movies. Of course, a great one coming out soon is called Love You Bum, a feature documentary about the uh Houston Oilers football coach uh uh Bum Phillips, and that'll be out later at the end of this year. Uh, you know, and in this film, uh I actually learned something about my city, which is about Bum Phillips, that he was kind of, once you see the film, you realize he was kind of the original Ted Lasso as a coach for the Houston Oilers. It's an amazing story that I didn't, I was a you know, I was a tween, I think, when they were famous, uh, the Oilers and going through their heyday. But I learned a lot from watching this uh feature documentary. So so there's been a number of good films coming out of the Houston market recently that are playing in notable festivals, wing it winning awards, and will be on streaming soon. And the goal again is to um with these incentives, the state level incentives and local incentive, is to help tell stories that come out of Houston, right?

Kayvan Mashayekh 31:21

Let's not forget there are some great Houston filmmakers that came out of Houston, too. Not necessarily have have they made their movie in in the city of Houston, or but you know, their footprint around the world is, you know, very well um um recognized, you know. Uh Richard Linklater, uh Wes Anderson. These are Houston filmmakers. Um and Tracy Lehman, I believe, is uh Tracy Lehman. Tracy Lehman, whose film was absolutely beautiful. Bob Trevino likes it. And once again, it was you and Charles that, you know, uh were kind enough to invite me to her her uh party, her after party at South by Southwest, and she ended up winning the festival. And I thought it was such a beautiful, heartfelt story that, you know, with this incredibly gifted filmmaker who who has a very international background and you know, who had suffered so much uh, you know, personal tragedy in her life, and she was able to put together this beautiful story that you could see was like, where did this story come from? You know, that's that's the beautiful thing about Houston. And it's the intangible that not a lot of people talk about. Houstonians are are very giving, they're very um uh thoughtful, they're very conscientious, the ones that I've had the privilege and been blessed to to know for so many years, uh from my advisory board member Arturo Chavez to all the way down to uh you know, the people that I've met through years and years of friendships from law school and college and high school and junior high and all that. It's incredible because you you realize where these stories come from are have a human element that is fully ingrained in the DNA of the city, which is the authenticity, integrity, and and loyalty that I look for in our members at PWB. Now, one of the things I also wanted to mention about that is the fact that even though they didn't they were not able to make their films here before because those incentives were not available, perhaps this is an opportunity for them to revisit that um and understand that you know they there is more to the city now that they had skipped over because of some reason that wasn't uh like for example, Tracy's film uh had to go out of state at the time. I believe it went to the state of Kentucky. I I'm not sure exactly.

Alfred Cervantes 33:35

I wasn't gonna name the state, but whatever.

Kayvan Mashayekh 33:37

I mean, I I I'm I'm a little bit more open than you are, but uh I'm trying to understand because I I I'm trust I'm simply trying to educate myself and and and finding out that the reason why these filmmakers aren't able weren't able to do it because it wasn't available. It's not because of the people that don't want them here. Because people are very kind, they're very open. When you come home from come come to Texas, the first thing I always notice is people don't say, you know, what are you gonna do for me? It's the exact opposite. What can I do for you? Well, it is that reverse psychology that's at play the moment you meet somebody from the state of Texas, especially in Houston where I grew up, that that really opens doors that, you know, uh that's an unquantifiable incentive. And I don't think you talk about that enough, Alfred.

Alfred Cervantes 34:22

Well, um I uh let me talk about Tracy just very briefly because Tracy Lehman is one of my favorite filmmakers. I've known her I've seen all of her short film work that she did over the years. She's my favorite type of filmmaker in that if she tells me she's gonna make a project, she gets it done, no matter what, right? Um and yes, she did go to Different State for her debut feature, which is for your audience, if you want to see a great film, Bob Trevino likes it. Uh it's streamable, you can find it on all the platforms, and it has a great rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Uh, but it's a wonderful film that everybody that sees it really loves it. And now she's writing other scripts that, you know, filmmakers write stories about where they're from, right? Because over the past few years, I was meeting with Tracy about this project, and she did go to a different state strictly for that state's incentives. And what she learned was is that even though the particular state she chose uh had a uh decent incentive, she had to bring in more people than she thought and really did uh kind of offset the incentive they were offering because they didn't have a crew base, right? So you need to go to a market that does have a crew base where you can save that incentive money that you're being promised anyway, right? So she told me, um relayed that story afterwards, but still um it's a great film. I would suggest it to anyone to watch. But uh we're still love Tracy. She's a proud Houstonian, she does spend a lot of time in LA, of course, but we want her to make her next film here in Houston. And exactly right, now we have uh local incentives uh for, you know, it's a business, right? It's a business.

Kayvan Mashayekh 35:54

You use uh Tracy as an example. There's a lot more to Tracy also. Like the fact that, you know, I I know women come from reading about her history, she went to Moscow, learned how to speak Russian, and she spent seven years or six or seven years there. It's incredible. So this is the this is, I think, what Houston lacks the ability to take somebody locally and project them internationally to make people understand that people like that exist in Houston. They come from Houston. And so if you want to make a film in Houston, we're not just a bunch of dumb rednecks. I'm sorry. I mean, I'm just telling you. I mean, I'm I mean, I used to be known as the Persian cowboy, whatever. I mean, I I grew up in another country. I mean, I was born in another country, but I came here as a young man that that you know, what where you're trying to assimilate and and understand what this culture is all about. And yeah, you get roughed up a bit, but at the end of the day, you realize that people in this city value loyalty, integrity, and authenticity. That's the only thing that matters. And these filmmakers have all of those characteristics that you're talking about, the Wes Andersons, the Richard Link ladies, because you see the w movies that they make and they have international impact. So I think that if we project an image uh of our hometown in a way that um that has uh has the promise of the greatest social impact, it's the the the way you can do that is to champion them, whether they make their film in Houston or not, because they are from Houston. And you are all about the greatest things that this the city can then offer filmmakers from outside. And I think uh we're coming up to the end of this podcast. So if you have any questions for me, Mr. Cervantes, I'll be happy to answer them.

Alfred Cervantes 37:34

Oh, it's my turn? Yes, it is.

Kayvan Mashayekh 37:35

Yeah, you have one minute.

Alfred Cervantes 37:42

Um I know you've done PWB at all the amazing festivals around the world. So um for next year, 2026, is there are there any new cities you're adding to your lineup?

Kayvan Mashayekh 37:52

I would love to do Mexico City. Mexico City is uh something that uh is a dream of mine to do. I've I am guilty as charged. I've never been to Mexico City, but I've heard so many great things about it. I have the I know that they have a thriving film community, they have incredible talent, uh beautiful people, and uh it's uh it was brought up to me by by the suggestion, it was brought up to me by you and my advisory board member, uh Arturo Chavez. So, you know, yes, I would like to do it there. Hong Kong is another city, um, that I'd like to to Baku, Azerbaijan is another one, uh, Istanbul, Turkey. These are all places that, you know, if we feel that there is enough interest and and uh and quite frankly, sponsorship that is going to help us do a quality event there, then we are going to put it on our calendar. But but the thing about PWB that you gotta understand, it's not about the events. The events are just refueling stops for the most important thing about the network, which is finding what I call the Dunbar number. The Dunbar number is 150 people that you can find that in your in your circle uh of people that can put things together that nobody else can. And it's based on a British anthropologist's uh analysis. His name is Robin Dunbar, he teaches at Oxford, and he had written about it was written about him uh in a book called uh The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell about two twenty twenty twenty-five years ago or something. And in it he states that the neocortex, your your mind can only handle, as a human being, a certain number of relationships where you can socially engage with people and be active mentally, physically, psychologically, socially, and based on the feudal system of communities working together to get things done. So your Dunbar number it really is a basically an onion layer that you can peel, but the core is what you the is your capacity to engage and socialize and react and and be involved in those people's lives because you don't have a lot of time left. We none of us have a lot of time left. And as we get older, that time collapses and the value and the purpose of those relationships are enhanced. So your ability to be able to do things with your group, with your network, becomes a lot more important. You don't want to waste time. So this is uh this is what I was uh I've always been focused on with PWB. And hopefully as we engage and we go to these other cities that you know I mentioned, if it happens, you want to find those kind of capable individuals that are understand that the ethos of what we're trying to get at.

Alfred Cervantes 40:25

And I want to say thank you for always being a champion of Houston and doing PWB Houston because I have always felt that Houston does belong uh right beside Paris, London, New York City, uh all these great cities, because again, we as you pointed out, we're a very international city that uh in my travels in the past number of years, not only attending PW events in other major cities, but just in my travels, I all wherever I go, I meet somebody that has a friend or family member in Houston. And it's pretty amazing to me. Uh Houston is my home.

Kayvan Mashayekh 40:57

It's it's my it might it's where my heart will always be because you know uh I was I was raised here and uh my education I mean I was I always say this, you've heard this many times before. I mean, I uh I went to junior high, high school, college, and law school within a five-mile radius of my house. So it took a while for me to get out of this town to kind of go and explore the world. But the the the the impact that this city has had on the development of me, not just personally, but also professionally. And when I travel outside the United States, they can never believe that I come from Houston, Texas. I mean, yes, they can say, Oh, you get a little bit of this, and no, you're not from there. You're not yeah, and I tell people, I am. You don't understand what Houston's all about because it is this multi-ethnic quilt of ethnicities that comes together to make the city what it is. And with that, we're gonna wrap it and we're gonna thank Charles Acosta, our champion. But thanks again, everybody. And we're gonna we're gonna be uh wrapping up uh here right now, and uh our final podcast will be from London, England, where I will be doing a talk with uh Dr. Edward Frankel of the University of Berk University of California, Berkeley, uh on human intelligence versus artificial intelligence at the Focus London Conference. And that will be an incredible way to end the year before we engage on a lot more podcasts. Thanks to Charles, who keeps pushing me. We got to keep doing this. This is awesome. We have we have we have we have we have to build out, build out. But you know, it's people like yourselves that you know make PWB great. So thank you very much. And we'll see you next time.

Alfred Cervantes 42:27

Thank you for having me. I have one more thing to say filmhouston.com.