The Southern Kentucky Film Commission brought in a whopping $4 million for their record-breaking year of 2024. They had big-name celebrities and production companies like Sony and Lionsgate in the area.
They’re a nonprofit currently run by a team of women from the Glasgow-Barren, Cave City, Edmonson and Horse Cave/Hart County tourism offices.
The film commission’s biggest project of 2024 was the filming of The Gunslingers, starring Nicolas Cage, Heather Graham, Scarlet Rose Stallone and Stephen Dorff.
The western was mostly filmed in Cave City’s Guntown Mountain and is set to be released in 2025.
Another notable project was a music video for “you look like you love me” by Ella Langley, featuring Riley Green.
They also filmed at Guntown Mountain after the production team was impressed by The Gunslingers’s set.
“You look like you love me” won the 2024 CMA Award for Musical Event of the Year.
Maclean Lessenberry, president of the Southern Kentucky Film Commission, listed many reasons why the South-Central Kentucky area is so appealing, including the locals.
“Southern hospitality is something we hear over and over again that people want to come back because of how friendly everyone is, how excited everyone is about filming in the area, wanting to be involved and honestly how easy it is,” Lessenberry said. “People are willing to help, and we are able to facilitate all that for folks and any productions that come in, so we try to make it a really seamless process for people.”
Production companies also particularly love the Barren, Edmonson and Hart County land, which SOKY film commission’s calls Kentucky’s backlot.
“We are one of the few organized film commissions in the state of Kentucky, and we cover three different counties, so we are a pretty big piece of land,” she said. “We have lots of options. Every county is really geographically different and that, kind of, is why we branded ourselves that way.”
The commonwealth also has a generous film incentive, with an up to 35% refundable tax credit on qualifying expenditures. That is one of the qualities they tout at tourism conferences around the country.
“So we attend multiple different conferences or film markets every year, networking, talking to folks about Kentucky’s film incentive, which is a really big piece of how we market ourselves and really just making sure we’re having solid meetings with people, touching base with people who have filmed here before and keeping the momentum going,” Lessenberry said.
For 2025, the commission wants to continue that upward momentum.
“No matter whether they’re feature films or not, it’s the bigger economic impact and that’s always the goal behind Southern Kentucky Film Commission, is economic impact in our small towns, in this rural part of Kentucky, and making sure that we’re a film destination,” Lessenberry said. “I feel like 2024 really solidified our footprint there.”
The SOKY Film Commission is always looking for locals to get involved in the feature films, music videos, documentaries and docuseries they work on.
While they can’t currently release any information on future projects due to the fluidity and privacy of Hollywood, Lessenberry is looking forward to bringing 2024’s positive energy and feedback into 2025.
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Published: Jan. 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM CST