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Hollywood came to Tampa last weekend through the 17th annual Gasparilla International Film Festival. Despite record attendance, getting filmmakers to shoot in Tampa may be a tricky task.
Hundreds of people gathered outside of the Tampa Theatre for the opening night of the festival Thursday. It was the world premiere of the film “Cash Out”, with actor John Travolta joining a Q&A after the screening.
Randall Emmet directed the film.
“I mean, just to see all the fans, you know, coming out for John and the rest of the cast – it’s exciting.”
Gasparilla International Film Festival, which spanned 4 days, saw a record turnout. Ferdian Jap is the marketing and PR director of the festival.
“It’s our biggest crowd that we’ve experienced at the festival, attendance-wise, probably since COVID.”
Jap says filmmakers fall in love with the Tampa Bay area at the event but often hesitate to shoot here.
“When they’re at the film festival, they’re like ‘Oh my god this place is amazing, you can have the beach, you can have a big city feel, you can have a historical feel with Ybor, you can shoot anything here. Small town, big town whatever. But when the language of incentives comes up, it’s always an issue.”
Florida is one of only five states without a state film commission office. Currently, Hillsborough and Pinellas County offer some incentives for productions.
