Announced this morning, MovieMaker magazine has crowned Kansas City as one of the Best Places to Live and Work as Moviemaker in 2021. This is the third-consecutive year Kansas City, Missouri, has received the honor from the trade publication and its second year in the Big Cities category, ranking #21 along destinations such as Seattle, Portland and Washington, D.C.
Appearing online and in the magazine’s Winter 2021 edition, on newsstands Feb. 2, the accompany article draws attention to the region’s rich film history, through Walt Disney’s first animation studio to the 100th anniversary of AMC Theatres. The city’s diverse landscape, broad base of local talent and the ease of working with the KC Film Office were also cited as factors for KC’s selection.
"The Kansas City region is famous for producing moviemakers and stars, from Robert Altman to Don Cheadle to Janelle Monáe to Paul Rudd, and it clearly has its eye on producing the artists of the future,” said MovieMaker Editor-in-Chief Tim Molloy. “We were impressed by how friction-free the KC Film Office makes things for moviemakers, offering a wide array of locations with no permits. But what we hear most about Kansas City is how much moviemakers appreciate the community and livability of Kansas City, especially at a time when we're all looking for more simple friendliness."
Today’s announcement comes at an extremely active period for the KC Film Office, a division of Visit KC. The group assisted with the safe production of 193 new film projects in 2020, including the feature-films The Stylist and My Sweet Holiday as well as commercial projects for Country Crock, Adidas and Tostitos. The local estimated economic impact of all projects filmed in 2020 totaled $11.2 million, up from $10.2 million in 2019.
Supporting the local industry is our number-one priority,” said KC Film Commissioner Stephane Shannon. “Rankings such as these play a significant role in marketing KC as a film-friendly destination, particularly with content in demand now more than ever. I’m particularly proud that KC’s creative network of more than 700 production professionals received special attention in this article. Their craft, talent and hard work often go unnoticed but are still critical to our city’s growth within this important industry.”
MovieMaker determined winners using surveys, research on tax incentives, information on recent productions and personal visits to most of the locations on the list, as well as the best available information on how they’re coping with the pandemic.
To see the complete article and the full list of rankings, visit moviemakermagazine.com. For more information about the KC Film Office, go to FilminKC.com.
About the KC Film Office
The KC Film Office leads the city’s efforts to attract film, television and new media productions to the community. A division of Visit KC, the Film Office focuses on three core priorities: production assistance, project recruitment and industry support. To date, the Film Office has assisted more than 1,200 productions of all sizes generating an economic impact of more than $60 million. For more information, go to FilminKC.com.