Josh Brandon never thought he would wind up making movies in Guthrie. After all, he barely knew what Oklahoma was.
Brandon, who was born in Sydney, Australia, knew the United States offered a better chance to pursue his passion of film making than did his homeland.
“I didn’t know that I would wind up in Guthrie,” Brandon said. “I’d never heard of Guthrie. I had barely heard of Oklahoma when I was a kid. But I always wanted to end up in the US because there isn’t much of an industry in Australia for (independent) films or for television shows.”
When Brandon was 24, he moved to Los Angeles, where he started writing and directing for independent movies and television shows. When preparing to write and direct his first feature film, “A Thousand Little Cuts”, Brandon’s producing partner, Peter Foldy, came to him with some advice.
“Peter Foldy had directed a film in Guthrie in 2018 called ‘Love on Repeat,’ and he had such a wonderful experience in Guthrie,” Brandon said. “Everybody just welcomed them with open arms. When I told him I wanted to do this film he said, ‘You have to do it in Guthrie.’”
Through location scouts, runins with the locals, and filming, Brandon got to experience the town up close and personal. He enjoyed the daily interactions with intrigued citizens, befriending several.
“In Australia, everybody is kind of your friend,” Brandon said. “They’re very easy going and that is the kind of feel I get from Guthrie people as well.”
This year, when he received the script he is currently filming, “Black Bags,” Brandon didn’t need anyone to tell him where to film.
“When I read “Black Bags” and it was set in a small town I thought ‘Well, Guthrie is prefect for that,’” Brandon said. “And this time, we get to show off the city. We get to show Oklahoma Avenue walking down, we see Mark’s Drugstore, we’re going to see Lintz department store and all that sort of stuff and get to enjoy the small-town aesthetic of Guthrie and put it on film as a bit of a love letter to small-town America.”
It’s not just Brandon with a special affinity for creating movies in Guthrie. According to Guthrie Tourism Director Justin Fortney, around 15 crews come to town each year to shoot at least a scene.
“Everybody assumes that films shoot here for the buildings, which is true, we do have unique architecture, that doesn’t hurt,” Fortney said. “But a lot of it is just convenience.”
Oklahoma has incentive legislation in place, dictating if a certain amount of crew members hail from the state, up to 30% of local expenditures are rebated back. Fortney personally does many things to attract movie crews. As the city’s point man, he answers phone calls from directors around the clock and allows them to do things like park equipment trucks in streets.
“We’re thorough and we do what we need to do to be good stewards of public property, but we don’t put a thousand layers of bureaucracy into the process,” Fortney said.
The relationship between movie crews and the town is a two-way street. Guthrie makes itself as friendly as possible to crews because there are economic benefits to playing host.
“The whole fundamental reason we make it easy and accessible for films is it really does bring an awful lot of money to the community for business owners, hotels and restaurants, just the tax base in Guthrie,” Fortney said.
Guthrie doesn’t host conventions like Oklahoma City does, so Fortney views movie crews as a Guthrie’s version of a convention.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Oklahoma remained just open enough for crews to continue shooting, while other more traditional movie-friendly states like California and Georgia were locked down.
“It boosted Oklahoma in the eyes of the film industry because so many folks came and filmed here last year out of necessity and then they were like ‘Hey, this is actually a really great place to shoot movies,’” Fortney said.
People within the movie-making industry have gradually become comfortable with Guthrie.
“They know people, there’s many return folks that know… the fabric of the community so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time they come here,” Fortney said.
Because most people in the industry are contractors, many of the directors and crew often return to the same town as part of a different crew. This allows them to get to know people in town and build meaningful relationships.
Brandon got to know the owners of Roma’s in Guthrie simply by eating dinner there regularly. They offered Brandon chairs and tables for props, and even volunteered to play basketball as extras for a scene. Since Roma’s is closed Monday, they allowed Brandon to transform it into a set for a day.
“That sort of embodies for me the Guthrie spirit,” Brandon said. “Just people who make this town their own and who are happy to help their fellow travelers.”