Let’s Make Some Movies

Film Commissioner Linn Sitler has worked behind the scenes for decades to expand film production in Memphis.

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Features

Lloyd Binford would not have approved of Linn Sitler. He’s long gone now, but for 27 years — ending in 1956 — he ran the Memphis Censor Board and prevented scads of films from being shown in the city, mainly because they offended his segregationist sensibilities.

How times have changed. To paraphrase the legendary film producer Samuel Goldwyn, “If Lloyd Binford were alive today, he’d be spinning in his grave” — and not just spinning because of motion pictures screened in Memphis, but because of many that have been filmed here. (Imagine poor Lloyd experiencing, say, Hustle & Flow.)

For that, we can thank the efforts of Sitler, Commissioner of the Memphis and Shelby County Film and Television Commission for nearly 40 years. Before she started to recruit projects to Memphis and Shelby County, only a tiny handful of movie and television projects were made here. During her tenure, she’s been at the forefront of the effort to attract productions including feature films, documentaries, commercials, music videos, television shows, online content, and photo shoots.

In its 2024 fiscal year, the Commission’s 44 productions brought in $1,297,507 in direct spending with 386 jobs created. The industry swings wildly in impact for a variety of reasons; the 2023 fiscal year saw a direct-spend total of $15,562,096 with 2,180 jobs created. That bump was largely thanks to NBC-Universal’s Young Rock series.

Film and movie projects come and go, but for Sitler and her team, it’s about maintaining a steady presence and respected reputation. And it’s important to note that the Commission is neither an arts organization nor a trade association. It’s all about economic development, whether through local hires and vendors, boosting tourism, or developing training opportunities.

The Commission has managed to maintain momentum for four decades by staying attuned to client needs, even as the industry evolves rapidly. When she started recruiting projects, she was able to convince major clients to come to Memphis by offering diverse locations, convenience, and effective support. Producers and directors liked the experience, especially the availability of locations, and they talked up Memphis as a good place to bring projects. But then the industry started changing. In the 1990s, Canada was offering financial incentives to film and TV projects. The trend was observed with interest by state governments that wanted a piece of the pie. Louisiana and Georgia put together robust incentive programs that have, over time, lured away Tennessee residents who have skills as crew members, since Tennessee doesn’t compete dollar-for-dollar in film incentives.

She couldn’t have imagined that today, she would be the longest consecutively serving film commissioner in the world. But her path started with picking up local and international broadcasting credits as a producer, writer, and on-camera personality.

What worked in the past was now subject to what the accountants were calculating in profits for the studios. But even if Tennessee doesn’t have blockbuster incentives, it still has some lures and the city and county have been able to make those work. Since 2011, Memphis has hosted productions including Sun Records, the critically acclaimed Free in Deed, the independent feature Brian Banks (directed by Tom Shadyac), the Oscar-winning documentary Undefeated, the Netflix film Uncorked, and Hallmark’s Christmas at Graceland. Also based here were Bluff City Law (for its one season) and Young Rock, which shot its third season here.

Big projects always get the spotlight, but from the beginning, the Commission has assisted endeavors on many scales. And as the big projects started to recede, independent filmmaking gained ground here, so there has been a steady stream of work for the Commission team to make happen.

Backstory

Sitler came to Memphis when her father, U.S. Air Force Colonel Fred Harry Sitler, was assigned as commander of the Memphis Defense Industrial Plant Equipment Center in 1965. He retired here and the family — Linn’s mother, Edna Beck Sitler, and Linn’s two siblings — settled in. Linn attended Central High School and went on to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and then got her MA at the University of Memphis with a concentration in TV and film, presaging her long career in the industry.

She couldn’t have imagined that today, she would be the longest consecutively serving film commissioner in the world. But her path started with picking up local and international broadcasting credits as a producer, writer, and on-camera personality. She was a co-host on WHBQ-TV’s PM Magazine, which she says was “the best TV job in Memphis.”

But in 1984, she left for even bigger possibilities. A California-based production company that made syndicated travel segments hired Sitler to do on-site reporting, traveling first-class to such locales as Israel, Chile, Fiji Islands, and China. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy just months after she was hired, however, and she was one of the first to be let go.

She was tempted to stay out West and give Hollywood a try, but it was a tough town and all she really got was an offer to interview for the Playboy Channel as a feature reporter. And she was homesick, so she drove back to Memphis — but found nothing of great interest. She did revive her association with PM Magazine in the Carolinas, but it wasn’t the right fit. So Sitler moved on, and wrote features for the Nashville Scene and Nashville Magazine.

Her father wasn’t impressed by her take of $75 per article. “He said if I wrote 10 a day, I might be able to support myself,” Sitler says. A regular paycheck and benefits were going to have to be part of her plan. She joined the Tennessee Film, Tape and Music Commission, but finding it too political, decided to move along. Still, her time there opened the door to what was then called the Memphis & Shelby County Film, Tape, and Music Commission. The then-director was the redoubtable Martha Ellen Maxwell — who was leaving and wanted Sitler to take her place.

“I thought, well, I’ll come back to Memphis for a year,” Sitler says. That was 1987. She miscalculated just a bit.

The Cast and Crew

Sitler is quick to point out that the projects that come to town are a result of a spectrum of people who pitch in. For most of her tenure, the Deputy Film Commissioner has been Sharon Fox O’Guin, who handles the day-to-day business.

O’Guin says, “People think that the Commission is some big, huge conglomerate thing, but it’s really Linn. I work behind the scenes, but Linn is the one out there asking the tough questions and talking with the mayors and doing all of that. And the fact that she’s made it through all of these administrations — when they could have replaced her — says a whole lot.”

New to the organization is Alphonzo “Al Kapone” Bailey, an award-winning rapper, songwriter, and producer who is a music consultant with the Commission. “I’m always an advocate for Memphis in general and anything that relates to music,” he says. He’s there for any Commission client that needs a music angle, “based on what they’re looking for when it comes to films, what kind of music they need in particular scenes, or whatever the case may be. I can give them options of people that they can communicate with to make sure it’s a fit for what they’re looking for. It’s important to let them know that the Commission offers a lot of the things that they only thought went to big films. The Commission offers those same services to them as well — and it’s free.” 

Since the beginning, Sitler has worked with the members of the Commission Board, a who’s-who of influential people that included Richard Ranta, Jimmy Tashie, Herbie O’Mell, Knox Phillips, David Porter, Estelle Axton, Tajuan Stout Mitchell, Art Gilliam, Susan Murrmann, Fabian Matthews, Gale Jones Carson, and O’Farrell Shoemaker. And then there’s the succession of city and county mayors as well as council members and commissioners who have been willing to make crucial phone calls when needed.

Throughout it all, Sitler has been at the forefront, adapting to industry changes and tending to details. “Every year we change,” she says. “We have [adapted to the change] in focus from studio pictures to independent filmmaking. We have changed within the office, so that I’m working more on special projects and sales. Sharon [Fox O’Guin] is more hands-on, and Al [Kapone] brings a lot to the table, not just in music, but he knows locations that we don’t know. The longer he’s here, the more he’s going to be doing.” 

Another way the Commission has cultivated the city’s role in the industry is with apprenticeships and workshops. “We started an apprenticeship program when Mark Luttrell was county mayor,” she says. “The idea was to place trainees on a big-budget movie and have them learn the big budget ways. And then even if they never worked on another big budget movie, they could take that experience, those procedures, and use them on an independent film.”

One of the current apprenticeships is at WKNO-TV Channel 10. “Three high school graduates are researching and interviewing local historians in preparation for the airing of the Ken Burns series on the American Revolution,” she says.

Hits (and a Few Misses)

While Sitler started as Commissioner in 1987, it took a few attempts before she found success. She says, “If we had not had Mystery Train, we probably would have gone out of business because although in the beginning we had a lot of huge near hits, they turned into even bigger, very public misses.”

Notable was Taylor Hackford’s film Everybody’s All-American (released in 1988), which was practically a lock for Memphis. It was a $60 million film starring Jessica Lange and Dennis Quaid. But Lange would not be available to shoot until winter and it had to look like fall and it was decided that Memphis wouldn’t be convincing in that role. So it went to Louisiana.

Sitler said, “I really felt like I was going to be fired because I’d spent the whole summer working on one project, even though I wasn’t. Then we took another blow, which was Elvis and Me, a mini-series based on the book by Priscilla Presley.” But they weren’t going to be able to close Graceland during the shoot, so they found a substitute house in California.

And then came Mystery Train, possibly saving Sitler’s job and launching an era of filmmaking in the Mid-South.

A key strategy of the Film Commission was to present Memphis as someplace that could fit any director’s vision. Milos Forman shot Memphis as Ohio. Memphis’ varied looks helped convince Francis Ford Coppola to shoot The Rainmaker here. Memphis was glad to cooperate by offering courtrooms and courthouses.

It was shaky at first. Someone from Mayor Dick Hackett’s office called her and asked why they were filming on unsightly South Main and not a nicer part of town. The director was Jim Jarmusch, with only a handful of titles to his name and some locals were nervous. They went to Blockbuster to check out what he’d done, hoping it wasn’t porn.

But Jarmusch was already a celebrated indie filmmaker, and his style was to shoot in less pristine parts of a city. And he was drawn to South Main. It was quite the experience for the locals as it was the middle of summer and everyone on the crew dressed all in black.

The first film of the new era was a success, but as an indie project, it wasn’t considered a major motion picture. That came next with the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder. It was neither a commercial nor critical success, but for Memphis, the ball was rolling. Sitler says, “Great Balls of Fire established that Memphis could support a studio picture. I’ll never forget my happiness at recruiting it, because the Hollywood Reporter magazine had already run a story saying it was going to be shot in Louisiana because they had more period buildings there.”

Other projects were being filmed in Memphis as well, including the ABC series Elvis: Good Rockin’ Tonight and the action-thriller film Trespass with Ice Cube and Ice-T.

Memphis hit the big time with 1994’s The Firm, the first John Grisham film to be made in the city. The director was Sydney Pollack, who had already done Absence of Malice, Out of Africa (for which he won the Best Director Oscar), and Tootsie. At first, he was not terribly sold on Memphis. Sitler says, “I remember he kept looking for what he called the ‘visual,’ the image of the city. We explained it was spread out.”

To the rescue came Michael Hausman, one of the main producers and a production manager. He, Sitler, and others went scouting, taking photos and videos. Sitler says, “He photographed all of the biggest buildings and in such a way, looking up at them and everything, that showed we could make Memphis look like he wanted it to look.” That went a long way to sealing the deal that brought Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, and Hal Holbrook to town and earned two Oscar nominations (one for Holly Hunter, and one for sound).

Another key to making it happen was Mayor Willie Herenton’s offer of free city services. Sitler said, “But he did it after he walked into where they were building the sets and, walking through, asked workers, ‘Are you local?’ The crew member said, ‘Yes,’ and he went to the next one. ‘Local? Local? Local?’ ‘Yes, yes, yes.’” The production company ended up spending $6.5 million in the city.

This was all before cash or tax credit incentives had entered the picture. But Memphis had been preparing, with the city, county, and film commission working together to provide a film-friendly environment. They knew they had a leg up and could respond well when someone came by to scout the area, but there were never any guarantees — not even for John Grisham movies. Sitler said that back in the ’90s many people thought that the Grisham projects shooting here were “gimmes” and came here automatically. Not so.

When Joel Schumacher was hired to direct Grisham’s The Client, he thought that he might not want to shoot in Memphis because The Firm had shot here the year before. But The Firm was about a wealthy, privileged slice of society, while The Client was rougher and scrappier. That film earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Susan Sarandon.

A key strategy of the Film Commission was to present Memphis as someplace that could fit any director’s vision. Milos Forman shot Memphis as Ohio. Memphis’ varied looks helped convince Francis Ford Coppola to shoot The Rainmaker here. Memphis was glad to cooperate by offering courtrooms and courthouses.

Not all the Grisham movies were filmed in Memphis. Sitler says The Pelican Brief scouted here but producers had already made up their minds to go to Louisiana. The Gingerbread Man, based on a Grisham story, was shot in Savannah, Georgia, because that’s where Robert Altman wanted it to be — and he rewrote the script to make it so. The state of Mississippi snatched the filming of A Time to Kill, Grisham’s first novel. It had already been announced that it would film in Memphis and partly in Oxford, Mississippi, but the then-Mississippi Film Commissioner Ward Emling crafted a deal to build a sound stage in the state for the project.

Coming between The Client and The Rainmaker was The People vs. Larry Flynt, released in 1996. Famed director Milos Forman was at the helm of the shoot that generated much local excitement and earned Oscar nominations for Forman’s direction and Woody Harrelson’s performance. It also spent $7.6 million in Memphis and Shelby County.

Films that would follow included Finding Graceland, Cast Away (two Oscar nominations — one for Tom Hanks and one for Best Sound), A Painted House, and 21 Grams, which earned Oscar nominations for Naomi Watts and Benicio del Toro.

Four films released in 2005 were filmed in Memphis. Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow, the Johnny Cash/June Carter Cash biopic Walk the Line, Ira Sachs’ Forty Shades of Blue, and Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown. Brewer’s project cemented his reputation as an up-and-coming director and made it possible for him to film Black Snake Moan, which was released in 2006. Forty Shades won the 2005 Sundance Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, and the filmmaker has gone on to make several more acclaimed films. Walk the Line starred Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Carter Cash.

One of the world’s most renowned filmmakers, Wong Kar-Wai, came to Memphis to make My Blueberry Nights, shooting several scenes at the Arcade Restaurant, which has appeared in numerous film productions.

In 2007, the production of Nothing But the Truth filmed here with Memphis playing the role of suburban Washington, D.C. Directed by Rod Lurie and starring Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett, and Vera Farmiga, the political thriller was the first film to take advantage of the state’s tax incentives that came out of the 2006 Tennessee Visual Content Act.

As for the future, there are always projects and proposals in the works, big and small. But for Sitler, it’s about keeping Memphis and Shelby County relevant to the industry. “I’m always reaching for the top, always reaching ahead.”

And Lloyd Binford is still spinning in his grave.

The Link with Porretta, Italy

Since 1988, the Porretta Soul Festival has brought the Memphis sensibility to Italy with a popular music attraction. Founded by Graziano Uliani, a lifelong soul music enthusiast, the festival and the town have honored Memphis music, and now that appreciation has expanded to include film.

Porretta Terme and Memphis entered an official sister-city relationship in February of this year. That came about not only because of the music connection, but also thanks to the efforts of Sitler to get several short films from Memphis and Shelby County in last year’s Porretta Film Festival. The plan is to have a feature film from Memphis in the festival in December. And a film from the Porretta festival will screen in Memphis.

Because of Sitler’s leadership in bringing about the sister city status and the film aspect between the two cities, she was given the Sweet Soul Music Award in July at the Porretta Soul Festival.