225BatonRouge.com

Quiet on the set!” shouts a young woman with a headset and a clipboard on the stage at Dante’s in downtown Baton Rouge. Crew members are waving smoke into the air and coaching the small crowd on the dance floor.

Local rising-star rapper Lil’ Boosie is about to film his concert sequence for Club 225, the latest in a string of direct-to-video movies being produced by maverick filmmaking company HK Pictures.

“They are hands-on making a movie!” exclaims HK Pictures Producer George Kostuch. “It’s a beautiful thing.” The production company Kostuch runs already has produced four feature films this year and offers opportunities for people to make films without spending years in Los Angeles fetching coffee and hoping to get noticed.

“Maybe a 16-year-old kid wants to break into the movie business—before this, it wasn’t an option here,” explains Kostuch. Louisiana’s attractive film production tax incentives have gone far to foster grassroots filmmakers.

In 2006, HK Pictures has produced: two direct-to-video urban comedies, The Rim Shop and Block Party Part II, with rappers Kane and Abel in starring roles; a Christian film, This Is the Day; and a horror flick, Terror on the Bayou. They are already busy working on their next project—an action drama called Death Toll that will star Lou Diamond Phillips and rap superstar DMX, who has signed a two-picture deal with HK.

The small company specializes in small, straight–to-video genre films designed to fill video outlets’ precise market demands. “We call the distributors and ask them what genres they are looking for and then package a project according to what they want,” says Kosutch of the process. “And since we are so fast [in turning out a film], we meet their needs almost on demand.”

Creating films in this way mitigates the tremendous financial risk that hangs like a dark cloud over larger productions. “Some films are already pre-sold for direct-to-video deals, so we know exactly what we need to make them for to turn a profit,” says Kosutch.

The other factor that plays a large part in making projects like these happen is the Louisiana Motion Picture Incentive Program, which creates attractive tax credits for companies looking to make films in Louisiana.

Dan Garcia of Most Wanted Films, who is partnering on this film, reiterates this sentiment of the bustling scene around him. “This is the tax incentive at work. I think it’s exciting to nurture a [movie business] scene that is indigenous and homegrown,” Garcia says. “We don’t go back to L.A. once shooting is finished, we stay and cultivate.”

The energy and dedication on the set is palpable, where you can feel every member of the crew’s focus and consciousness on the bottom line. “On a big movie shoot, they might do four pages a day, but I’ve had shoots where we did 20,” Kostuch says. “We do just enough spending to make a real film scene.”

Club 225 is the story of three young street hustlers who embark on a diamond heist that gets them in over their heads. It stars Tiny Lister (“Deebo” from Next Friday) as Bling, the owner of a record label used to launder money. Two up-and-coming Baton Rouge rappers Lil’ Boosie and Max Minelli play themselves as members of his stable of artists.

On a recent day at Dante’s downtown, crew members buzz around the set keeping the crowd on task. A bank of computers captures the sound and images, and a small camera is on a hand crane. Lil’ Boosie has performed his single “Bucked Up” before a small klatsch of extras numerous times to get different crowd angles and to create the illusion this small audience of 20 is a giant smoke-filled club with a capacity crowd.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” says Boosie during a break in the shoot. “But I think I’m pretty good at it.” He says the experience has inspired him to write his own script to coincide with his new album Boosie Bad Ass, set to drop in July on Trill/Asylum.

The best compliment came from Frank Pinnock of Los Angeles, director for HK’s first four films and supervising director for Club 225. “It’s like a treasure. Baton Rouge, being a city in the South, is like a hidden treasure. I saw potential when I started coming out here to work on these films, and I’m happy to see people pounce on it.”