Louisiana Film Prize eyes Texans

What? First Louisiana lures Hollywood in to shoot movies that once upon a time chose to lens in Texas. Now it wants Texans to come and play the Cajun way? That's Gregory Kallenberg's insidious plot, friends. Kallenberg, a tech writer for the Austin American-Statesman when I first him in the late '90s, is now a respected documentary filmmaker residing in Shreveport. He believes in the Shreveport area so much as a perfect filming locale that he's backing that with $50,000 in cold, hard cash. That's the payout to the prize winner. The only catch is the entered short film must be shot in the Shreveport area. Post production, etc. can happen anywhere. The rough cut must be submitted by July 9.

It's the second year for the prize, and Kallenberg says entries last year came from as far away as Los Angeles and Chicago. Teams also came from Dallas and Houston, but nary a one from Austin. Check out the details here.