New Arena (formerly Prairie Surf)

[Miracle121]

Were are the OKC Blue basketball team going to play their home games?

[Laramie]

Were are the OKC Blue basketball team going to play their home games?

The OKC Blue on any given night attracts 50 to 500 fans. The G-League did not operate this past season due to the pandemic. There are a number of gyms and field houses like Abe Lemons Arena (3,360 capacity), OCU;

Abe Lemons Arena, N. W. 23rd Street & Blackwelder


Capitol Hill High School Dome:

The Capitol Hill High School Dome Fieldhouse--bleacher seating for 2,200, 500 SW 36th Street,

The Original Classen High School & gymnasium 1901 Ellison (currently vacant) has bleacher style permanent seating for 1,200.

The OKC Blue shouldn't have any issues relocating inside OKC proper.

[BoulderSooner]

The OKC Blue on any given night attracts 50 to 500 fans. The G-League did not operate this past season due to the pandemic. There are a number of gyms and field houses like Abe Lemons Arena (3,360 capacity), OCU;.

the OKC Blue has a long term plan not involving the Cox

[Pete]

Keep in mind, there is a *huge* difference between filming on location (which is always just part of a production, and there are usually several locations being short-term) versus the base of a production in a soundstage.

For the latter, everyone has to live near the soundstage for an extended period and you need to have tons of jobs done locally. Grips, electricians, set-builders, costumers, makeup and hair, etc. Those people travel with the cast and crew to a location shoot but stay generally in place at soundstages.

So, with this facility, what we will be seeking are entire productions to come here and do all their soundstage work.

To my knowledge, we have next to zero of that happening of any substance and will then have to persuade producers to come to OKC and set up shop for months or years at a time, and bring most of their preferred crew with them.

When people are investing in a big production, they want to include all the best people they know, from directors and cinematographers all the way down the line. And those people want to bring on experienced people with proven talent and with whom they've worked before.


I hate sounding negative, I'm just trying to 1) provide perspective and 2) work through how this would ever make sense.

[Teo9969]

Keep in mind, there is a *huge* difference between filming on location (which is always just part of a production, and there are usually several locations being short-term) versus the base of a production in a soundstage.

Pete - you know a whole lot more than the majority of us obviously - but is there a possibility that we're on the front end of both an increased market demand and technological advance that really makes this less of a stretch than it would have been even 5 years ago?

For the latter, everyone has to live near the soundstage for an extended period and you need to have tons of jobs done locally. Grips, electricians, set-builders, costumers, makeup and hair, etc. Those people travel with the cast and crew to a location shoot but stay generally in place at soundstages.

So, with this facility, what we will be seeking are entire productions to come here and do all their soundstage work.

To my knowledge, we have next to zero of that happening of any substance and will then have to persuade producers to come to OKC and set up shop for months or years at a time, and bring most of their preferred crew with them.

When people are investing in a big production, they want to include all the best people they know, from directors and cinematographers all the way down the line. And those people want to bring on experienced people with proven talent and with whom they've worked before.


I hate sounding negative, I'm just trying to 1) provide perspective and 2) work through how this would ever make sense.

What's the median wage range (let's say 30th to 70th percentile) of those individuals in CA? This is definitely the kind of thing that deserves incentives if that's the final piece to make this viable in OKC - unlike incentivizing even a company like Paycom, they would clearly not consider OKC otherwise. So then there's several potential advantages in that productions could save capital while due to the cost of living, the majority of these crew members, I'd imagine, can potentially live a higher quality of life here vs. CA, depending on their interests (obviously no wage discrepancy can replace the beach for someone whose identity revolves around the beach).

A few things that can also be done to advance this possibility:

-Ensure there is a partnership with well funded scholarships with several universities to expand/improve film programs to be able to fill these kinds of jobs.

-Work with airlines to ensure there is better connectivity between LA/OKC.

it will be fun to see if this turns into anything - I would definitely be okay with this for a 10 year trial period. If it clearly starts to become something special, then a more specialized facility can be built in/around downtown to replace what's been done in the Cox Center to be completed 15-20 years from now so that a Cox redevelopment would be live around 2040.

Honestly, I don't think in the next 10-15 years OKC as a community (public or private) will have the expendable capital to do the Cox Center right - so a temporary use that is better than what we're doing now sounds ideal.

[Rover]

Keep in mind, there is a *huge* difference between filming on location (which is always just part of a production, and there are usually several locations being short-term) versus the base of a production in a soundstage.

For the latter, everyone has to live near the soundstage for an extended period and you need to have tons of jobs done locally. Grips, electricians, set-builders, costumers, makeup and hair, etc. Those people travel with the cast and crew to a location shoot but stay generally in place at soundstages.

So, with this facility, what we will be seeking are entire productions to come here and do all their soundstage work.

To my knowledge, we have next to zero of that happening of any substance and will then have to persuade producers to come to OKC and set up shop for months or years at a time, and bring most of their preferred crew with them.

When people are investing in a big production, they want to include all the best people they know, from directors and cinematographers all the way down the line. And those people want to bring on experienced people with proven talent and with whom they've worked before.


I hate sounding negative, I'm just trying to 1) provide perspective and 2) work through how this would ever make sense.

I understand your pragmatic analysis, but maybe we should be asking what we need to do to make this happen for a new industry to come to OKC instead of just conceding that there is no way because it has not happened before. We need diversification and new industries. Bringing any new one here has its challenges. We don’t need to just throw up our hands and say “no way”.

[Pete]

I understand your pragmatic analysis, but maybe we should be asking what we need to do to make this happen for a new industry to come to OKC instead of just conceding that there is no way because it has not happened before. We need diversification and new industries. Bringing any new one here has its challenges. We don’t need to just throw up our hands and say “no way”.

Absolutely no one is saying that.

Just adding some background and hoping things work out.

[shawnw]

Downtown OKC studios could provide big boost to local film biz
https://oklahoman.com/article/567447...local-film-biz

“After our announcement last month, we received inbound calls from around the world about pent up demand for sound stages,” Cannon said. “We are in deep conversations with some of those promising prospects … the collaboration of state and city stakeholders to support our growing film industry is very encouraging.”

Pinnell confirmed Cannon and Payne are drawing interest from significant film producers.

“They’re very intrigued by the downtown Oklahoma City sound stage concept,” Pinnell said. “They love the idea of being able to film an entire movie in a mile and half area. They’re enthralled by it. You don’t get that in Atlanta where you have to drive an hour outside of town to go to Pinewood studio. And there is no infrastructure around it.”

[Plutonic Panda]

ABQ getting a huge Netflix expansion.

https://deadline.com/2020/11/netflix...gs-1234620435/

[shawnw]

Hopefully not a bummer for us and this project. You'd think the other main streaming services (Hulu/Disney/Peacock/CBS) would all have the studio capacity they needed.

[Southsider2]

Per Twitter, city council approved a 5-year lease with Prairie Surf.

[onthestrip]

Per Twitter, city council approved a 5-year lease with Prairie Surf.

Does anyone know the basic terms of this lease? What is the city doing for them, what are they paying in rent?

[Southsider2]

Does anyone know the basic terms of this lease? What is the city doing for them, what are they paying in rent?

Just got a chance to listen to the presentation. Not sure about the rent but basically it's a 5-year base term with three 1-year renewal options. PSM hopes at that point will be ready for a purpose-built facility. As far as the exterior it sounds like it's pretty much stuck as-is for now besides PSM adding their signage. Best of luck to them.

[shawnw]

https://oklahoman.com/article/567790...movie-business

Film production starting as soon as next month...

[Plutonic Panda]

Where is the money coming from to build the massive setup? Are there any cost figures?

[David]

That's an encouragingly quick start date. Any chance the city council knew that tenants were already lined up when they approved the lease this morning? I didn't see it reported in connection to that detail, but maybe it was covered in the meeting.

[shawnw]

From rent? The article I posted has the rent figures.

[Southsider2]

P Panda - Sounds like PSM is going to foot the bill for that therefore they're getting cheap rent in the first two years. Once they get the ball rolling the rent bumps consistently through the remainder of the lease.

[Plutonic Panda]

Oh okay cool yeah I was wanting to know the cost for building out the stage and production setup.

[Pete]

The first production is another by the same group doing Unbreakable Boy, staring the same lead actor and currently filming in OKC.

It's also a small faith-based film made largely for churches.

[Pete]

From that Oklahoman article:

The lease is for five years with three one-year extension options. It calls for stepped-up lease payments from Prairie Surf starting at $150,000 for the first and second years, $300,000 for the third year, $450,000 for the fourth year, $600,000 for the fifth year, and $825,000 plus all utility costs in excess of $1.1 million for each annual extension option.

So, about $12K per month for the first 2 years for the entire Cox Center.

[David]

Considering the mention of "all utility costs in excess of $1.1 million" for any extension past five years I have to wonder what the utility costs arrangement is for the first five.

[Pete]

Considering the mention of "all utility costs in excess of $1.1 million" for any extension past five years I have to wonder what the utility costs arrangement is for the first five.

That also means the city would be paying more in utility costs than they'd be receiving in rent.

[Southsider2]

I like that the city won't be paying for the buildout required for PSM to operate. My take is it's less risky for the city to give a lower introductory rental rate to offset the investment required than it would be for the city to pay for it and try to recoup the investment throughout the life of the lease. If PSM does flop in the next couple years then the city is just stuck with a building with little functional utility, which is already the case.

[Pete]

The Oklahoman has this completely wrong. They wrote:

The lease is for five years with three one-year extension options. It calls for stepped-up lease payments from Prairie Surf starting at $150,000 for the first and second years, $300,000 for the third year, $450,000 for the fourth year, $600,000 for the fifth year, and $825,000 plus all utility costs in excess of $1.1 million for each annual extension option.

They are confusing utility payments for rent.

This is the rent schedule directly from the lease agreement:

First Year Rent is $1.00
Second Year Rent is $75,000
Third Year Rent is $175,000
Fourth Year Rent is $225,000
Fifth Year Rent is $250,000
Option Year 6 Rent is $250,000 plus the CPI increase for the prior year up
to a maximum of 257,500
Option Year 7 Rent is Prior year amount plus the CPI for the prior year up
to a maximum of $265,225
Option Year 8 Rent is Prior year amount plus the CPI for the prior year up
to a maximum of $273,182

For utilities, the lease document says they run about $1.1 million per year and that PSM will be taking 75% of the Cox Center. This is what they'll pay in utilities:

Year 1: $150,000
Year 2: $150,000
Year 3: $300,000
Year 4: $450,000
Year 5: $600,000
Option Years
Year 6: $825,000 plus all utility costs in excess of $1,100,000
Year 7: $825,000 plus all utility costs in excess of $1,100,000
Year 8: $825,000 plus all utility costs in excess of $1,100,000

Their portion of utilities will be about $825,000 per year, but they will pay much less than that unless they go beyond 5 years.

So, this will be the cost to the city:




You can read the full lease agreement here:
HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/psmlease.pdf