Texas Film Studio has a big vision
Chisum Pierce and his wife, Melissa, of Texas Film Studio are hoping their business can increase Taylor’s prominence in the video and photography industry.
Those new to eastern Williamson County may not realize it, but Taylor is kind of a big deal in the movie business. Since 1988, location scouts have chosen the historic town to film movies, and now the city is becoming known as a destination for shooting music videos, television commercials and fashion photography as well. “I’ve always been trying to promote Taylor, and we’re right now at the apex of everything. Everybody’s been thinking Taylor is going to be a huge deal at some point, and it’s about to be, whether anyone’s ready for it or not,” said Chisum Pierce, owner of the business at 220 E. Fourth St., Unit B.
Movies including “Michael” starring John Travolta and Andie MacDowell, “The Rookie” starring Dennis Quaid, “Friday Night Lights” with Billy Bob Thornton and “Transformers 4,” among other cinematic endeavors brought trucks full of equipment to Taylor to film.
“Walker, Texas Ranger” and AMC’s “Fear the Living Dead” have both filmed multiple episodes in the town the last couple of years.
Texas Film Studio is in an old International Harvester tractor showroom and can easily accommodate large productions.
Pierce’s father, Thomas Floyd Pierce, a World War II naval aviator who fought in the Pacific, built the tractor showroom in 1948 when he owned a construction company, and then took over the dealership.
The younger Pierce acquired the building in 2007 and renovated it, partitioning off sections for tenants including Lucky Duck Cafe. He donated a piece of the land next door to the city for the Pierce Park Skatepark in honor of his father.
The Pierces debuted Texas Film Studio last year, then held a recent open house to showcase new technologies that will give filmmakers and photographers another reason to film in Taylor.
Through a collaboration with Dennis Burnett Photography, the studio offers a robotic crane that can be programmed to move seamlessly through a scene and capture action “This allows us to do all sorts of orbital shots and closeups with things like food. You can program it to do moves in a calculated manner that it can replicate over and over,” Pierce said.
Burnett owns the $140,000 motion-control crane from Sisu Cinema Robotics with two other partners. The professional photographer and director has worked in Pierce’s studio on other projects as well.
“For me this place has been ideal,” Burnett said. “People were coming from all over Texas, and instead of having to come into Austin and get lost in traffic and have to find parking, we decided to shoot here because it was easier for everybody to find and it had ample parking for everybody.”
He added the studio is larger yet less expensive than “much smaller spaces in Austin.”
The studio has private parking for 40 vehicles, including larger trucks or recreational vehicles. Large overhead doors allow clients to bring a vehicle into the studio for unloading or for use in a shoot.
The 3,000-squarefoot soundproof production stage features a 66-foot two-sided prelit wall that stretches 14 feet high and can accommodate sets up to 20 feet tall or potentially more.
In addition to the big stage area, there are a couple of cozy spaces that have been used for smaller productions, such as podcasts. There is also office space, preproduction areas, storage areas and space for set construction.
The Pierces offer casting and styling as well as pre-production and production.
“The people in this town have always been very helpful and supportive to the industry. I just see it becoming a vibrant film community,” Pierce said.
