Indie Filmmakers invited to compete in the Texas Film Belt Project based in OC

While location scouting at Gladys City Boomtown for the short film "Spindletop: The Beginning" in 2019, Orange County filmmaker Penny LeLeux had a vision.

A map of Texas popped into her head. She noticed how Interstate 10 traveled all the way across Texas at what would be the belt line, if the state of Texas was a living entity. 

She also saw that along that belt line there was any type of landscape you could imagine. You have the swamps and forests in Southeast Texas, plus access to the Gulf coast. If you travel further west, you get into the flatlands and prairies. Even further west you get into desert and caverns. The Rocky Mountains start in the extreme west in El Paso. 

You have big cities of Houston and San Antonio and smaller towns like Orange, Luling and Seguin. Whatever type of population you are looking for can be found along that route.

In her vision, she saw the highway turn into a film strip and a cowboy hat hanging off the panhandle.

"That's how the logo came about," said LeLeux. "Most of my ideas come in the form of images."

That was the birth of The Texas Film Belt Project.

The idea wasn't quite complete, there were still some components missing that didn't fall into place until just a couple of months ago. This idea has been percolating for five years in her head. 

In the meantime, LeLeux has spent the last five years working on several film projects, winning awards at festivals for producing, directing, writing and acting.

"It's really not that big of a deal, but it looks good on paper," she said. "We have built our 'street cred' over the last few years."

"I had the idea for the Texas Film Belt Project basing it on the Louisiana Film Prize which is a competition for short films that had to be shot in a specific geographical section of Louisiana and there is a huge cash prize." 

LeLeux said the cash prize has been part of the holdup...where to get the money.

She finally realized, since this is a new competition, it did not necessarily have to be part of it. The other component to the idea was the key. She planned to form a traveling film block of the top 12 films entered that would screen along the Interstate 10 corridor. 

She did feel incorporating the geolocation requirement for the films was important to the project.

• They must be shot in Texas, within 50 miles of Interstate 10. That gives filmmakers an 877 x 100-mile strip within which to film.

• At least one scene must feature the highway in some way, such as driving on it, or having a scene at a business sitting along the freeway.

• There will be a maximum time limit of 10 minutes per film, including credits.

• A $1,000 prize will be awarded for the best film in the competition that is shot in Orange County.

"That's just an extra incentive to shoot it here. This is where the program is based, so of course I would love to see more films created here," said LeLeux. "But they can be shot anywhere along I-10 within those parameters, it just won't be eligible for the $1,000 if it is shot elsewhere in Texas."

"Postproduction can be done from their home base, anywhere."

The goal of the project is to spur more filmmaking along the Interstate 10 corridor.

These are for Indie narrative projects only because another aspect that recently fell into place is that she will attempt to seek distribution for the top 12 as an anthology film with Interstate 10 as the thread that connects them.

"Short films don't have the same distribution opportunities as features, but if we combine them into an anthology, you have essentially created a feature film."

If she is successful, each of the filmmakers in the anthology will get a percentage of the distribution funds. The entertainment lawyer she is working with has done distribution deals in the past and is in favor of the idea. 

"It of course puts additional requirements on the filmmakers as there are 'deliverables' that the filmmakers would have to provide to seal the deal. If they can't provide the requirements needed, they might have to be removed from the anthology for it to proceed. That will be on a case-by-case basis," said LeLeux.

She acknowledged if they manage to get the first deal, it should make it easier to get distribution down the line and suggested if there were sufficient suitable entries, they could do genre editions, such as comedy or horror...if they manage to get that first distribution deal.

Submissions should be set up on Filmfreeway, "hopefully by the end of the month," but LeLeux wants to get the word out, because there will be a short deadline for 2025. 

"Final submission deadline will be Aug. 31, 2025, because the initial screening event will be held in Orange on Sept. 20, 2025," she said.

LeLeux hopes to have it in the newly renovated Jeff Hattman Center for the Performing Arts as it should be open by then, but currently as a backup, she has the Orange Train Depot reserved, just in case Orange Community Players has an issue getting the theater open.

"The premiere screening will always be held whatever Saturday falls between Sept. 16-23 each year," said LeLeux. "The 16th is the day my sister Joy passed away and the 23rd is my birthday. They say your life is lived in the dash, so I'm putting the event in our dash. It's a way to honor my sister. She would be in the middle of this if she were still here."

On Sept. 20, the top 30-50 films will be screened and the top 12 will be announced in a one-day event. Winners will receive a custom belt buckle. The top 12 films will become a traveling film block that will screen in a minimum of five locations across the I-10 corridor.

The Lake Charles Film Festival and the Boomtown Film and Music Festival in Beaumont have already shown interest in screening the block next year. LeLeux is also in talks with a group in Houston that may screen it. She also hopes to secure a screening in both San Antonio and El Paso.

There will also be a K-12 competition with a maximum time-limit of five minutes. The top five will be recognized in September, but they will not be included in the traveling block.

"We want to encourage youngsters to fulfill their movie making dreams as well."

The projects would also promote film destination tourism along Interstate 10.

"People visit locations of their favorite films. The anthology could inspire road trips along the Texas Film Belt," said LeLeux. "At least I hope so."

The project is under the umbrella of Barefoot on the Bayou Film Group, a new nonprofit organized by LeLeux. Besides promoting filmmaking in Orange County and Southeast Texas, LeLeux also hopes to build a studio in Orange County one day to further those filmmaking goals.