St Louis Film Office Explore St Louis Production Resources: Navigating the Show MO Renaissance
The St. Louis Film Office operates as the city’s official liaison between the film industry and the community, connecting productions with the permits, locations, crew, and institutional support they need to film in the Gateway City. Housed within Explore St. Louis—the region’s convention and visitors bureau—the film office works in coordination with the Missouri Film Office, which administers the state’s Show MO Act tax credit program from Jefferson City. The St Louis Film Office Explore St Louis production resources span from logistical support for individual shoots to strategic outreach aimed at attracting major productions to a region that is actively rebuilding its production infrastructure after a decade without incentives. For anyone providing St Louis videographer services or managing productions in the St. Louis region, the film office is the essential first point of contact for navigating a production environment that is evolving rapidly.
The St. Louis Film Office: Structure and New Leadership
The St. Louis Film Office hired Kelley Hiatt as its full-time manager in October 2023, marking a significant investment in dedicated production support for the region. Hiatt relocated from Los Angeles, bringing two decades of experience as a location manager for both film and television—the kind of professional background that signals to visiting productions that St. Louis takes the business of filmmaking seriously. Before Hiatt’s arrival, film office duties were handled by Renee Eichelberger, senior director of leisure travel sales for Explore St. Louis, who acknowledged the difficulty of attracting productions without tax credit incentives to offer.
Hiatt’s role encompasses assisting productions with filming logistics, obtaining permits, contacting building owners, and serving as the liaison between productions and the community. She has been reaching out to contacts in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles to attract projects to the region, while simultaneously advocating for St. Louis’s location diversity and affordability advantages. The film office’s mission to serve as the official liaison between the film industry and St. Louis residents reflects a community-centered approach that recognizes production activity’s impact on neighborhoods, businesses, and public spaces.
The Two-Tier Support System: City and State
Productions filming in St. Louis navigate a two-tier support system that connects the local film office with the state’s Missouri Film Commission. The Missouri Film Office, part of the Department of Economic Development, administers the Show MO Act tax credit program, reviews applications, and processes the incentive payments that drive production decisions. Director Andrea Klund leads the state office’s efforts to market Missouri as a premier destination, working through strategic marketing partnerships with industry publications, in-person events at conferences and film festivals, and direct relationships with studios and producers. The Film In MO advocacy organization, the Missouri Motion Media Association, continues to advocate for program expansion and industry development.
For St. Louis specifically, the combination of the state tax credit (20–42 percent depending on bonuses) and the city’s affordability advantages—lower costs for goods, services, accommodations, and crew compared to coastal markets—creates a compelling production value proposition. The union crew base concentrated in St. Louis provides the experienced labor that larger productions require. Hiatt has described the talent she has encountered as speaking volumes about the region’s quality of life and creative community, noting that many talented professionals had to leave because of the incentive gap and that the Show MO Act creates the opportunity to bring them home. With 39 productions approved in 2024 and more expected in 2025 and beyond, the St. Louis Film Office and Missouri Film Commission are building the track record of successful productions that will attract increasingly ambitious projects to the Gateway City.
