Stephane Scupham

In late February, the Kansas City Film Office was, along with other special interest organizations, placed on the chopping block for proposed budget cuts. After a wave of support from the arts community, funding to the KC Film Office was restored.

Celebration turned to mourning. The American public faced its greatest adversary in generations. A contagious disease wormed the breadth of the world and brought lifestyles and industries to their knees, including film production.

The next months proved to be a stretch of both uncertainty and great imaginative planning. Since, the world has devised ways to continue creating in what is coined “the new normal.”

No one is more suited to shepherd the Kansas City film community through the thicket than the beloved Kansas City Film Commissioner, Stephane Scupham.

“A little bit of sales, a little bit of marketing, a little bit of production and a whole lot of service? It’s the perfect storm for me, the role of a lifetime,” Scupham says.

In 2014, Missouri had just marveled at the 2013 sunset of its tax incentive. That year, the city established the Film Office inside of Visit KC, the office of Tourism. The goal? To compete with big city counterparts for major film production. To manage the Film Office, the even tempered, strategic dreamer Scupham was hired to usher in the new vision.

Talent agent, show host, reality show producer. A diverse industry background prepared Scupham for the unique demands of the position: managing optics, economics and politics. Kansas City has to look good; jobs have to be generated and legislators have to support film initiatives.

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Champion of KC Film

Scupham is Fighting to Bring Major Film Production to Kansas City

by Lonita Cook photography by Trenton

Bush

Photo Credit: Eddy Chen / American Ninja Warrior / NBC 2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC

Photo Credit: Christopher Smith/Netflix

Kansas City’s allure stems from its versatile locations, its kindness and responsiveness to visiting professionals and its resourcefulness in building the local film structure. Greatest of all is its ability to serve the lifestyles of visiting filmmakers, not just their projects.

“What environmental experience might they have, what might their walks to the store be like or where might they be pampered? They go to plays and sporting events. These are business visitors and they live while they’re here,” Scupham says.

Though filming in Kansas City is economical because the city doesn’t require exorbitant licenses and has the KCMO Film Development Program (a city-based film rebate), without a state incentive, the local industry cannot compete for external features production.

Scupham works with city and state legislators on both sides of the state line to illuminate the opportunities missed out on without this incentive. Because of the local tax program KC has been featured in Variety four times since its inception. Still, narratives set in Missouri, such as HBO’s “Sharp Objects,” Netflix’s “Ozark” and FX’s “Fargo,” have gone to incentivized industries rather than the town where they are set.

“We’re not trying to position ourselves adjacent to L.A. or even Atlanta, but we do want to compete for stories that are ours,” Scupham says. “Art is work and our industry is a business. I want to represent our position, our assets and our city well. It’s very comfortable to pitch Kansas City to the industry.”

The glory is not solely about the business attracted. Scupham equally relishes the accomplishments of homegrown storytellers. Kevin Willmott won an Oscar for co-writing “BlacKkKlansman.” Christopher Good’s film “Crude Oil” was selected by the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

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“Ant-Man” actor David Dastmalchian films here when possible as with his “All Creatures Here Below.” "Steph Scupham is an invaluable advocate for filmmaking in Kansas City, as well as a relentless champion for our city,” says Morgan Cooper, a Los Angeles-based writer/ director from Kansas City, best known for “Bel Air” and “U Shoot Videos?”

“She has been so supportive of the short films that I’ve shot in my hometown. Steph’s passion for and knowledge of all aspects of the filmmaking process resonate throughout her work, and she is invaluable to the Kansas City film industry.”

The demand for content only grows. That growth means Kansas City can answer the call to help studios keep pace. Projects that are a good fit for the KC market and incentive will film here. In the past several years, Scupham enticed NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” Season 9 and Netflix’s “Queer Eye” Season 3 and 4 to shoot in KC. (The latter won multiple Emmys because of it.)

“I feel strongly that we will have a state incentive in Missouri and Kansas. The content required on these streaming services and channels only grows and is well-supported by budgets. It makes no sense for us not to be involved in that. And it makes no sense because they want us involved. They’re knocking on our door.”

Developed by Scupham and healthcare professional Eric Bowles, in conjunction with producers on the coasts and fellow commissioners, A Safe Return to Production – Recommended Guidelines and Best Practices for KC Film Industry During covid-19 can be found on the KC Film Office website to direct filmmakers as they launch back into production.

“We will continue to strategize ways to stay in front of our target audiences. A major aspect now is safety,” she says.

Moving into a new frontier of filmmaking takes a devoted soul-centric, business-minded leader like Scupham. Visiting and area filmmakers will, now more than ever, need the steady marshalling of the Kansas City Film Commissioner to drive the industry to the hilt of its possibilities.

“It’s the perfect storm, the role of a lifetime for me,” Scupham says, beaming. “I believe in the core of my heart, this job is everything I had to, and hoped to, give.”

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