Hollywood meets Rural OK
A Hollywood film interrupted life in a small town for two weeks
Caitlin Thomas, Mackenzie Kifer, Sam Page, Jared Rotha
Rubble spilled over into Main Street in Coyle, Oklahoma. Shredded insulation and the splinters of houses were mixed with overturned cars on the dead grass. The town of 360 wasn’t hit by a tornado – but it was supposed to look as if it was.
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For two weeks in November, film crews took over Main Street in Coyle, as they filmed two scenes for the upcoming movie “Stillwater,” starring Matt Damon and directed by Tom McCarthy. Residents dealt with road blocks and detours to allow for filming and watched as set designers constructed what they imagined a tornado would look like after going through a small town.
Source: The-Numbers.com
Before coming in to film, said municipal clerk Jennifer Jones, the filmmakers met with the town council and explained what they wanted to do in town.
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“They just told us what was gonna go on, asked if it was okay, and then kind of gave us the map to map out how the days would go and what days the roads would be closed,” Jones said.
The filming in Coyle was scheduled to take only two days, but the construction and deconstruction of the set was scheduled to take more than two weeks, from Oct. 29 – Nov. 18, with part or all of Main Street closed for a few days at a time.
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The lack of businesses in Coyle – there’s not much except a storage building and a casino – means the presence of extra people in town does not bring in the tax revenue it otherwise could have. The filming company made up for that loss with a donation in return for using two of the buildings belonging to the Coyle Public Schools.
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“They asked if they could use our bus barn and the FFA show barn and we agreed on a price that they would donate to the school,” Sumrall said.
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That price was $3,500 for the use of the two buildings, Sumrall said. Although that’s little compared to the school’s $3 million yearly budget, Sumrall said you can’t put a price on the mild inconvenience.
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“We were glad to help out,” Sumrall said. “They made a generous contribution to the school. It’s not life-changing, and it’s not a huge impact, financially, but we were glad to help out.”
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In response to a series of questions about the filming in Coyle and the donation to the school, the film’s publicist Allison Barber said in an email, “There was a house in Coyle that production wanted to use as one of our sets. Everyone in Coyle has been lovely. Thanks.”
Filmmakers also met with the fire department to coordinate safety. Coyle Fire Chief Michael Galbraith said the only real concern was the rubble lying in the street.
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“Because of the type of filming they were doing, they just basically had some construction, and then they brought in a bunch of rubble, and, oh, house appliances and stuff like that,” Galbraith said. “That was pretty much about the biggest concern, was just the amount of stuff they had laying on Main Street.”
The film crew brought in mobile homes like the one here and destroyed them for a tornado scene.
Main Street in Coyle, just past town hall, was partially blocked by rubble placed there by the set design crew.
The film crew brought in mobile homes like the one here and destroyed them for a tornado scene.
Slideshow: The film set for the Tom McCarthy film "Stillwater" left Main Street in Coyle looking as if a tornado had gone through.
While the film crew was in town, Galbraith said the fire department took extra precautions.
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“We had guys that were in town, more readily available than normal,” Galbraith said. “We are a 100% volunteer department, so we are not at the department 24 hours a day like a paid department. And then the guys that were in charge of the filming actually had direct contact with a couple of the fire fighters that lived in town, in case there were some things that came up that they needed help with.”
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But Galbraith said the filmmakers were good at communicating with the fire department to make sure everything went smoothly on both sides.
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“My point of contact with them talked at least a couple times a week while they were trying to get this going, and then while they were filming it was like maybe once every other day to ensure that there was no issues with them having access to certain areas and stuff like that,” Galbraith said.
Aside from that, the impact on Coyle was minimal, Jones said.
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“Oh, it really didn’t affect anything, to be honest,” Jones said. “Other than, you know, the one or two days that they had the roads blocked, but that wasn’t really a big issue, either.”
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The film’s impact rippled beyond Coyle, though, to a Stillwater-based company where they bought their construction materials. Piper Gray Stewart, a salesperson for the company, said they started by buying only lumber.
One of the scenes filmed in Coyle was filmed at this Coyle Assembly of God church.
The last gas station in Coyle is abandoned.
This house, untouched by the imaginary "tornado" that went through Coyle, sits a few hundred feet from the filming site.
One of the scenes filmed in Coyle was filmed at this Coyle Assembly of God church.
“It slowly progressed into insulation, siding, shingles, felt paper, nails, screws, you know, if you need it for a house, they came in and bought it,” Stewart said. “I’m the associate that mostly assisted them with all of their purchases. I can’t give you an exact amount, but I can tell you the money they spent was not a bad amount of money. I know that they built two whole houses, effectively, in Coyle.”
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That purchase is eligible for the rebate under the “Compete with Canada Film Act,” which allows up to a 37% rebate for qualified purchases.
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“Stillwater” filmed in Coyle in coordination with the Oklahoma Film and Music Office, according to a flier left on the town hall door. The Film and Music Office helps filmmakers in finding Oklahoma talent and locations, and processes applications for the rebate. For a production with a minimum budget of $50,000 and at least $25,000 in qualifying expenses, film companies can get up to 37% back for “taxable transaction conducted in Oklahoma,” according to the Film and Music Office website. This includes wages paid to Oklahoma talent, such as extras, and living expenses for cast and crew while in Oklahoma.
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Multiple attempts to contact the Oklahoma Film and Music Office for information about this film were unsuccessful, but a list on okfilmmusic.org shows an “Untitled Tom McCarthy” by Epsilon Productions, LLC., as having received the full 37%. Epsilon Productions is the company filming “Stillwater.”
This isn’t the first time Coyle has been the set of a motion picture. In 2016, the horror film “Runaway” filmed in Coyle, as well as in Luther, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City. That film also used Main Street Coyle.
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Residents expressed hope that this film would present Coyle well. Sumrall said he thinks the PR will be good for the town.
“Well, it was good recognition for our town,” Sumrall said. “Like I said, we helped out, so.”
Jones agreed.
“I think it’s a good thing,” Jones said. “Gets our name out there. ‘Cause a lot of people don’t even know where Coyle is.”
But the reaction to the film was not entirely positive. After the casting company released a casting call for extras for the two scenes in Coyle, one resident reposted the casting call to the Town of Coyle Facebook page with the hashtag #stillwatermoviedisgracetooklahoma.
This post appeared on a Facebook page for the town of Coyle.
Galbraith said he hadn’t heard the disappointment, but in his day job as an Oklahoma State University police officer, he’s used to people stereotyping Oklahoma.
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“I kind of know what people think Oklahoma’s all about, but when they get here they’re like, Oh, man, it’s not what I was told it was,” Galbraith said.
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But Galbraith said he thinks the good outweighs the bad.
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“I think the impact on the town, I think it got a lot of the citizens eager to be a part of what was going on,” Galbraith said. “It brought a lot of the citizens, you know, that are pretty much reclusive, I guess, it kind of got them out, back in touch with the town and the other citizens of the town.”
Slideshow: As of Friday, Nov. 15, clean-up had not been completed in Coyle, OK. Crews continued to work at clearing away rubble from the tornado set.
Friday evening, clean-up continued on the streets of Coyle. Crews pushed fake tornado rubble into a pile to be cleaned up. If the production company keeps its promise to leave the place better than it found it, soon the only sign of the crew’s presence will be a donation to the school and a feature film.
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At least, until the next film comes to town.