Talon Entertainment Finance has unveiled renovation plans for South Side Studios in Dallas, Texas, after their recent acquisition of the property. Once reopened, the renovation will include a thorough multi-million-dollar upgrade to the existing buildings with the addition of LED wall technology, making it the preeminent soundstage facility in all of North Texas. This overhaul is led by South Side Studios head and co-founder of Talon, Steven Demmler, who is putting a huge investment into Dallas and the broader Texas entertainment industry as he predicts it to be a future hub of production.
Their extensive renovation plan includes the construction of five cutting-edge soundstages on the existing property, each ranging in size with dimensions of approximately 25,000, 20,000, 15,000, 15,000, and 8,000 square feet respectively. The studio will house a state-of-the-art post-production facility, production offices, a mill, a prop house, camera packages, and G&E packages. It will also feature two new virtual production studios including a massive 270-degree wall and ceiling setup with complete tracking and robotic camera equipment.
“Developing a large-scale soundstage is vital for any community to be truly competitive in the entertainment industry. It’s a credit to the film potential in Dallas that Talon recognized this and was willing to quickly commit to support this project,” said Tony Armer, Commissioner for the Dallas Film and Creative Industries Office. “This upgrade to South Side Studios positions Dallas to be the premiere filming destination in the state of Texas.”
To further enhance this cutting-edge upgrade, South Side Studios will be eligible for an extra 2.5% incentive bump from the newly refreshed and comprehensive state incentive of $200 million put into place by Texas lawmakers this year, making it one of the most economical locations to house productions in the entire state. Dallas’ film commissioner Tony Armer was instrumental in bringing this huge investment to his city and as a result, The Talon Entertainment Finance team is also excited to be able to offer extremely economical debt from their film fund to all productions that shoot in-house in addition to the potential of discussing equity for the right projects.
South Side Studios is known for being the only large-scale Film & TV production facility & studio located in the heart of Dallas. Recently, the facilities have been used to film binge-watching favorites like the CW’s “The Chosen,” “Dallas,” and five seasons of “Queen of the South,” to name a few. South Side Studios is located in south Dallas, less than 2 miles from downtown. Portions of the studio will be open during renovations with a full opening by Cannes 2024 next May.
