'Twisters' and 'Defiant Vanity,' with Sean Gunn, first movies approved for OKC film rebate

Local filmmaker Benjamin Tefera watched intently as Sean Gunn strolled across the checkered tile floor of Cookies on Western and perched on a barstool next to Grayson Dunn.

Gunn was in Oklahoma City for a day of filming on writer, director and producer Tefera's upcoming feature film "Defiant Vanity," which the Oklahoma City Council approved Wednesday for the city's new film incentive tax rebate. The council also approved $1 million in rebates for a summer 2024 blockbuster movie that the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber has signed a non-disclosure agreement on regarding its title and content.

That film, as previously reported by The Oklahoman, is most likely "Twisters." Between the two, the council approved more than a million dollars in its pay-for-performance film incentive, meaning the film companies won't receive anything until they've already poured the money into Oklahoma City's economy.

Playing the enigmatic Russell, Gunn ("Guardians of the Galaxy," "Gilmore Girls") began dispensing advice to Dunn's young character, Ari, delivering words Tefera spent the past two years crafting for the script.

"You don't want to wake up when you're 33 at 7 a.m. on a Tuesday and already be tired. You want to ... wake up every morning with a sense of purpose," Gunn waxed eloquently, eventually standing, downing his drink and encouraging Dunn's Ari to "follow me; let me show you something."

'He's really here': Sean Gunn filming in OKC for second time

Friday was the last day of principal photography on Tefera's second feature film, a crime drama set in the contemporary OKC urban music scene.

After the actor walked out of the shot and into the corner of the Oklahoma City karaoke bar, Tefera paused and then called, "And cut."

"Scene complete. Fantastic work, everyone," he added.

As his crew began setting up for the next shot on his upcoming feature film "Defiant Vanity," Tefera stepped back from the monitor, blew out a breath and smiled.

"This is a fun day. We have a nice out-of-towner in, so that's always exciting," Tefera told The Oklahoman on Friday afternoon, watching his cast and crew chat with Gunn behind the scenes.

"He flew to town the other day, and I was like, 'Oh, this is actually happening. We're not looking at IMDb pages anymore. He's really here.'"

It's the second time Gunn has been in Oklahoma City for a movie, the first being OKC writer-director Mickey Reece's 2021 "nunsploitation" horror movie "Agnes," for which he played a stand-up comedian. Both movies filmed at the Oklahoma City karaoke bar Cookies on Western, the signed photo of Gunn on the wall a mark of his first visit.

On Monday, Tefera and his closest collaborators — producer and music supervisor Slyrex and producer and unit production manager Ben Stillwell White — began editing in the hopes of having "Defiant Vanity" ready to submit for the 2024 editions of major film festivals like Sundance and South By Southwest.

'Defiant Vanity' and 'Twisters' part of OKC's new film incentive program

The Oklahoma City Film Incentive Program provides filmmakers on certain projects rebates between 5% and 10% of qualified expenses like set building, catering, editing and more.

The Oklahoma City Council had the final decision in approving the incentive projects during Wednesday's meeting, after they were unanimously approved last month by the Economic Development Trust.

The NDA film was approved for $1 million in tax rebates, as it's expected to spend $42.6 million in Oklahoma City and boasts an almost $200 million overall budget. The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber estimates a "tremendous" economic output of $258 million from the project.

Oklahoma City Film & Creative Industries Office Executive Director Jill Simpson said the film will bring "free global marketing awareness of Oklahoma City on a world stage" and also qualified for the state film incentive program.

The movie is a project of Dirt Road Films LLC, the same entity that applied for the special event permit to close streets and prepare building facades in downtown OKC for filming on "Twisters" in May. The production also used the Dirt Road Films moniker on a request that was approved in June by the Chickasha City Council to close streets for filming in the Grady County seat.

"It's the biggest planned summer release of 2024 for this major studio," Simpson said at a June Economic Development Trust meeting. "So, with that comes a lot of confidentiality. And I believe it has to do with them trying to protect their investment of this huge amount of money so that they ensure ticket sales when it's time to market it in the summer."

Described as a "new chapter" for the 1996 blockbuster "Twister," which was also filmed in Oklahoma, "Twisters" is scheduled to hit theaters on July 19, 2024.

Featuring rising stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos, "Twisters" is co-financed by Warner Bros. Pictures and will be a tentpole release for Universal Pictures. It is directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who earned two Oscar nominations the last time he filmed a movie in Oklahoma: He made his immigrant drama "Minari" in the Tulsa area in 2019.

Along with OKC and Chickasha, "Twisters" also has filmed in and around El Reno, Okarche and Cashion.

Concerns about film incentive program as first movies are approved

Early concerns were raised last year when the program was first introduced to the city council about whether the program would benefit diverse and marginalized communities.

This led to extra incentives for films to hire diverse crew, actors and vendors. For the film "Defiant Vanity," more than 75% of its cast and more than half of its crew are Black, Indigenous or people of color.

On Wednesday, Councilwoman Nikki Nice said she was concerned the person she perceived as the head of the film company, Stillwell White, is not.

"My concern is for us to say how diverse this is, but at the forefront, it is not as far as who will be (receiving) the full allocation of this project," Nice said.

Tefera and Slyrex, who are both Black, and Stillwell White are a trio working on the film together, Simpson said.

"They're all partners in this company," Simpson said. "When I met initially with them, they were all three there. They divide up duties. ... Everybody has some unique role on the film, but they are a unit."

Meanwhile, Councilperson James Cooper said he was concerned about a government body having to approve these allocations, as he worries one day a councilmember may wish to vote down a film's approval based on content.

Simpson assured the council that written into the ordinance is a prohibition against any film with pornography or obscenity being approved for the incentive program. But Cooper said he was still uneasy.

"I don't know how comfortable I feel having any film regardless of content, coming time by time ... to a government body for approval or disapproval of whether or not it should receive allocation of funds," Cooper said.

City Manager Craig Freeman said the incentives will come before the city council to ensure accountability of public funds.

How the blockbuster 'Twisters' is affecting OKC's economy and residents

Simpson said the big-budget project consists of 40 days filmed at Prairie Surf Studios and 50 days in the OKC metro area in total. Nearly 2,300 metro-area residents were hired for the project, representing more than 45,500 working days for Oklahoma City-area residents.

Cast and crew lodging used 10 OKC hotels, and the studio contracted with 500 local vendors.

Simpson said the studio approached the Oklahoma City chamber about its Global Talent Development & Inclusion Workforce Program, through which seven local trainees from diverse communities were hired and assigned a mentor while working on different areas of the film.

"They weren't just placed on the set to stand and observe," Simpson said. "They were actually given a mentor who would teach them throughout the production. So, we see this as a major win for us, and something we hope we can replicate going forward."

Simpson said the blockbuster film coming to Oklahoma City "is a perfect example of the program working," because the state and city programs helped draw the studio to Oklahoma.

"The studio was pushing the production to go to Georgia," Simpson said. "The director wanted to be here. He filmed his last film here, that he was nominated for an Oscar for, and he was a champion in helping us land the project. But again, the Oklahoma City incentive helped push this transaction over the top. It's a combination of what the state could offer and what the city of Oklahoma City could offer."

'Defiant Vanity' filmmakers leverage Oklahoma and OKC rebate programs

The council approved for the homegrown hip-hop drama "Defiant Vanity" up to $25,931 in rebates from the city's incentive program. "Defiant Vanity" follows a group of up-and-coming hip-hop stars whose friendships are tested as they gain fame and fortune.

"It's a story about found family, which I think is pretty accessible. But it's also really young and musical and fashion-oriented," said producer Slyrex, who is writer-director Tefera's brother.

As with the Dirt Road Films project, the local filmmakers applied for the incentives before starting production, but the film office was still getting its approval process lined out.

Stillwell White, another of the producers, said "Defiant Vanity" also has qualified for the state film incentive.

"We had the money we needed to make a version of this movie, but then the state incentive — then coupled with the city incentive — it gives us the ability to have assets that we could actually leverage to take the movie to another level," said Stillwell White, who met Tefera and Slyrex while they were all students at the University of Oklahoma.

"So, we get to get a couple more vehicles for production, so we can move our equipment a little more safely. We get to spend more money on catering. We get to hire an additional PA (production assistant), just things that ... put everyone in a position where they could succeed."

"Defiant Vanity" wrapped principal photography Friday night after 20 days of filming over four weeks in OKC. Along with Cookies karaoke bar, locations included the Oklahoma City Museum of Art rooftop, Tokyo Japanese restaurant, Shartel Cafe, Mat Hoffman Action Sports Park and The Ugly Flamingo at 3020 dive bar.

With its $650,000 budget — more than $500,000 to be spent in Oklahoma City — "Defiant Vanity" will have a total economic output of $1.2 million. That may not be much compared to "Twisters," but the local trio made their first feature film — the thriller "Feel So Good," a 2021 selection of OKC's deadCenter Film Festival — for a few thousand dollars while Tefera was still attending OU.

"I have a great picture of him before we go and shoot without permission at Scissortail Park, and he's in his car literally taking an exam," Stillwell White recalled with a laugh.

"This time, I think closing down the intersection (at S Robinson Avenue and SW 23 Street) was the coolest. There's something about standing in the middle of that intersection and being like, 'Wow, we did this. And I'm not going to get hit by a car because they brought out traffic control ... and there are four police officers here.'"

"We had more money and more talented people helping us do it, but there was still a lot of it that felt very much like, 'We're following the magic,'" Slyrex added.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Movies 'Twisters,' 'Defiant Vanity' approved for OKC film incentives