SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins has announced the city’s purchase of Millennium Studios and the launch of a new animation and visual effects (VFX) studio that promises to bring 200 new, high-paying jobs
“I’m proud to announce today that the City of Shreveport is ready for a resurgence in our film industry, with the purchase of Millennium Studios,” Perkins said in a news conference Thursday afternoon. “It will serve as the centerpiece of our film, arts, and workforce development initiatives and it has already captured 200 jobs.”
Troubled Muse will be supported by Louisiana’s Entertainment Job Creation Program, the studio said in a statement shortly after Perkins made the announcement in a news conference at Millenium early Thursday afternoon.
Perkins said the company will create 53 new permanent jobs with an average annual salary of $74,000, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in 40 new indirect jobs, for a total of 93 new jobs for Caddo Parish and the Northwest Region.
Trouble Muse will create original digital content for television and feature films, specializing in motion capture, visual effects, and animation, according to the studio.
CEO R. Andru Davies said he picked Shreveport over sites in Canada and Europe.
“If you have your friends and families that may have all moved away in the last few years because the tech jobs have left or the film jobs have moved somewhere else, please come back because there’s jobs here and we need to staff up.”
The Shreveport City Council approved the $3.8 million purchase of the property in mid-December.
Troubled Muse will anchor the development. Other tenants will include Shreveport Regional Arts Council, which designs sets, costumes, and movie props. Southern University Shreveport Louisiana will also move in to handle all workforce development initiatives.
The 70,000 sq. ft. facility on 6.7 acres in Ledbetter Heights on the edge of downtown Shreveport opened in 2007 to service productions in Shreveport and throughout Louisiana. It features two sound stages, production offices, a construction mill, an SFX mill, and a VFX studio.
Millennium Studios announced it was going dark in 2016 after film industry tax incentives in the state appeared to be drying up and movie productions slowed, but the studio continued to house productions. It remains under a contractual lease agreement with the city of Shreveport through December 2057.
Shreveport Office of Economic Development Director Drew Mouton said the entertainment industry offers plenty of opportunities for Shreveport to get in on the production work.
“Netflix and Disney alone are in production on more work than has ever been produced by the movie industry ever. There is so much content being produced that all over the world, the studio facilities, the crews, these things are tied up. So we are in a unique position to be able to be on par with most of the other industries.”
Production at Millennium is expected start ramping back up in six months.
