Last month, 1,100 theaters across the country showed a movie ostensibly set in rural South Dakota. The film, “Americana,” features Sydney Sweeney as a small-town diner waitress on the hunt for a rare Lakota ghost shirt. Singer Halsey and Hunkpapa Lakota actor Zahn McLarnon also star.However, South Dakotans who watched “Americana” may have left confused at how the state was portrayed – vast, arid deserts and low, Southwestern-style buildings.That’s because it was shot entirely in New Mexico.And it isn’t the only one: the 2017 film “South Dakota” was, despite its name and setting, filmed across the border in Iowa; “Wild Bill,” a 1995 movie starring Jeff Bridges, is set entirely in Deadwood but was filmed in California.
Steve Rausch, who spent most of his career in South Dakota as a provider of video production services, moved his business, Focused Motion Media, to Nevada early this year.He told News Watch that even though South Dakota has been featured in dozens of iconic films and has played host to filming in many, a lack of filming incentives could cause productions to look elsewhere to shoot movies and television shows — even those that rely on South Dakota as their setting.Film incentives are programs offered state-by-state that encourage productions to shoot in the area. Those usually take the form of tax credits but can also include cash grants or free shooting locations.
