The movies are coming to Rockdale. Henry Reynolds, owner of Gameplan Studios in Austin, and a U.S Army and Merchant Marine veteran, said Rockdale is the perfect place to expand his film production company.
“I spent three quarters of a million dollars buying property in Rock-dale,” he said. “I bought a lot north of the cemetery on
908. It has a couple of houses and a barn with a workshop in the back. I bought Ideal Dry Cleaners. I bought a house and the vacant lot on Main and Cameron behind Cliff’s. We’re in the process of moving there. It’s going to be a two-month long process, it’ll probably be more like the end of November.”
Gameplan Studios offers a variety of services, which include branding, graphic design, motion graphics, promotional art, conceptual design and illustration, photography and film production and audio engineering and recording.
It’s the film production portion of the company that’s relocating to Rockdale.
“The main thing is that we’re building a film ranch that is going to allow us to do larger projects with a larger green screen,” according to David Mitchell, lead artist and game designer for the company. “Right now in Austin the place is so small that we can’t roll vehicles through the shoot.” Reynolds said, “I want to build an entire backlot on the property I bought off of 908, so people will have the option to build sets.”
A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction for bigger projects, according to Business Insider website.
Affordable
It was Rockdale’s affordability that brought Reynolds. “It has nothing to do with Bitmain moving into town,” he said. “(Our moving to Rockdale) was solely based on affordability. I need to grow my studio.”
He said his money would go further in Rockdale.
“I went looking for some property on LoopNet online in Austin. It’s a place to buy commercial property. I searched Austin properties from highest to lowest, and I realized I couldn’t afford it. The property I could afford; I wouldn’t be able to expand on it, so I looked at the end of the list and there were two properties at the bottom of the list in Rockdale,” he said.
“That’s when I said, maybe this is where we need to be,” Reynolds said. “I’ve been beating the bushes and meeting the movers and shakers of the city, and I haven’t met anyone there I haven’t enjoyed.”
Carol Worley, of Carol Matous Jim Currey Realty, said Reynolds walked into her office one day wanting to look at properties. She had to keep things confidential until Reynolds was ready to announce his plans.
“He’s a real nice guy and easy to work with,” she said. “He was personable and polite. In fact, everyone I met (that was) with him was really nice and friendly.”
Worely, who sold Reynolds all the property, said Rockdale’s real estate has been good because of the city’s location.
“A lot of buyers who come into my office say they have grandchildren, or children, who live in Austin, College Station or Houston,” she said. “They buy here because Rockdale is a midway point between those places. The market’s good. It’s our location that keeps us going.”
Workforce
Reynolds said he does plan on hiring locally, when he gets moved in.
“My hiring is based on projects coming,” he said. “I’m looking at hiring 20 people. A lot of people will come with us from Austin.”
Some coming from Austin have already arrived and others will be moving into town within the next two months.
“I’m blessed,” Reynolds said, about his employees. “I hired good and kind people, who would make a good addition to any community. The folks I’m bringing all have good attitudes. I’m like Davy Crockett. I’m not a colonel. I’m more of a high private. I respect the people I work with.”
Mitchell agreed.
“Our company has a unique assortment of people,” he said. “It’s a crazy story of how we got here. We have a collection of people that have gone through a bunch of things in life and settled (in Austin).”
Reynolds said many in his company work on their own projects outside of the studio, like Mitchell, who was in California testing a board game that he created, when he spoke to the Reporter.
“I’m in Los Angeles right now demoing my survival and exploration board game-Void Lands,” he said. “It’s going to be Kickstarter.”
Mitchell is familiar with the history of Milam County.
“When the Alcoa thing went down, it started becoming a soft spot for a small company to go,” he said. “A little bit of bomb is created when a massive plant leaves a vacuum in the community. We’re hoping we can help Rockdale bounce back.”
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