Bringing Hollywood to Tulsa – Abby Kurin

Welcome to Tulsa Talks presented by Tulsa Regional Chamber. I’m your host Tim Landes. There’s been a lot of news lately about legendary director Martin Scorsese coming to northeast Oklahoma to film Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s just one of many movie and television productions to film in our area in recent years, and there are more to come. The voice you just heard a moment ago is Abby Kurin. Abby plays a significant role in bringing movies like Killers of the Flower Moon to our area. She’s the executive director of the Tulsa Office of Film, Music, Arts and Culture or FMAC for short. In this conversation she explains how her office helps bring Hollywood to Tulsa. 

We recorded this conversation a couple days before she headed off to Sundance to take part in one of the biggest film festivals to occur in America. It’s where small independent films and documentaries are screened for movie distributors and critics to get the process going toward showing it them on big screens across the country. The hope is a movie will start there and finish at the Oscars. 

Abby went to support the city and state’s efforts to recruit more projects, but also to cheer on a movie called Minari, directed by Lee Isaac Chung. It’s a 1980s set tale about a Korean-American family struggling with their new life in rural Arkansas. It was filmed here, last year. Minari took top honors winning Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize. That’s a big boost as it begins its campaign toward next year’s Academy Awards, and it’s a big win for Tulsa and FMAC. 

Abby and I discuss many more victories her office has had and what they’re hoping to achieve as they continue to recruit more blockbuster productions to our city and state. 

I had a great time getting to know Abby and chatting with her about movies and pop culture. She’s passionate about her work and that can only mean good things for all of us, who love movies, music and the rest the arts. 

Following that conversation, The Voice’s Kyra Bruce shares some insight on local punk band Soaker and their new song, “Rat Face.” 

Let’s get this going.  

This is Tulsa Talks.