Silver Screen Dreams: Old Pueblo takes the lead for Southern Arizona filmmakers

One very hot — 105 degrees and rising — Saturday morning at a trailhead in Tucson Mountain State Park, a small band of about a dozen people milled about, walking back and forth, back and forth as the sun pressed harder and harder down on them.

They waited for that magic word, “Cut!” When it finally came, the group sought what meager shade there was while director/producer Mark Headley set up the next shot.

Movies can cost millions to make and with that kind of budget, movie makers get complex special effects and top-tier name recognition. They’re glamorous and amazing. 

That isn’t this production. 

This might not be Hollywood, but movies are being made in the Old Pueblo. Ask Headley. He stays busy: Every single day he’s doing some kind of moviemaking. Chief among his activities is hustling money, but if anyone can make a film on little to no money, it’s Headley.

“The business part is the toughest, the money part is the toughest,” he said. “My philosophy is so long as you have a camera and people crazy enough to get in front of a camera, you can make a movie.”

If Headley has his way, Tucson will become the go-to place to shoot cinema. Not just westerns, either, for which the Old Pueblo seems to be known, but real feature-length movies worthy of mainstream screens, or television streaming services such as Netflix. 

Headley is far from the only filmmaker in town. 

Sally Shamrell spent many years as an actor in Hollywood but came back to Southern Arizona. She’s now the executive producer and director of a feature-length movie she wrote. She also included a small part for herself. 

“Choir Practice” will make its debut, hopefully, at the beginning of 2026. It’s a crime thriller inspired by real Tucson people and events and filmed almost exclusively in Tucson. Shamrell and another executive producer, Glenn Murphy of Flat Dogs Films LLC, spent four years raising the money to make the movie even while Hollywood producers tried to get her to move the production to New Mexico for the tax benefits (30-35% tax incentives). Arizona offers filmmakers a 15% tax incentive.

Shamrell wouldn’t do it.

“Having grown up in Naco and Bisbee, I had to dig my heels in and insist we keep this story in Southern Arizona,” she said. “The Sonoran Desert is the only landscape that could serve as an additional character in this film.”

Shamrell snagged some fairly well-known actors: Danny Trejo (“Machete”), Jon Proudstar (“Reservation Dogs”) and Rodrigo Rojas (“Ozark” and “Modern Family”). JJ Urquidez, a newcomer to filmmaking and a University of Arizona freshman, is also in it. 

Shamrell said Tucson’s businesses are very supportive of movie makers and contribute to the works in a hundred different ways. Take MotoSonora Brewing for example. The company gave plenty of product to the production and Jim Click of Jim Click Automotive personally rented the cars used in the production.

To make those silver screen dreams come true, a buzz has to be built — and for that, there’s Peter Catalanotte, director of Film Tucson, a branch of tourism office Visit Tucson. He actively looks for filmmakers who he can convince to come to Tucson and Southern Arizona. On the whole, he is successful, but it’s a big job.

“It’s an uphill battle because the issue of statewide film incentives is so competitive,” he explained. “Other states take business from us because their incentives are more aggressive.”

This despite the fact that Tucson has all the personnel and equipment a moviemaker might need at the ready, including specialty stuff.  

“One of the co-producers is (Tucson’s) Monsoon Production Services,” Shamrell said. “I think they have more gear than any other production house in Arizona. They’ve been around for a long time. They have lots of film production toys: jibs on side-by-side off-road vehicles. When companies come here, Monsoon has a lot to offer them so we’re not really a podunk film town.”

As with any great idea, the drawback is finding the money. Shamrell spent years trying to get funding. Headley found another way to generate income: the well-known Hollywood secret of buying your way into a picture. Actors have been doing it for ages, according to Headley.

“Some actors will spend thousands of dollars just getting an audition,” he said. “You know, loss of work, gas, parking: Everything is expensive in Hollywood. (Actors) have to take off work and work for nothing on a movie. They sacrifice probably a few thousand (taking time off from) their day job.”

Then there are the photos and acting classes.

“People go for years not even getting an audition on a decent picture,” he added. 

For every person who gets a role, so many do not.

“It’s amazing the amount of people who go in for acting,” Headley said. “When I’m doing a film, even a $100,000 movie, which is considered extremely low budget, I’ll audition maybe 50 to 100 people for one role that will pay, like, $150 a day. It’s pretty sad.”

While Headley pursues the big money, he makes several small- to no-budget films a year. He’s working on at least two right now, including “Curse of the Iron Door,” a story and script by his son, Sean Marcus Headley. Headley funds the productions by getting local actors and nonactors to buy in. For $100, anyone can get a speaking part, their name in the credits,  coaching, a closeup shot, a listing on IMDB.com and tickets to the “red carpet” opening. It’s been a successful strategy so far. 

“It’s working extremely well,” he said. “We just did some more filming with ‘Curse of the Iron Door, Chapter 2.’ It brings in some income to help pay the crew and myself. And the actors get increasingly better because they can see themselves on the big screen.”

Headley is also offering free workshops for those interested in learning how to operate a camera and manage sound. He has an ulterior motive: He hopes to train a cadre of local craftspeople to work on an upcoming production.

“I’m doing this film, ‘Matter of Strife,’ in Tucson in November,” he said. “I would love to have more local hires in the crew. It’s expensive when you have to start bringing people in from Los Angeles. And house them. And pay for transportation.”

Back at the trailhead, filming for the day was completed by high noon. Two actors left early due to the heat; one felt so bad he headed straight to the VA hospital (he’s fine).  The heat kept a third actor from even attempting to come out. Still, at least one actor (who paid to be in the movie) had the time of her life.

Hailing from Pennsylvania, Karen Blackburn came a long way for three lines. It was enough. She knew she would do it again, even if she had to pay.

“I didn’t even know being in a movie was on my bucket list,” she said. 

For information about participating in a workshop or to buy in as an actor with Mark Headley, email markheadley12@yahoo.com.