CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With vessels like the local CC7Day Film Festival doing its part to put the 'sparkling city by the sea' in the spotlight, Visit Corpus Christi is now doing what it can to attract entertainment professionals to the city.
We've seen our area on the big screen before with movies like "Selena" and the "Legend of Billie Jean," but did you know the city also has a new film and music commission that is already hard at work to make the Coastal Bend an entertainment destination?
3NEWS caught up with Aaron Salinas and Heraclio Gonzalez who are taking part in CC7D, which kicked off on Wednesday.
"It's on our calendar every year," Salinas said.
The filmmakers now live in Austin, but have been coming back for the competition since 2013.
Salinas is a writer, director, and actor for 'Bridge Burners.'
"One, it's a beautiful town from the city scape to the country scape, there's so much to play around with here, the cultural identity is like nothing else," Salinas said.
They said the event offers local filmmakers a foot in the door to showcase their skills.
"We need something that looks like where we live," Gonzalez said. "This is what is real and what Hollywood should start to show more."
This year, there are 36 teams participating in the festival that challenges teams to create a short film in just seven days.
CC7D co-founder Heidi Hovda said she's seen it grow into what it is today attracting filmmakers from across the state.
"Dallas, Austin, the Rio Grande Valley," Hovada said.
She said Hollywood producers and directors should take note.
"We have a lot of opportunity to bring in large productions in town, the infrastructure is in place," Hovda said.
She said it comes down to competitive incentives to attract them to the Coastal Bend.
Visit Corpus Christi's new Film and Music Commissioner Lydia Garza's job is to help make that happen.
"I had the opportunity to work with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg in the film, 'The Terminal,' I got to work with Corpus Christi native Eva Longoria on 'Desperate Housewives'," she said.
Garza lived in Hollywood for 10 years as a professional actor and also served as a talent agent.
"It's always been a talk that there should be more productions coming to Corpus," Garza said. "No one knew exactly how to make that happen, now having someone dedicated full time to this position, that's going to be my sole goal. To meet these producers and these directors getting them to town and checking out what beautiful sights we have here."
She said we have a ways to go, but the seeds have been planted with projects like CC7D.
To be able to offer even more opportunity for the existing talent here in town is a huge bonus for us.