Hey, Filmmakers! We're Number One!

Hell, we already knew it, but now Moviemaker confirms it: Austin is the number one city in America to be a moviemaker.

Yeah, sorry about that, New York.

The "nation’s leading resource on the art and business of making movies and the world’s most widely read independent movie magazine" announced today that this is the best place, not just to make films, but to be a person that makes films. Not like we're complaining, but how did we beat out established markets and creative hubs like New Orleans and Los Angeles? Moviemaker had a simple set of criteria for its ruling: They were looking for "an affordable, intellectually vibrant community that gives tax incentives for in-city or in-state production, and which offers moviemakers access both to equipment and groundbreaking film screenings."

So creative center? Check. Tax and creative incentives at the state and local level? Check? Production space and facilities? C'mon, have you seen Austin Studios even before the new build-out, not to mention their Troublemaker neighbors? Double-check. And considering Austin is one long rolling festival season, and we have Austin Film Society, Violet Crown and the Alamo Drafthouse, this remains a cineaste's affordable dream.

In the survey released, Austin's remarkable filmmaking alumni were listed, and laid out exactly why this is a great place to create: Established names like Richard Linklater, the Duplass brothers, Terrence Malick and Robert Rodriguez rub shoulders with a host of talents hoping to break out at SXSW, like Andrew Bujalski (Computer Chess) and David Gordon Green (Prince Avalanche). Hell on Wheels director Bob Ray praised the other half of the equation: The people who come out to watch the films those talents create. He told Moviemaker, "The audiences in Austin are some of the best in the world and folks come out and support the film scene with a passion. On top of that, the University of Texas cranks out a new breed of moviemakers every year; add that to the locals and the transplants and we have a hell of a film scene in Austin."

Yup. What he said.

Read the full results of exactly who we beat here.