The tourism marketing arm behind the place that’s gotten called the “Vacation Home Capital of the World” is now trying to give Osceola County a little bit of a “Hollywood East” vibe.
Before county commissioners at their Monday meeting, Experience Kissimmee announced the creation of Film Kissimmee, the new film commission for Osceola County.
Experience Kissimmee CEO D.T. Minich said he hopes this endeavor has the same impact of its Kissimmee Sports marketing association, which he said has led to the county booking over 100 sporting events annually.
Experience Kissimmee Video Production Manager Nick Floyd is heading up the initiative, which will market Osceola as a diverse option for future film, television and commercial productions. The group has already identified over 100 locations as “filming-ready”, logged in just 12 days at filmkissimmee.com, across the county.
“This is an exciting time. We want to drive film production not just to the state but to Osceola County,” Floyd said. “There’s so much untapped land and personality here from the old Florida, and there’s so many places that are film-friendly, and friendly for film, that will look great on screen.”
The local group has also joined in with Film Florida, a collaborative of like-minded production, media and academic groups to make Florida an attractive place to film and promote Osceola County as “a unique destination that is ready to welcome film, television and commercial productions. Fourteen Experience Kissimmee-produced videos have already been added to Film Florida TV, a free streaming service that highlights all Florida production happenings in the state that is offering destination assessments, where industry producers rate how viable the area is for various types of productions.
In 2010, the state of Florida launched its Entertainment Industry Financial Incentive Program, allocating approximately $296 million in tax credits to attract film and television productions. But those funds expired in 2015, and by 2016, when the state of Georgia then began offering similar incentives, production crews started heading north and west to Louisiana to what were considered more film-friendly states.
And, according to Film Kissimmee’s statistics derived from the state, film production jobs are high-paying. Those stats showed that in 2025, 7,000 establishments in the film and entertainment industry employed 29,000 people at an average annual wage of $112,000.
“The hope for us is that those employees will spend those wages in our destination,” Floyd said. “We can’t wait for the future and we’re just excited to bring film to Osceola County.”
