By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Hollywood. New York. Champaign?

It could happen, as Gov. JB Pritzker Wednesday announced infrastructure grants through the Illinois Soundstage Program. And, while Chicago’s role in the movie / television industry is well known, two of the three recipients are from downstate.

Jen Shelby, whose Flyover Film Studios is building soundstages in the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, says she’s not ready to release a major motion picture – yet.

“Maybe indie films, whose budgets aren’t quite as high,” Shelby said, whose producers “find that it is much more cost-effective to film in Champaign, Ill., versus Chicago, certainly versus New York or L.A.”

For one thing, there’s plenty of free parking.

Flyover received a $1.1 million matching grant. Other recipients are Fields Studios in Chicago, which received $5 million, and Fresh Films of Rock Island, which received $3.8 million.

And a day after dropping a Beverly Hillbillies reference (comparing spendthrift states to the poor mountaineer who, while shootin’ at some food, discovered a-bubblin’ crude on his property), Pritzker revealed his favorite shows: “Fargo, The Chi, and one of my personal favorites, The Bear, which began shooting its third season in Chicago just last week.”

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].