CLEARWATER, Fla. — Former Pinellas County Film Commissioner Tony Armer has gone full circle as head of production for Talon Entertainment Finance and he wants to film movies in the Tampa Bay area.

What You Need To Know

  • Tony Armer was the Pinellas County Film Commissioner for more than eight years 

  • Armer was the Dallas Film Commissioner for less than two years when he was offered the position with Talon Entertainment 

  • Armer wrote a feature film called "Terminal Kill," which he plans to shoot in the Tampa Bay area next year

  • Earlier this week, Armer was shooting the short proof of concept for the film in Tampa and Clearwater

“The opportunity to be a film commissioner was amazing. I absolutely love the job and I do miss it,” he said. “Now, I get to be back to my true passion, which is making movies.”

Armer and his production crew were filming action scenes at Coachman Park in Clearwater on Tuesday for a short proof of concept for a feature film he wrote called "Terminal Kill."

“We're calling this short film 'The Choice,'” he said. “The mom has to make a choice to do something bad in order for something good to happen to take care of her son.”

Clearwater Police officers were on hand for the scene because it involved a shootout with blanks. Armer said the feature film is about a terminally ill single mom who’s recruited by this mysterious former government agent to assassinate the head of a human trafficking ring.

“So this is based off a comic book series, graphic novel that I created called 'Terminal Kill,' just released at the end of last year,” he said. ”It was a screenplay before that that we were going to shoot in 2020. Then COVID happened.”

Armer said the plan is to shoot the full length feature film next year in the Tampa Bay area. He just bought a house in Clearwater and said Talon Entertainment CEO Steve Demmler is based out of Tampa.

“It's exciting to make projects at home,” he said. “While we also make projects in other parts of the country and around the world as well.”

He was the Dallas Film Commissioner for less than two years when he was offered the position with Talon Entertainment, which has produced some big box office movies.

“Talon is a producer on 'Oh, Canada' starring Richard Gere and Uma Thurman that premiered at the Cannes Film Fest last year,” he said. “'Bookworm,' starring Elijah Wood, 'Rabbit Trap,' starring Dev Patel, which premiered at Sundance this year.”

Armer said they shot some dialougue scenes in Tampa on Monday for the short film. He plans to send it to festivals and said eventually the short will be on YouTube.