Polaris Films is developing a new independent film production model centered on character-driven storytelling, controlled budgets and emerging production technology, with Oklahoma playing an increasingly important role in the company’s plans.
Founded by media entrepreneur Marc Benjamin, producer Kristofer McNeeley and writer, producer and development executive Mark Harris, Polaris is assembling an initial three-film slate. Productions are generally expected to carry budgets ranging from $2 million to $4 million, according to the company.
Rather than establishing infrastructure around individual films and dismantling it after production, Polaris plans to create a repeatable pipeline connecting development, financing, production and distribution.
“We’re thinking about stories that anyone can see themselves in,” says Benjamin. “We want to make films people actively want to see, built around characters who surprise us and stories that leave audiences with something to talk about afterward. The creative side matters deeply, but every decision also has to make sense as a business. We’re building a company that can do both.”
Three-Film Slate Takes Shape
The founders bring backgrounds spanning business operations, creative development, production and distribution. Benjamin is founder and CEO of Convergence Point Media, where he has maintained 20 consecutive years of profitability. Harris leads much of the company’s creative development, while McNeeley has produced more than 70 feature films over roughly a decade.
Two projects have already emerged as key components of the planned slate.
Blackbird, written and directed by JT Mollner, is an intimate mother-daughter road film exploring end-of-life decisions, family relationships and the tension between protecting a loved one and respecting that person’s wishes.
Shimmer, adapted from John O’Keefe’s play, follows a 14-year-old Black boy sent to an Iowa juvenile detention center in 1971 who discovers an otherworldly means of escape while attempting to survive the institution and find his mother.
Polaris is keeping the third position in its initial slate open and could identify the project through relationships it is developing in Oklahoma. The company is also considering Affliction, a psychological horror film written by Harris and Monica Foley that explores isolation, paranoia, memory and mental health.
Oklahoma Becomes Central to Production Strategy
Oklahoma’s production incentives, workforce and developing film infrastructure have made the state increasingly important to Polaris’ strategy. The company sees an opportunity to establish more consistent independent production activity between larger projects entering the state.
“Oklahoma already has strong incentives, talented people and a remarkable creative culture,” Benjamin says. “The opportunity now is consistency. A sustainable film economy needs crews who know there is another job coming, training that leads to actual work and production companies with reasons to keep returning. That aligns directly with the kind of business we’re trying to build.”
Polaris is developing relationships with production operations including Buffalo Roam Studios in Bartlesville. The company also has a connection to Vancouver-based Studio BRB through McNeeley, who is an owner. Those relationships could provide additional production and technical capacity as Polaris develops its slate.
Technology Could Reshape Independent Film Economics
Emerging production technology is another component of the company’s strategy. Polaris is exploring virtual production and generative tools for applications that could lower expenses, shorten production schedules and increase what can be achieved within independent-film budgets.
The company says human actors and authorship will remain central to its projects. Technology could instead support areas including planning, logistics, virtual environments and location extensions.
“The goal isn’t to make AI films,” Benjamin says. “It’s to use the best tools available to make better films more efficiently while keeping people at the center of the process. If technology allows an independent production to put significantly more value on the screen without sacrificing authenticity, that’s something we should be exploring.”
Tulsa Film Summit to Highlight Oklahoma Ambitions
Polaris’ expanding Oklahoma presence will receive a public platform during the inaugural Black Wall Street Nation Experience, scheduled for September 25-27 in Tulsa.
Benjamin co-founded Black Wall Street Nation with Tulsa educator and community builder Lincoln Cochran. The initiative draws on Greenwood’s history of entrepreneurship, ownership and reinvestment while focusing on current economic and creative opportunities.
The Black Wall Street Nation Film Summit at OSU-Tulsa will bring together filmmakers, producers, investors, educators, film commissioners and other industry participants. Programming is expected to cover production, workforce development and training alongside film screenings and other activities.
For Polaris, the event also provides an opportunity to examine Oklahoma’s potential to develop a more sustainable independent filmmaking sector.
“We’re still early, and that’s what makes this moment interesting,” says Benjamin. “The industry is changing quickly enough that some of the assumptions we made a year ago about budgets, infrastructure and how films need to be produced have already changed. Oklahoma has an opportunity to build into that future rather than retrofit an old model. We want to be part of that.”
