'The Better Man' nabs Lawrence

Martin Lawrence will star in "The Better Man." The Universal Pictures project begins shooting in and around Shreveport on March 19. It's a 10-week shoot, and the production team is currently crewing up.

We're starting to get very busy. Three projects are shooting right now: "Cleaner," "The Last Lullaby" and the "Harold & Kumar" sequel. "The Mist" begins at StageWorks about Feb. 20. Millennium Films has three more projects on the way.

"Prison Break" is scouting. The Austin paper still thinks "Dallas" is going to shoot here for eight weeks some time in 2007. (I'll believe the latter when I see it.) More are rumored.

My story on the economic impact of all this business will run in The Times on Sunday.

Photo credit: Martin Lawrence in "National Security." Gannett News Service/Columbia Pictures.