Earlier this week, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, a native of Flint, Michigan, expressed his support for the state film incentive and bringing high-wage jobs to the state and fostering local talent while preventing it from moving to New York and LA.
Moore has been critical of state film incentives in the past, pointing to how states are being played off each other to come up with larger incentives in the race to the bottom. Moore told the Grand Rapids Press he was a “conservative supporter” of the incentive and called for a possible federal film incentive to end the economic warfare between the states:
Still, despite being a beneficiary of the Michigan film incentive, which offers up to 42 percent in tax refunds for film production, Moore called himself a “conservative” supporter of the legislation adopted in April 2008.
“We’re all Americans, and it’s pitting states against each other,” he said. “In Canada, you can’t close a factory in Vancouver and move it to Toronto. I can see (adopting) a stronger, federally controlled tax program.
“But the incentives invite Hollywood to come and learn how great it is to film here,” he added.
It’s nice to see calls for a national film incentive coming from filmmakers within the film and television industry. I call for the creation of one in my new law review article, as did LA attorney Schuyler Moore in a Hollywood Reporter oped earlier this year.
You can listen to some of Moore’s comments in the video below. To read the Grand Rapids Press article, click HERE
[...] from the Michigan film incentive program to good use. I posted about this story some time ago HERE, where Moore’s stance on the credits is discussed. According to an AP article, Moore is [...]