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Sad news from Michigan. But many, including myself, saw this one coming from the beginning. Raleigh’s Pontiac Studios, the flagship state-of-the-art $80 million studio complex is reportedly going to default on a bond payment next month and, tragically, the state’s pension funds are on the hook for over $600,000. From The Detroit News: Michigan’s...
This is Part One of a series of articles about state film incentive programs in the United States….. A few days ago, I posted the new report from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) to study the economic impact of the state’s film incentive program. The big story was the 82% decline in production...
The incompetence at the Detroit Free Press is breathtaking. Who is running this newspaper? I am just waiting to see them start quoting Wikipedia. Over the weekend were two gems in their film incentive “news reporting”. The first was from an article about using alternative methods to keep the Michigan film industry competitive: One...
I don’t want to keep being critical of the MPAA, but the organization just keeps making mistakes. They really need to change the way they sell the idea of film incentives. They need to stop making claims film incentives generate revenue for states because it’s just not true. To insist otherwise is a lie. ...
If it sounds too good to be true…… The State of Georgia is making money from its film incentive program, according to a February 2011 report published by Vancouver-based (of all places) Meyers Norris Penny (MNP) and Santa Monica-based W2 Entertainment. They claim that although the tax credits issued from 2005-2010 cost the state...
The final days of the excessive Michigan film incentive are playing out in dramatic fashion. I have to admit, I thought the following PSA produced for the Michigan Production Alliance was quite good, in terms of the emotional impact it makes. It had one on me, in any event. That said, I also had...
The numbers say it all……. Click on the individual pages from the 2010 Michigan Senate Analysis, which is available in the “Report Library”, for a full-size image:
The producers of the upcoming film “Oz: The Great & Powerful” should be thanking Michigan’s taxpayers, but they are probably laughing all the way to the bank. According to the new annual report from the Michigan Film Office, which is available in the Report Library under “Michigan”, the state is giving the $104.8 million...
Three recently released articles published by the Film Works L.A. campaign in California are well worth reading…. The first article, Part One: “The Clear and Present Danger” of Runaway Production to California, is the first of a two-part story about the threat of runaway production to California (and therefore the nation in the long run)...
For one small Michigan town, the damage from the state’s overly generous film subsidy program is already inflicted. The end of the outrageous giveaway, which seems almost certain at this point, came too late. And this story from the Detroit Free Press breaks my heart. No diffuse cause and effect argument here. No speculation. ...
It’s always nice to see an editorial board get it right. This week, that honor belongs to The Grand Rapids Free Press. Apparently, Michigan’s troubled film incentive is about to get more transparent and the paper, not to mention myself, could not be more pleased: Shining a light on the details of the tax...
A brand new report from the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency (authored by economist David Zin) offers a sobering and critical assessment regarding the efficacy of the state’s massive film incentives. I just added it to the “Report Library” and you can read it HERE. First, there is no doubt that the Michigan incentives have...
So it turns out Michael Moore is putting the “corporate welfare” money he received 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 doing the following: TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. —...
Rather than making the previous entry on this issue even longer, I elected to put my most recent exchange with Mr. Hiltzik in a shorter post. If you have not read the earlier post and exchange, please do so as this is a continuation thereof. This has proven to be a wonderful exchange and...
I have to give to credit to Michigan for taking swift action in response to the lack of oversight and transparency in their film office, which was not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests from news outlets and other organizations. The bills Michigan is considering would remedy these issues. Recent allegations of shady...
It just seems to keep happening. Yet another report of film incentive abuse, this time in state film incentive leader Michigan. This story sounds similar to the corruption problems in Louisiana and also involves the construction of a new film studio. Below is a video report put out by the Mackinac Center for Public...
Thank you to Phil Drake for telling me about Zach Patton’s recent article in this month’s edition of Governing Magazine. The article is an excellent introductory primer on the “state” of state film incentive programs in the US. One thing that is debated about in the academic literature on international film production and runaway...
I just added the January 2010 Report by the Tax Foundation about state film incentive programs to the “Report Library”. The report is an excellent, crisp and relatively fast read. The report is very critical of state film incentives, which they consider to be poor public policies that hurt states financially because the cost...
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, based in Michigan, produced a highly critical peice on filmmaker Micheal Moore, whose 2009 film “Capitalism: A Love Story” has qualified for tax credits from the Michigan Film Incentive. This is a hard hitting, MUST SEE story that pulls a “Micheal Moore” hit on the man himself. And...
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...
Variety.com – H'w'd and D.C.