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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...
William Faulkner called Mark Twain “the father of American literature” and Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is considered one of the greatest American novels ever written. Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Hannibal (which is portrayed by the fictional town of St. Petersburg in Twain’s stories)...
It’s time for California to wake up. California is under attack. In the late 1990′s, Canada devised generous film incentives in the form of tax credits as a weapon to wage economic war on the U.S. in an attempt to capture one of the planet’s most valuable and prized industries: the U.S. motion picture...
It’s time for some “deleted scenes” that will not be making it into the final version of my forthcoming law review article, “Down the Rabbit Hole: The Madness of State Film Incentives as a ‘Solution’ to Runaway Production“, which will be published by the University of Pennsylvania’s Journal of Business Law later this year. ...
A war of words between the Los Angeles Times’ Michael Hiltzik, the LAEDC and the MPAA has erupted over Hiltzik’s recent editorial attacking the LAEDC’s recent report about the California film incentive. In short, Hiltzik is of the opinion that because of the mere fact the MPAA paid for the report, that fact alone...
The MPAA blog is making for some interesting, if not frustrating, reading. For example, in a post about Louisiana today, MPAA blogger Kate Spence wrote the following: Now third in line behind California and New York for the number of productions produced, Louisiana’s motion picture and television industry is responsible for 16,483 jobs in...
Below is the first half of the Film Works campaign’s analysis of the brand new LAEDC study on the economic impact of the California film incentive. It is quite thorough and is a honest appraisal of the report, which some people are attempting to spin as showing a positive return on investment for the...
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. ...
Louisiana lawmakers are arguing over whether the state can afford the annual operating costs for a proposed 424-bed $1.2 billion hospital in New Orleans, nearly a decade after the state closed Charity Hospital after Hurricane Katrina: Supporters of the proposed $1.2 billion University Medical Center defended it’s strengths for the New Orleans metro area...
There is a general consensus that producers, studios and filmmakers who take advantage of generous film incentives are not to blame for runaway production, but rather the underlying incentive. Filmmaking is a highly competitive business and the stakes are huge. Most films lose money, and one big-budget flop can sink a studio. If a...
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...
A total of five annual reports about the New York state film incentive program from the NY Dept. of Taxation & Finance have been added to the Report Library. In addition to these reports, I also added the January 2011 “Progress Report” from the California Film Commission as well as a 2007 report on...
The following table is from the 2009 ERA report for Louisiana, which is available in the report library. As seen in the table, less than half of the production spending went to the benefit of the state. From 2002-2007, the combined total budgets for all features filmed in Louisiana was $2.3 billion, of which...
In the last of the three posts on Canada, here is a compilation of some of the more interesting charts, figures and statistics from the various Canadian reports recently added to the Report Library. Want to know how much Canada is spending on foreign productions in British Columbia? The following data is from the...
“Tax incentives are the common currency that draws film and television production to various locations throughout the world. While international competition is intense, the British Columbia tax credit programs – Film Incentive BC and the Production Services Tax Credit – continue to act as the key determinant of film and television production in the...
The following video aired recently in New Mexico. I don’t want to be too dismissive of the film workers there and legitimate job concerns, but the statistics thrown out in this video are just laughable, if not offensive for how inaccurate they are. Watch the video and then read below the player for actual...
Enacted in 2002, New Mexico’s film incentive program, along with Louisiana, was the first significant film incentive in the United States on par with those offered in Canada. It was often lauded as a model program that emphasized using in-state labor, building infrastructure and fostering talent in community college programs. When it began, the...
Four reports/publications have just been added to the Report Library: 1. 2010 MPAA Theatrical Market Statistics 2. 2010 Massachusetts Dept. of Revenue Report on Mass film incentive 3. 2011 Ernst & Young Economic Impact of Michigan Film Incentive 4. 2010 Dept. of Canadian Heritage Report on Canadian Film Industry There is no time for...
Variety.com – H'w'd and D.C.