From Mlive.com

Nancy Crawley: Proponents of film tax credits in Michigan should welcome scrutiny to validate incentives' value
Published: Sunday, June 27, 2010, 5:50 AM
Nancy Crawley | The Grand Rapids Press Nancy Crawley | The Grand Rapids Press


When West Michigan's film industry gathered last week for the announcement of a new film business, insiders lauded the job-creating engine movies can be.

Randall Emmett said opening his Grand Rapids Film and Services shows Michigan's film tax credits work despite recent headlines about a questionable project.


He was referring to news of an attorney general's investigation into local movie studio, Hangar42's application for $10 million in tax credits.

Others also extolled the virtues of incentives -- which pay film makers up to 42 percent of in-state production costs -- while tsk-ing about "negative" stories.

But those who want to see more Hollywood glamour in town might first consider Iowa where incensed lawmakers have suspended its film tax credits.

To keep Michigan's incentives a good deal for taxpayers -- whose Treasury after all is being tapped -- those people should welcome rigorous scrutiny. Those credits, the most generous in the country, will survive only if they keep taxpayers' confidence.

And frankly, that is getting shakier. Almost weekly there are efforts to dilute or eliminate them.

So, what happened with Iowa's "Half Price Filmmaking"?

Lax oversight of a program that covered 50 percent of production costs led to revelations of absurd spending, state officials fired and movie producers criminally charged.

Specifically, an audit last October found one director bought a $61,000 Mercedes Benz and another a $67,000 Range Rover and a $1,600 feather bed, all with the help of credits.

Auditors also found altered contracts and filmmakers who claimed millions of dollars for product-placement that cost nothing.

The governor suspended the program the next day, saying "Iowans will not be taken for suckers."

The state economic development director resigned. The film office manager was fired and charged with misconduct. This month prosecutors filed a dozen felony charges against moviemakers.

Those who oppose the program called for an end to it.

In Michigan, film office director Janet Lockwood said there are many safeguards built into this state's process. "What happened in Iowa could never happen here."

Her office did initially approve the Hangar42 application for an infrastructure film tax credit, subject to an audit when finished. But a watch-dog group, the Mackinac Center said, hold on, why do the studio owners claim a $45 million investment in an old factory that was for sale a few weeks earlier for $9.8 million?

Since then, the application has been held up, the attorney general is investigating and lawmakers are busy drafting bills to amend the system.

The dust-up gives critics another reason for junking the incentives, particularly as a state budget deficit looms. Kansas did that and New Jersey is considering it.

So those who want to build a field of dreams here should say, first of all, let's ensure taxpayers get everything they should -- legitimate, job-producing projects. That's how you keep the glamour and glitz on the silver screen.