Emptiness In Iowa

The latest update from the Iowa Department of Economic Development, an updated list of movie productions, is now available at their web site. I think the list is just the same stuff they published previously, with nothing encouraging or major. Check it out for yourself.

Wall Street Journal Article by Amy Chozick

Motown Becomes Movietown
Hollywood has a new favorite location. The Motor City is luring films and TV shows with tax breaks and red-carpet treatment. Was that Demi and Ashton at the Tigers game?



By AMY CHOZICK

Detroit


Across the street from a landscape of vacant houses and overgrown front yards, homicide detectives gather to investigate a murder. They analyze clues and debate how best to interrogate the key witnesses. Then, the director yells "Cut!" and everyone heads to a catered lunch of shrimp scampi and beef tenderloin.

The set of the gritty cop show "Detroit 1-8-7" is one of more than 100 film and television productions that have flocked to Michigan in the last two years, the result of generous tax rebates. Producers have spent nearly $350 million in the state so far, a figure expected to reach $650 million by year's end, up from $2 million in 2007, according to the Michigan Film Office. About 80% of these shoots take place in and around this iconic but much-maligned city, sprinkling a little stardust, optimism and controversy along the way.

Workers who used to build cars are learning to build sets. The entertainment sector is "a lifeboat as the auto industry adapts and restructures," says Wayne County Executive Robert A. Ficano.



Signs of activity are everywhere. Hip-looking film-school grads on bicycles run errands in an empty warehouse that once served as a Chrysler distribution center and is now a cavernous 166,000-square-foot production studio for "Detroit 1-8-7." Sets for the show, premiering on ABC Sept. 21, include a city morgue and a homicide unit with cluttered police desks and corkboards covered with mug shots.

The dilapidated Michigan Central Station, once a transportation hub, with marbled floors and Corinthian columns, has served as a symbol of urban ruination for years. It's now a key location for productions including "Transformers 3" and HBO's "Hung." On Tuesday "Hostel: Part III" and "Vamps," a horror-comedy with Sigourney Weaver, both shot in the city's neo-Gothic Masonic Temple. When "Harold and Kumar 3" finished a scene this summer that required turning a downtown street into New York City at Christmas, set designers left the fake subway entrance intact, knowing another production would soon need it.


Want to blow up a building, or burn it down? Detroit is happy to help. Wayne County officials, sitting on countless empty homes and factories, ask only that producers pay for demolition and clean-up. "Stone," a thriller opening Oct. 8 and starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich, burned two houses to the ground. Location scouts found them on the county's online "land bank," which lists thousands of abandoned properties.

Regional filmmaking has been on the increase for decades, as southern California became more expensive to work in and overexposed on screen. New Mexico, Louisiana, Georgia, New York, Canada and others have wooed the lucrative entertainment business with tax-incentive packages. The revenue and jobs are welcome, and sometimes buttressed by a little brand-building, perhaps attracting tourists or investment.
More

"What's Wrong With Virginia" Director Dustin Lance Black on Michigan's Tax Breaks

For Michigan, which by most measures offers the country's steepest rebates, the stakes are higher. It's a shot at redemption, a chance to shrug off wearisome images of high crime, racial turmoil, urban decay—even a bad football team. From Motown Records to Elmore Leonard, the city is rich in cultural legacy. No one expects a return to the glory days when Detroit was a symbol of entrepreneurialism and the automobile business helped make the U.S. the world's greatest economic power. But proponents say any jump-start can lift depressed spirits as well as spur lasting economic improvement.

"Without being too romantic and starry-eyed, this is a dream weaver industry and if storytellers can't bring hope to a region, no one can," says Scott Putman, executive producer/unit production manager on "Hostel: Part III."

The film incentive program offers up to a 42% tax rebate on any in-state expenses from rental cars, housing and food, or the cost of building a soundstage. Louisiana, by contrast, offers up to 35% in its highly popular program. After filming is completed, producers file a tax return, which is audited, and a check is sent out. Producers like to say that every dollar they spend in the state turns into $1.42.

Movies have their wrap parties and move on, but Detroit is hoping that some of its legions of laid-off auto workers will become skilled crew members who can get steady work. Television shows provide regular employment. Permanent infrastructure can take root: This summer, Los Angeles-based Raleigh Studios broke ground on a $75.8 million studio built on a 22-acre site in nearby Pontiac. It once served as offices for back-office employees at a nearby assembly plant which manufactured GM full-size pickup trucks.

In July, 15.2% of people in the Detroit metropolitan area were unemployed, more than five percentage points higher than the national average, according to the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.


Since the tax rebates went into effect in 2008, institutes aimed at retraining laid off auto workers have sprung up. The state's No Worker Left Behind initiative and Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal program that assists people whose jobs have moved overseas, subsidize tuition for displaced workers to take classes in set carpentry, prosthetic makeup and electrical. So far, the entertainment industry has produced 7,000 production jobs, though many of those are part-time and without benefits.

Initially, producers flew in crew from L.A., but the state offers only a 30% incentive on costs related to out-of-state workers.

"Quite frankly, it has taken them a while to trust us," says Jack Grushko chief operating officer of the Center for Film Studies, which works with the United Auto Workers and other unions to retrain displaced workers.

Murray Mullins, 43, lost his job building axles two years ago and lived off unemployment insurance. Last year he signed up for a class at the Center for Film Studies and landed a set-designer internship on the Pierce Brosnan movie "Salvation Boulevard." "It ain't manufacturing, but the skill sets go together," he says.

Casting offices that once focused on finding models for car shows now locate extras who get paid about $100 a day to fill out a street or stadium. Tiffany Jones, 34, did corporate training videos and auto-show hospitality for Ford Motor Co. before the work dried up. She recently played a cop on "Detroit 1-8-7." "It's not something I ever thought about doing living in Detroit," she says.

Aspiring actor and failed restaurateur Gary Brunner was broke, waiting tables at the Coach Insignia steakhouse on top of the GM Renaissance Center when director Michael Bay came in for a dinner. Ten days later, Mr. Bay offered him a small role in "Transformers 3," says Mr. Brunner, who is 40 years old with slicked-back hair and a gruff baritone voice. The experience makes him feel "like a washed-up prizefighter with another shot at the title."


The rebate has sparked criticism among lawmakers who argue the tax subsidy does not help the state bridge a $500 million budget deficit for fiscal 2011. Upcoming elections could threaten to reduce or even eliminate the incentive. Others argue that the nomadic film industry is not the best way to build stable, long-term growth.

Advocates counter that this argument misses the larger economic impact on small businesses like Just Delicious, whose scones were popular with Clint Eastwood and the crew on the set of "Gran Torino." Or Small Plates, a chic restaurant in downtown Detroit that sees its business spike by 30% each time a production shoots downtown.

"Detroit 1-8-7" is the city's first prime-time network drama, and therefore a possibility to run for many years and provide long-term employment. The show plans to spend $27 million locally on the first 12 episodes, including the cost of building the set, and about $50 million if the series is picked up for a full 22-episode season, producers say. "Everyone feels like there's more at stake than just making a good show," creator Jason Richman says, standing in front of a giant backdrop of the downtown skyline.

The show and others depict the Detroit area as it is, from the Lake St. Clair shoreline in Grosse Pointe to the fabled cruising strip of Woodward Avenue and the old Polish enclave of Hamtramck (now increasingly Middle Eastern and South Asian), blue-collar neighborhoods and burned-out ones.

Director Tony Goldwyn says his movie "Conviction," with Hilary Swank as a woman in an 18-year battle to get her brother out of prison, could not have been made elsewhere on a $12.5 million budget. But it was the area's aesthetic that sealed the deal. "Our key location is a broken-down poor farm in a bucolic area," Mr. Goldwyn says. The area has "that nice blue-collar feel." Nevertheless the film, which opens Oct. 15, is set in New England.

For the coming movie "The Double," starring Richard Gere, Los Angeles-based location manager Ernest Belding turned a street in Detroit's Harmonie Park into a block in Paris. His team paid storeowners to vacate their businesses, replaced storefronts and street signs with French signs and scoured the state for Peugeots and Citroëns. The movie also made the city a stand-in for Soviet Russia, Switzerland and Washington, D.C.



Of course, Detroit must endure the usual litany of stereotypes. The opening credits of "Detroit 1-8-7" flash images of the GM building, working-class neighborhoods and graffiti. "Detroit, Michigan, birthplace of Motown and once the heart of the automobile industry—now it has one of the highest murder rates in the country," a voice-over intones.

"Everything's falling apart, and it all starts right here in Detroit, the headwaters of a river of failure," says high-school coach turned male prostitute Ray Drecker in the opening minutes of HBO's dark comedy "Hung."

"The city tells a story that's emblematic of the American story," says "Detroit 1-8-7" star Michael Imperioli on a break from playing homicide detective Louis Fitch. "You could just take a camera and drive through the city and you'd have something."

Detroit has mixed feelings about its cinematic allure. The city council protested "Detroit 1-8-7" saying it cast the city in a negative light. Local politicians asked ABC to change the name since "187" is police code (and urban slang) for murder. It didn't help when cops being followed around by a crew from a reality show accidentally shot and killed a 7-year-old girl during a raid, raising questions about whether the camera's presence fed the incident. The city banned camera crews from shadowing police.

Its sky-high vacancy rates are a sensitive issue, too, despite the aggressive demolition program here. "We don't want to send the message that if you need to blow up a house, come to Detroit. That's not the kind of imagery the city needs," says Sommer Woods, the mayor's film, culture and special-events liaison.

A glamorous premiere party for "Detroit 1-8-7" last week at the MGM Grand Detroit hotel and casino let city councilmen hobnob with L.A. celebrities. For a coming episode producers hired a local youth group to play one on TV. The teenagers cleared a vacant lot in a scene's background. The show employs about 200 local cast and crew each day and as many as 146 extras.

"They could've easily portrayed Detroit however they wanted and shot it in Toronto," says Mikey Eckstein, whom producers hired to help relocate actors—a job that includes everything from finding a math tutor and trumpet instructor for Mr. Imperioli's children to finding an apartment that can accommodate large dogs. "I paid off my mortgage before they even started shooting."

Unlike jaded denizens of Los Angeles and New York, Detroiters are enjoying celebrity sightings. Last month, Ashton Kutcher and wife Demi Moore, in town to shoot her new movie "LOL," attended a Tigers game. Around the same time, Ms. Moore and actor Gerard Butler, who was in town shooting "Machine Gun Preacher," were spotted at a local bowling alley. Hugh Jackman stopped by the polar bear exhibit at the Detroit Zoo. "That all helps reshape our image and show people we're turning the corner," says Carrie Jones, director of the Michigan Film Office.

Driving through the city's historic Corktown district near Rosa Parks Boulevard, Mike Mosallam, an actor and director who moved back to Detroit to head film initiatives for Wayne County, proudly points out the train station and Slows Bar BQ, a popular spot with the film and TV set.

Even with the burgeoning new sector, the landscape of dilapidated buildings and shuttered storefronts looks bleak. "We're done being sad," he says. "We're trying to build a new industry."

He can only hope the cameras will keep on rolling. "Hollywood follows the money," says Mr. Belding, the location manager. "If Ohio had a 50% rebate, we'd all head 100 miles south and find Paris there."

From WKYC.Com

CLEVELAND -- The Film Tax Credit for Ohio is helping make the state an ideal backdrop for many film makers. Meanwhile at Cuyahoga Community College, more students are hoping to get into the industry.

Bobby Dorrace is studying film making at Tri-C Metro, hoping to become an editor for feature films one day.

"I've been given the opportunity to work with professionals on professional film sets. I've even been given the opportunity to work a paying job," Dorrace said of the doors that have opened for him in the past two years.

Creative Arts has become so popular a department at Tri-C, the community college built a new, $27 million dollar metro facility that will house classroom space for students in film, theatre, music and other arts programs.

Students and faculty gave tours of the new building Monday evening, where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives will also be stored.

Edwin Michael Figueroa, an adjunct professor, commutes between New York City, Los Angeles and Cleveland on a weekly basis. He teaches cinematography at Tri-C, and says the technology and equipment used is top of the line.

"It's been excellent. I've had a lot of fun and we've got plenty of gear here to make things happen," Figueroa said.

It's the stuff used to create Hollywood blockbusters, but is also used on small budget films.

The executive director for the Greater Cleveland Film Commission says smaller budget films are boosting the local economy right now.

"Smaller budget movies hire locally, and use our infrastructure right here," said Ivan Schwarz.

Schwarz says the Ohio Film Tax Credit has helped. Qualifying production companies can receive up to $5 million in tax incentives for the local making of films, documentaries, commercials and other media.

Schwarz says since the incentive began in November 2009, five feature films have been made in Northeast Ohio, nine have qualified for the tax credit, and another six to seven are considering it.

"Before the incentive, we would get bits and pieces of films. We'd have five days of 'Spiderman' or three days of 'The Soloist.' Now we have whole projects shooting here," Schwarz said.

He points to a film that wrapped up two weeks ago: 'Freerunner' hired 80 percent of its production crew from Northeast Ohio.

Schwarz says for the five movies made since last year, about 1,000 people total have been hired.

Film students like Bobby Dorrace hope they won't even need to look past Ohio to find work.

"I think the students here, by the time they graduate, they're going to be in a good situation to succeed," Dorrace said.

Culver Versus Branstad: the Big Debate Tonight

Former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad was dwarfed by the giant big lug, present governor of Iowa Chet Culver, who accused his opponent of not telling the truth, and of being dishonest and misleading in nearly every answer to questions posed by a panel of Iowa reporters in tonight's debate. When former governor Branstad asked current governor Culver what his three biggest mistakes were as governor, Culver answered by saying Branstad was not honest and needs to be honest and that unlike Branstad, he took responsibility for his mistakes, without answering Branstad's original question.

Governor Culver said he wants Iowa to be the best place to work, and that he is obligated to fight for hard-working Iowans. He said he would keep young Iowans here with exciting jobs.

Branstad said that by ignoring the Iowa Film Office, Culver has left the state of Iowa with a potential liability of $200-300 million as the result of film producers suing Iowa because the state broke its word by not honoring contracts made with movie makers. Culver said the film disaster has not hurt Iowa's credibility.

During the debate I noted that Governor Culver interrupted former governor Branstad with chuckles or comments while it was not yet his turn to speak.

My opinion is that Governor Culver was coached to throw phrases into his answers that alluded to Mr. Branstad being dishonest and misleading. I thought Mr. Culver was eager to belittle Branstad and that he appeared somewhat ill at ease. Branstad kept his cool throughout most of the event and came off with more of an air of professionalism than did Mr. Culver, in my humble opinion.

Although Branstad said he wants to get rid of the Iowa Department of Economic Development and put in its place a private sector entity, I feel he is the best choice for Iowans in the movie industry.

By Jonathan Turner, The Dispatch/Rock Island Argus

By Jonathan Turner, jturner@qconline.com
It appears both candidates for Iowa governor oppose reinstating tax incentives for film and television production in the state.

In March, Iowa lawmakers voted to suspend the film tax-credit program until July 2013.

Gov. Chet Culver first suspended the program in September 2009.The Democrat -- facing a tough re-election campaign against former GOP Gov. Terry Branstad -- suggested in a press conference this week that jobs created by film and TV productions weren't the kind of "permanent" jobs Iowa needs.

"Unfortunately, with respect to the film program, people exploited it. They took advantage of it. I've had enough of that," Gov. Culver said. "And we need to target our state resources in a way that helps create long-term jobs."

A bipartisan Tax Credit Review Panel, appointed by the governor after revelations last fall of misconduct in the program, recommended the state eliminate eight tax credits completely, including the film credit.

Mr. Branstad told the Des Moines Register last month that it was "pretty obvious that the film tax credit was not one that really meets the test," he said of worthwhile tax incentives. "We want to create permanent jobs, and we want jobs that will help us build a stronger and more successful economy in Iowa."

"It's unfortunate, because all the momentum you've built over the three years has just evaporated," Kelly Rundle, a Moline-based documentary filmmaker, said Wednesday of the Iowa suspension.

"There is a real misconception about what is a permanent job," he said of film and TV work. "I'm sure (the politicians) don't feel that way about construction jobs or a plumber that goes from one house to another."

He said whoever wins the Iowa election in November will have to consider restarting the tax credits "in a modified form, partially because surrounding states do offer it, to help attract jobs."

"We're still hopeful; we're trying to work for getting the program reinstated," Tammy Shutters, Iowa Motion Picture Association program director, said Wednesday.

Without the incentives, "You're off the radar screen, and they won't even consider you," said Doug Miller, founding president of IMPA, one of the architects of the tax credit and head of Motion Pictures Midwest in Davenport.

Illinois offers film tax credits equal to 30 percent of production spending and 30 percent of salaries for Illinois residents, but most film and TV production is in the Chicago area.

"We have a project in the works, a narrative feature we intended to shoot in Iowa, but we would now have to look at the possibility of shooting it in Illinois, where they do have a film incentive program that's active," Mr. Rundle said.

"We wouldn't have to consider it if we had more resources, but we already are scraping for every penny," he said. "It's something we do plan to shoot in the Quad-Cities area."







--
Jonathan Turner
Arts/entertainment reporter
The Dispatch/Rock Island Argus

Positive News?

In the Des Moines Register article linked below, candidate for governor, Terry Branstad and others are open to revising the Iowa film credits. Chet Culver. the incumbent, of course is still committed to ending them.

"Branstad, others open to revise film credits"
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100913/NEWS10/9130317/1007/news05/Branstad-others-open-to-revised-film-credits

One idea mentioned in the article which is troubling if you think about it is to limit the credits to films with "Iowa-type stories" such as "The Bridges of Madison County". This, although it would make sense to legislators who still consider the Film Office to be part of tourism, would not make a lot of sense in regard to the practical realities of attracting film and television productions. In case the legislature hasn't checked, most stories are not set in Iowa and to limit it to this state would limit the films shot here. It would also chase away films that could be shot here because of locations that are similar to other areas of the country. It would set Iowa back even further than it was before the film credits when the only productions that would even consider shooting here were those that needed either a small town location or a farm. Considering the fact that the movie "Aaseamah's Journey" built an Iraqi village set on Iowa land, this idea of limiting film awarded credits to those Iowa-centric stories lacks imagination.

Hopefully the film credits will return, will be written well, and run correctly without any limited ideas hampering their effectiveness like this "Iowa stories only" idea.

Article by Julie Washington of The Plain Dealer in Ohio

Ohio’s motion-picture tax credit: 1 year later

Julie Washington, The Plain Dealer

The tally in the first year of Ohio’s film tax credit is nine movies and at least one new resident.

Wickliffe native Monique Hahn, a movie makeup artist, has moved back home, leaving Los Angeles this year after learning eight to 10 movies were expected to take advantage of Ohio’s credit. The program aims to help the state’s economy by encouraging film productions to spend money here.

While she’s worked on only two films, she’s happy to be here.

“Cross your fingers it will be more,” Hahn said. “I’ll see how winter is. If work keeps coming in, I’ll be able to make [a career] happen.”

In the motion-picture tax credit’s inaugural year, the state attracted nine films that are expected to spend a combined $33 million in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Development.

In the two years prior to the credit, only three films of comparable size were filmed in Ohio, according to the Ohio Film Office, including DreamWorks’ “The Soloist” in 2009.

The slate of films includes an eclectic mix: “Unstoppable,” an action-thriller with Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and a toxic runaway train; “25 Hill,” the Corbin Bernsen Soap Box Derby movie filmed in Akron; and the action-thriller “Freerunner” starring former Elyria resident Sean Faris (”Never Back Down”).

“It’s because we’re aggressive. We work really hard to bring those films here,” said Greater Cleveland Film Commission executive director Ivan Schwarz.

These films are expected to pay $9.46 million in wages to more than 3,700 Ohio workers, and pay $24.3 million to state vendors and locations, according to Department of Development estimates. The state film office falls under that department’s auspices.

Ohio was one of the most recent states to offer incentives for film projects. Similar programs have been instrumental in creating regional film hubs in New Mexico and Louisiana.

In Ohio, film companies receive a tax credit of 25 percent of the amount they spend in the state, up to a maximum of $5 million.

The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit legislation earmarks $10 million in credits for the 2010 fiscal year and $20 million for 2011. About $820,000 in unused funds from the first year will be rolled over into fiscal year 2011, which began July 1, said Jeremy Henthorn, director of the Ohio Film Office in Columbus.

But the state is not doling out money to just anyone with a camera and a Mac. Film productions must submit a budget to the state and undergo an audit after production has wrapped, Henthorn said. Eligible projects must have budgets over $300,000.

The state turned down four films seeking credits because financing was not in order, Henthorn said, though they could be reconsidered.

“Freerunner” filmed in Cleveland because the credit helped it secure financing, said co-producer and former Bay Village resident Warren Ostergard.

The movie treated the city as its own backlot this summer, staging a chase scene in Tower City, flipping a van on East Sixth Street, and choreographing fight scenes at the Carter Road Bridge in the Flats.

“We’re happy we came here, and we think there’s a ton of potential for Cleveland,” Ostergard said. “We hope this helps kick it off.”

Filmmakers took a leap of faith in hiring a local payroll company and caterer — even though neither company had any film experience — because the tax-incentive program rewards them for spending locally.

“It really has stimulated spending with Ohio-based companies,” said Stephen R. Campanella, who runs a production company and was hired as the state incentive coordinator for “Freerunner.” He oversaw the paperwork necessary to ensure the film met its tax-credit criteria.

Ohio couldn’t supply all of their needs. Equipment trucks were brought in from North Carolina. Raw film, called dailies, went back to Burbank, Calif., for processing; digital copies were returned for the director to review.

“We really had to scramble,” Ostergard said.

Scrambling is what Schwarz does constantly. As head of the Cleveland Film Commission, he promotes Ohio and Cleveland to Hollywood filmmakers.

Schwarz roamed “Freerunner” scenes, checking his iPhone, a quiet presence in case a problem arose. Concerning the state’s lack of a film infrastructure, he replied simply: “Give us time. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

The next day he flew to Los Angeles and packed 30 meetings into five days. HBO, BET, Sony, the Russo brothers, James Cameron’s people — he’ll talk to all of them about filming here.

“The feedback has been positive, and we’re getting more interest,” he said. “I have something to point to now.”

Ds Moines TV-8 Article

Should Iowa Film Tax Program Get Second Chance?



DES MOINES, Iowa -- The push is under way to bring back the state's tax incentive program for films, but Gov. Chet Culver said he has no interest in giving the troubled program a second chance.

Five people were fired including the state's top two economic development officials after claims that millions in tax credits were misused.

The state Department of Economic Development resumed issuing tax credits for movie projects. Two were approved just last month, but right now there's little to indicate that one-way street from Hollywood to Iowa is about to reopen anytime soon.

"We're not going to be taken for suckers, people unforgivably exploited that program," said Culver.

Despite the past problems, many Iowans in the film industry still expect the program to return.

"If Iowa has a competitive film promotion program, a tax incentive program, we will get business. The past doesn't matter because it's all about the bottom line," said Kent Newman, of the Iowa Motion Picture Association.

Newman said no movie productions happen in any state without some sort of financial incentives. He said the state is headed in the right direction by carefully auditing the entire project before issuing tax credit, but it's only the first step.

"I think the state is ill prepared to respond to this as far as we know one person in revenue financing doing the audits, so taking a lot longer than we'd like to see," said Newman.

A spokeswoman from the IDED said that currently 45 movie projects are under contract and can move forward, while another 30 applications are approved, but haven't reached the contract stage.

"We don't think we're going to see much action at all from any of the projects that either had a contract or an agreement," said Newman.

Newman said the big reason the production companies initially signed on was for the 50 percent tax credit, which is now closer to 35 percent.

John Busbee worked on nine movies shot in Iowa in the past two years, including "The Crazies," shot in southwestern Iowa. He said he saw first hand the money pouring into surrounding communities.

"The production company spends $250,000 a day -- not bad," said Busbee.

The Iowa Motion Picture Association said it would work with either Chet Culver or Terry Branstad following the November election, along with the legislature, to submit a revised film tax credit bill in January to see if they can get it passed during the next legislative session.

Culver's Second Chance

The incumbent Governor of Iowa, Chet Culver, is currently running a television ad asking for another chance. This Letter to the Editor which I'm submitting to the Des Moines Register is my response to that:

As he is approaching this late stage of his re-election campaign, incumbent Governor Chet Culver is saying "honest mistakes" were made and now asks for another chance.

Not long ago he declared that film producers were "not going to make suckers out of Iowans" and stated his intent not to revive the film tax credits. If you ask the many people who benefited when film productions were here - restaurants, hotels, hardware stores, lumber yards, grocery stores, and many other businesses as well as the Iowans who were employed as cast and crew - it is doubtful that they would consider themselves to be suckers. Asking the same question to many who voted for Culver will yield a different answer.

Let's extend the same second chance as he is giving the Iowa film industry.

Should Iowa Film Tax Program Get Second Chance?

Here is a news story on KCCI-TV's website about film incentives resuming for existing projects and the general situation. There is a text version of the story along with video for it:

http://www.kcci.com/news/24915843/detail.html

Culver comments in a clip included in the story, "We're not going to be taken for suckers, people unforgivably exploited that program." I ask, did any of the people who got jobs on the films that shot here and got paid for it feel like suckers? Did any of the hotels where film personnel stayed, or local businesses that sold to the films feel like suckers? Governor Culver was obviously sleeping on the job as any problems with the program developed and now that he's been shaken from his slumber he is "hrumpf!" outraged, simply outraged that anyone would dare take advantage of the holes that he and the legislature so nicely provided for them. Rather than admit mistakes and attempt to fix them he would rather freeze and then try to kill the program since it appears too taxing on his intellectual capabilities to find a way to fix the problems and make it work.

Iowa "Blacklisted"

Here's a link to a news story on the WOI-TV website where they have talked to Neil Wells:

http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13108181

He says that Hollywood has blacklisted Iowa. I doubt it is much of an exaggeration considering how everything has been handled by Governor Culver and other officials.

Gino Blathers

The film horse is on its side, the large rib cage is heaving slightly, but hopes for recovery seem gravely dim, yet a Ms. Snyder from the IDED recently announced on local t.v. that there are forty-five film projects signed to start here with thirty more in the wings.

What we in the movie industry are sick of is this continuing assurance that moviemakers are soon returning, while in fact Iowa has been blacklisted by Hollywood because our state did not honor contracts with movie producers. The car incident doesn't seem criminal because the law says moviemakers can use cars but doesn't state specific restrictions... read it and see.

Worse than false reassurances would be how state legislators are distancing themselves from all of this for fear of hurting their own chances for re-election. I know that one Iowa senator, Bill Dotzler, Jr. of Waterloo, was to re-design the film bill and present it to the next legislative session in January, but now is finding it very hard to find colleagues in the legislature to join him in this endeavor.

Also, the Iowa Attorney General''s office is obviously delaying its film-related cases until elections in Iowa are over. How unfair! Governor Culver said again that we're not suckers and that he'd never restart the film program. Well, he obviously isn't going to be re-elected, yet I wonder now if even former governor Terry Branstad will help, concerned that the film disaster might tarnish his own campaign if he were to come out and support we in the acting industry in Iowa.

Bottom line: after going to the Iowa Capitol several times every week with Jay Villwock during the last legislative session and meeting with dozens of representatives and senators, I now know that the harsh reality is that many politicians are most concerned about their own re-elections, not about the needs and concerns of those who elected them.

From The Times Herald-Record by Deborah Medenbach

By DEBORAH MEDENBACH
Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 09/07/10

Pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.

With the approval of the state budget in early August came confidence that an approximately $450 million pot of film tax-credit funding each year through 2015 would continue a job-growth trend in the state.

New York had been losing film jobs to surrounding states with more generous tax programs until 2008, when Gov. David Paterson signed a bill that increased the state's film tax credit from 10 to 30 percent.

Analysis since then shows the move stemmed the film job losses and more than paid for itself with a 1.9 return on investment.

Filmmakers say the impact is even higher.

"We spend so much money that it pays for the tax credit fivefold," said film producer Jonathan Burkhart. "They may allocate $1.2 billion over the course of the credit, but it generates $5 billion in income. That's taxable income in the state of New York."

Shooting the feature film "Peace, Love and Misunderstanding" in Ulster and Dutchess counties this summer, Burkhart gave an example:

"For the one day we'd be shooting in Rhinebeck, aside from paying location fees, we'll probably drop $15,000 in cash in six hours. "» We have a 90-man crew every day, plus the people in the production office. When we spend money, we touch everything."

New York is the only state that does not include actors, producers, directors and writers — known as "above-the-line" expenses — in its tax credit.

"It's about creating jobs and getting more crews to be hired. It has more direct impact if the credit is directed to below-the-line expenses," said Patricia Swinney Kaufman, executive director of the governor's Office of Motion Picture and Television Development.

Ulster County Executive Mike Hein said giving a tax break to one portion of the film industry helps strengthen all of the businesses in support.

"It's important to note that we have many local studios that do not receive the benefit of the state film tax credit because they are smaller," Hein said.

With an existing infrastructure of three certified soundstages in Ulster County, a new production studio in Kerhonkson and a list of available union cast and crew members at the Hudson Valley Film Commission that more than doubled in the last year, the region is well on its way to keeping the smaller studios humming, too, in what Kaufman calls the "industry cluster effect."

Real estate agent Eric Bean of Westwood Metes & Bounds in Stone Ridge said he's already been contacted by cast and crew members from several productions that filmed here this summer about renting or buying homes in the area.

"They know people who are already here and had good experiences working here," Bean said.

"I mean, Jane Fonda took a break from filming at the Saunderskill Farms (in Accord), and not one person bothered her. That would never happen in other areas. It's laid-back here."

Film Credits Continue?

Here's a link to a WOI-TV news story about the Iowa Film Tax Credits supposedly continuing for projects already in the pipeline:

http://www.myabc5.com/global/category.asp?c=190187&clipId=5084156&topVideoCatNo=165457&autoStart=true

The big question is, has anyone actually seen any evidence that any production is going to happen? Other than volunteer type productions there hasn't been anything this summer.

Neil Wells Goes To Bat On TV-5 News Tonight @ 5 & 6

Neil Wells will be on Des Moines Channel 5 TV News tonight at 5 & 6 and will speak about the recent claims of the IDED that forty-five films are in the wings ready to shoot in Iowa, with thirty others eligible as well here. Neil was one of but a scant few who fought with Jay Villwock and I, plus the Busbees and a handful of others at the last Iowa Legislative Session...leave feedback on TV-5's web site after seeing Neil.

Article by Aaron Hepker, about Brilliant Lugernor Culver

Culver Doesn’t Plan to Restart Film Tax Credits for New Projects
By Rod Boshart, Reporter



By Aaron Hepker

Story Created: Sep 3, 2010 at 5:38 PM CDT
DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Chet Culver said Friday he does not plan to restart the state’s troubled film incentive program for new applicants once the obligations have been met for projects that received initial approval for tax credit awards before he halted the program nearly one year ago.

“As far as I’m concerned, they had their opportunity. It was exploited and I’ve got no interest and I don’t think the Legislature has much of an appetite for doing anything beyond what we’ve already committed to do,” Culver said in an interview.

“Iowans aren’t going to be taken for suckers and we’re going to hold those individuals accountable that did try to exploit the program.

But we’re moving on,” he added. “That has never been a focus that really makes a difference in terms of job creation and economic development.”

Also, State Auditor David Vaudt, a Clive Republican who Culver asked to scrutinize the film program last year, said he expects to issue his findings by the end of the month or early October – a drawn-out process that Culver, a West Des Moines Democrat facing a tough re-election battle against Republican Terry Branstad, says may carry political motivation as the Nov. 2 election approaches.

State officials announced last week they have resumed issuing tax credits to qualifying film projects, awarding financial incentives to two films from the Iowa Department of Economic Development using a revised process that includes a full audit of the project before state tax credits are issued.

The latest projects are part of a pool of applicants that received initial DED approval for tax credit awards before the program was suspended in September 2009 by Culver after an internal review found incomplete and inaccurate recordkeeping, altered contractual terms, questionable expenditures, use of pass-through entities, and broker fees in the management of a program.

The suspension was partially lifted last November for projects that had contracts with the state or had registered under the program. The program isn’t taking new applications, but those that had been approved before Sept. 18, 2009, are being allowed to negotiate contracts with the Iowa Film Office. The Legislature suspended any new applications until July 1, 2013.

Iowa’s tax credit program provides a 25 percent tax credit for production expenditures made in Iowa and a 25 percent tax credit for investors for projects that spent at least $100,000 in Iowa. But the Iowa Attorney General’s Office has clarified the program to indicate that producers could qualify for a maximum 25 percent credit for qualified expenditures made in Iowa.

Culver halted the state’s film tax credit program last September following revelations that some of the credits were used in the purchase of luxury vehicles and other potential abuses. Five people lost their jobs due to problems associated with the administration of the film tax credits, including the resignations of the state’s two top economic development officials and the dismissal of the director of the state’s film office.

Criminal charges since have been filed against the office’s former director, as well as production company officials for allegedly inflating expenses.

The criminal investigation began after Culver asked Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat, and Vaudt to look into troubled program last September.

In an interview, Vaudt said this week that his office has completed its fact-finding activities and is working on a draft report that could be issued by the end of this month.

“We’re working hard and as fast as we can,” he said. “We’ve gotten through the records and now we’re accumulating the findings and the results and drafting a report. I would hope maybe by the end of September or so we might be ready to issue a report. We are making good progress.”

However, Culver questioned the timing by Vaudt, who endorsed Branstad’s candidacy before Branstad won a three-way GOP primary in June.

“I’m sure he’ll wait as long as he can so it’s as politically sensitive as he’d like it to be,” Culver said Friday. “He has clearly demonstrated, especially in the last couple of months, that he is much more interested in partisan politics. I think the people of Iowa regret the fact that we have a rabidly partisan auditor who for three and a half years has had one goal in mind and that is to discredit in a partisan way our administration and I’m sure he’ll try to do that again but people won’t pay any attention to him because he’s got no credibility.”

Branstad has taken aim at the state Department of Economic Development in recent weeks, calling it “dysfunctional and scandal-ridden” and hurling allegations of government corruption at the Culver administration in likening the situation to Illinois rather than Iowa.”

Culver went on CNBC-TV Friday to tout Iowa’s success in attracting wind-energy projects and jobs to Iowa, its favorable ratings among national business measures and financial houses, and its balanced budget with $300 million in reserve.

The governor later said his administration has worked with 251 companies in the last 36 months to bring 20,000 jobs and $5.2 billion of economic development activity to Iowa, but Branstad’s negative portrayal on the campaign trail is hurting Iowa’s image among business interests.

“Terry Branstad is personally attacking me and my administration. The idea that there’s any culture of corruption is out of bounds and flat-out wrong and he needs to be careful about what he says. When he says that our economic development efforts aren’t working, that is tearing down the state of Iowa and that is wrong,” Culver said.

“Terry Branstad would like people to think that the film office is 98 percent of the Department of Economic Development, and he’s just flat-out wrong. It’s about 1 percent of everything they do over there,” Culver said. “In a political way, he and his campaign are trying to overstate the impact that that has had on our economic development efforts. It’s had zero impact on our state’s ability to recruit companies to create jobs and I would put our record of 20,000 jobs and 251 companies and $5.2 billion investment in our state up against any governor in America in the last 36 months.”

Des Moines TV-5 (ABC) Movie Article

By James Swierzbin, ABC 5 News Reporter
Film Credits Start Flowing Again

Iowa's venture into movie tax credits has been in limbo for a year, but now two films have received credits using the state's new system.

The credit application system has been given an overhaul since it was halted last September, beefing up oversight and making the system clearer for movie makers.

The biggest difference is that any credit application handed in by a film production will now be audited by both the Department of Economic Development, and the Department of Revenue.

Now that two movies have cleared through this new process, others that have already been approved, may soon follow.

Besides those already in production, 30 other projects not yet in development could receive credits. Although only projects that were approved before the programs suspension will be eligible, to get money back from the state.

IDED Claims 45 Projects Are In The Movie Pipeline

Just saw a local t v news item..Kay Snyder of the IDED said 45 movie projects are in the pipeline and 30 others are poised to happen as well.. write or call her to get more info and report back to me, please!!! gino: Kay Snyder Communications Director, kay.snyder@iowa.gov 515.725.3150. Jessica O'Riley ... Iowa Department of Economic Development 515.725.3000.

I've heard these claims before and look at what we've had for the last full year: pretty much NOTHING... some free movies where people volunteer, some industrials and ads, but really, NOTHING!

Call Kay's bluff... WHAT are those forty-five movie projects in the pipeline? What are those other thirty?? Words are cheap. Claims are worthless. Actors and moviemakers have been screwed and patience has turned to depression and disillusionment.

Gino

Noted Actor Flees Iowa

My good friend Neil Wells is fleeing from Iowa and will relocate in Louisiana, where that state's film program is in full swing. Neil went to bat with Jay Villwock and John and Kim Busbee and myself by going face to face with Iowa legislators.

He spoke at legislative committee meetings, he went one-on-one with many Iowa senators and representatives, and eloquently spoke for our Iowa film community at several news conferences and interviews.

Neil's acting career includes appearing on several national t.v. shows and being in several feature films, so his loss will be felt not only by me, but by many.

Thank you, Neil. Please check in with me and us when you can. I am grateful that I got to be in a little movie with you and I hope you knock 'em dead down there!

gino

photo: Neil, on right, with fellow actor, Jay Villwock in the Iowa Capitol Rotunda

Political Careers Trump Iowa Creativity

I received the following from a good friend who is well-connected in the Iowa film world. Here is that person's message to me today:

Everything is still moving along, but Dotzler is having a hard time getting the other legislators on the tax credit committee to agree on a date. I think that Governor Branstad's move to reinvent IDED has everyone very cautious. It has become a waiting game, I'm afraid.

All of the films that had a contract or an approved application have been called by non-state employees. All had various answers, but to your question on if we are going to see any films shot - No - they have moved on to other states to shoot or have scraped the project. Even if the state reinstates the film tax credits - they will not be coming here to shoot. By the way it looks (and sounds), in the film industry, Iowa is black listed and will not see large productions until Spring 2012 - if then. Our state government is no longer to be trusted. We will have to write an iron clad bill and rules before they will even look at us.

Lawsuits should be popping up this winter, which will not help us. Unfortunately, the general public does not understand that these lawsuits will be the direct result of the Governor's and Attorney General's office not honoring signed contracts for legit production houses that were planning on filming or were in pre-production Iowa. Just in Des Moines, I know of three productions that lost millions.

Sorry for the doomsday answers, but right now, my friend ... it doesn't look good. That's not to say that we are not going to fight for this. We have gathered everything we can to make sure we begin anew in the right direction.

From The Los Angeles Times

The California Film Commission's incentive program
In several respects it's a model for how the Legislature should approach corporate tax breaks.
Editorial
August 23, 2010

It took just one day for the California Film Commission to allocate all $100 million in subsidies the Legislature provided to lure film and TV crews to the state this year. The commission granted tax credits to 30 productions; at least 30 more landed on a waiting list, where they're not likely to stay. Instead, they're expected to set up shop in other states with competing subsidies.
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That's the reality of the film business today — it's a mobile industry that can take much of its work to whatever state or country that makes the most sense economically. With other states forgoing more tax revenue to attract movies, TV shows and commercials ( New York, for example, just increased its subsidies to $420 million a year), California's grip on the market is slipping. We have some concerns about tax breaks aiding productions that would have been shot here anyway, but the jobs lost to other locales have become a bigger worry.

Although the state's budget problems make it hard for lawmakers to expand any program that costs money, Democratic leaders have included about $300 million in their budget proposal for job creation. The film subsidies clearly bring jobs to the state and stimulate the economy — the credits awarded last year are expected to generate more than 22,200 cast and crew positions that, according to the film commission, almost certainly would not have come to California without the tax break. Those workers pay taxes too, as do the businesses where they spend their money.

The film incentives program has some flaws — too many projects are ineligible, and there's no preference given to productions with subsidy offers from other states — but in several respects it's a model for how the Legislature should approach corporate tax breaks. It's structured in a way that makes it easy to measure the return on the state's investment in terms of jobs, payroll and other spending generated, and its five-year lifespan prevents it from remaining on the books indefinitely without further review by lawmakers.

Three bills pending in the Legislature would bring that sort of discipline to other state tax subsidies. One, AB 2666, would require the state to disclose the tax credits received by publicly traded companies. A second, SB 1272, would require future tax breaks to expire in seven years and include benchmarks that could be used to evaluate their effectiveness. A third, SB 1391, would apply an even tougher standard to future tax breaks that are designed to boost employment: If a business cut its workforce within five years of receiving a tax break for adding workers, it would have to pay back some or all of the tax break. Such measures would help bring some badly needed transparency and rigor to state tax policy.