Snooki to Snookered: States' Film Tax Credits Produce Embarrassment
By ERIC FELTEN
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is threatening to revoke a $420,000 subsidy his state's Economic Development Authority is giving to MTV's "Jersey Shore" for filming there. Italian-American groups have been complaining, since the tax credits were announced last week, that New Jersey is subsidizing stereotypes. While the Newark, N.J.-based Star-Ledger newspaper acknowledged in an editorial that the reality show features "a bunch of 20-something nitwits," it didn't side with Gov. Christie. Instead, it said that his threat to veto the tax credit made him "the state's Censor-in-Chief."
Associated Press
The cast of MTV's reality show 'Jersey Shore.' Gov. Chris Christie is threatening to revoke the show's $420,000 state subsidy.
That's an accusation leveled every time officials rethink pumping money into dubious entertainments. Michigan, having written a check for a charming film about young cannibals gorging themselves on the flesh of the unsuspecting, last year balked at subsidizing the sequel. "This film is unlikely to promote tourism in Michigan or to present or reflect Michigan in a positive light," the state's film commissioner said. She was derided for prissy parochialism.
Texas governor (and now presidential hopeful) Rick Perry trumpeted his state's partnership with movie director Robert Rodriguez. That is, until he found himself asked to pay for a blood-drenched satire in which a machete-wielding Latino avenger gives the gringos some Tarantinian what-for. Texas decided last December—after "Machete" had already been released—not to hand over the hefty subsidy producers were expecting. "We would consider that censorship," sniffed someone from the film office in neighboring New Mexico.
One suspects the debate in Texas might have been different had the racial roles been reversed. What happens when the Ku Kluxers want tax credits to remake "Birth of a Nation"?
If governments fund movies, censorship is a given. Among the films ineligible for Florida incentives, for example, are "pornographic productions" and (perhaps in the same spirit) "political programs, political documentaries [and] political advertisements." But even the most casual perusal of the productions being funded by state governments finds a preponderance of low-budget gore fests, as if the tax credits were targeted to bolster the nation's fake-blood industry. Why are states so eager to underwrite reality television and schlocky horror picture shows?
Take Iowa. A start-up called Polynation Pictures came looking for backing for a sci-fi flick so lame it would have embarrassed Ed Wood. With a financing scheme worthy of Max Bialystock, the con these folks pulled was nearly as inept as the film they made, but Iowa's film office was too starry eyed to notice.
As prosecutors would later outline it, the filmmakers submitted millions of dollars in fake or inflated expenses and got the film office's head, Tom Wheeler, to reimburse half the phantom charges. Though such reimbursements are "tax credits," they are not mere relief from the tax burdens filmmakers bear. The credits are vouchers given out based on the producers' expenses, which can then be sold for cash to anyone with a tax liability. Many states underwrite as much as a quarter to 40% of the total budgets of films or TV shows they back. In Iowa, Mr. Wheeler was advertising he could offer "half-off film making."
The $767,250 production Polynation Pictures proposed eventually came in at $3.7 million. This was achieved in part with preposterous expenses. Producers claimed they paid $1,350 to rent six orange road cones. The use of two 6-foot ladders supposedly cost the company $900 (a bargain, as Polynation claimed to have spent another $900 to rent a single 8-foot ladder). Among production necessities was a new Mercedes. The partners set up an array of separate companies and used them to bill themselves extravagantly for work supposedly done on the picture. These were presented to Iowa as "deferred payments"—to be paid if the movie made money (which the enterprise was sure to do when Iowa handed the tax credits over). The only thing missing was a staged rendition of "Springtime for Hitler."
Several of the producers have already copped pleas. And two weeks ago a jury found Mr. Wheeler guilty on one count of facilitating the scam. The jury—which could have convicted him on eight other charges—seems to have concluded the former head of the film office was an idiot, not a crook. When Iowa finally audited the office last year, it found that some $25 million of the $32 million in film tax credits issued to various productions had been wrongly given out.
Hollywood accounting is a notoriously dark art. By trying to bankroll moviemaking, states put themselves in the position of being either saps or censors. How much better to promote industry, film or otherwise, simply by making it cheaper and easier for everyone to do business in a state.
As for "Jersey Shore," hasn't the state already contributed enough? This spring, Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, paid $32,000 for Snooki to lecture its young scholars. "Study hard," she urged, "but party harder." And yes, be sure to get a government grant while you're at it.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
From Below The Line News by Leslie Lindeman
|
The Louisiana Model
The First State to Implement Tax Incentives, Works to Perfect the System
September 21, 2011 | By Leslie Lindeman
From King Kong on the Empire State Building to Marilyn Monroe on the subway grate, New York will always attract filmmakers. From the green Pontiac Steve McQueen chased off the 19th floor of Marina Towers in The Hunter, to the baby carriage Brian DePalma pushed down the steps of Union Station in The Untouchables, filmmakers will always gravitate to Chicago.
But Louisiana?
When Louisiana became the first state to pass entertainment industry tax incentives in 2002, no one could have known that in less than a decade the state would be the third most popular film and television location in the U.S. Indeed, Louisiana has a chance to log a record 150 filming applications this year and to see local film and TV in-state spending for the first time top $1 billion.
The journey has not been without adversity. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated southern portions of the state in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill thoroughly disrupted the coastal economy in 2010. But Cajuns are nothing if not indomitable. “People would mention it (concerns that weather could disrupt filming),” said Chris Stelly, the interim director of the state’s Office of Entertainment Industry Development, “but time and education have soothed fears. The numbers of storms we’ve experienced and the amount of time people have to adjust when they do occur, has rendered them a non-issue,” he said.
Depending on the season, some productions choose to buy weather insurance, Stelly said, but the cost relative to the total budget and the weight of the state’s tax incentives, isn’t enough to undermine the overall cost effectiveness of shooting in Louisiana.
In contrast to the national jobs picture, Louisiana entertainment industry employment is up sharply. Hollywood generated more than 6,000 jobs in the Bayou State in 2007 (the last year for which statistics are available). IATSE membership has risen from fewer than 200 in 2002, to more than 1,000 today. The state is now 10 to 11 crews deep, Stelly said.
An oft-quoted independent analysis shows that film and TV productions spend $5.71 inside the state for every $1 in tax breaks they receive. Louisiana politicians are so confident in the incentives that they recently extended them beyond film and TV production. Stelly’s agency now governs incentive programs for three additional genres: sound recording, digital and interactive (such as computer games) and live performances. If you want to record “Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King,” in New Orleans as the Dave Matthews Band did in 2009, you get a 25 percent tax break; if you want to hire 20 software designers and set up shop creating games for smart phones as the French company Gameloft did in New Orleans last month, you get the tax credits; and if you want to stage a play, hold a concert or build a performing arts center in Shreveport, you qualify for the 25 percent break.
Film and television credits are even higher since 2009 when the legislature raised them to 30 percent. They also increased to 85 cents on the dollar the state’s commitment to buy back any tax credits that entertainment companies don’t need or can’t sell. The state also offers a 5 percent labor tax credit on payroll for Louisiana residents.
Meanwhile, since Louisiana instituted tax incentives nine years ago, 43 other states and more than a dozen foreign countries have followed suit; in many cases the packages are closely modeled on Louisiana’s original program.
But back in 2002 when Louisiana made its groundbreaking offer, the industry there had only fledgling status and no one could say for sure the plan would work. Canada had passed incentives in 1997 and lured production north, but relatively speaking, Louisiana had almost no infrastructure, crew or established locations.
The first big feature film to test the waters, Stelly said, came in 2003 courtesy of director Taylor Hackford and actor Jamie Foxx. “As the story goes, they were trying to get Ray made for maybe 15 years,” Stelly said, “and the director and producers have said since then, that our incentives were the difference. They (the tax credits) finally brought the amount needed to make that film within the limits of what they could afford – and that’s how Ray got made and Jamie Foxx got his Oscar.”
The same scenario is repeated with most of the productions that shoot in Louisiana today, Stelly says. “With the $30 to $80 million budget having disappeared from the landscape, the lower your budget, the more important the savings. An independent film will rely more on incentives because that money will go back into the product,” he said. “For those films, a 30 percent credit is often the difference between getting the project made or not. Our bread and butter has become the film in the $20 million range that comes in and spends about 80 percent of the entire budget in our state,” Stelly said.
Early on, Louisiana did not capture such large percentages of production budgets, but in the last few years the state has added significant amounts of stage space and postproduction facilities, and the efforts are paying off. The Celtic Media Centre in Baton Rouge, an hour from New Orleans, is managed by Raleigh Studios and recently expanded to 150,000 square feet of stage space and 81,000 square feet of office space. The studio owes its beginnings to a native Irishman named Brendan O’Connor who had run a transportation business in Baton Rouge for 30 years. In 2006 O’Connor began converting the shell of an abandoned recording studio into sound stages and three years later the studio hosted Sony’s Battle: Los Angeles. A year later it welcomed the two largest productions in the state’s history, NBC Universal’s Battleship, and Summit’s Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2.
Cineworks Louisiana, a full-service post facility with its Louisiana headquarters in New Orleans, opened a satellite location at Celtic Media last month as part of an ongoing strategy to have facilities throughout the state.
Unlike many states, Louisiana’s film business is not concentrated in one city. Productions set up in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, 100 miles to the north, and Shreveport, 340 miles north. Even Lafayette, a town of 120,000 west of Baton Rouge, is seeing action. The L.A.-based visual effects company, Pixel Magic, opened an office there in January, 2010 with a staff of 21, including 11 University of Louisiana graduates. One of the shop’s first assignments was 3-D conversion of 420 shots for, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
“Most of the producers bringing projects to Louisiana this year have been here before,” Stelly said, “but not all of them. Producers call me all the time saying, ‘I’ve never been (to Louisiana), I don’t know if my project will work there.’
“I tell them, ‘Come here and see what we have going on. Look at the locations. Look at the facilities.’ It’s no different than someone who has never been to L.A. – you’ve heard what goes on there but until you see it, you don’t really know why it’s the motion picture capital of the world. So 99 times out of 100 they’ll call me back and say, ‘You were right. I don’t know what my concerns were, but they weren’t well founded.’
“A lot of people fall in love with this state,” Stelly said, “including a good number of people from L.A. who move in and make this their primary home.”
Meanwhile, one of the most gratifying things about the incentives program is the homegrown talent that is returning to the state. For instance, software-developer brothers Keith and Ken Hanson returned to Louisiana from the Bay Area to open Twin Engine Labs in Shreveport. Some of their work has been in conjunction with groundbreaking Louisiana author and publisher William Joyce, whose company, also in Shreveport, is called Moonbot Studios. Joyce’s first project is his digitally interactive and animated book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore. The app of the same name is ranked #1 on iTunes.
Stelly and others have high hopes for the 25 percent tax incentives applied to music recording because the state has a strong historical tie to the music industry and a tradition of attracting top musicians. Grammy-winning drummer and producer Brady Blade, who has played on 50 records with Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Indigo Girls, Jewel and Bob Dylan, recently opened Blade Studios in his native Shreveport. “Technology has made sound recording a lot simpler,” Stelly said. “Mixing boards that took up a room now fit in an iPad and a lot of recording can be done in home-type studios, but most musicians still like to get out.”
That’s where Louisiana’s rich musical history comes into play. For instance, in 1954 Elvis Presley got the first of what would eventually be innumerable rousing public responses when he played in Shreveport on the radio show, The Louisiana Hayride. At the time, he had not yet been received well at the Grand Ole Opry. “You hear anecdotes about Robert Plant walking around Shreveport, sort of in the shadow of Elvis, and Eric Clapton sitting on the stage,” of the municipal auditorium where Elvis played, he said. “Music means a lot in Louisiana and people like to come here to record.”
But film and TV are still posting the biggest numbers in Louisiana. As we head into the final quarter of 2011, Hollywood has spent nearly $800 million on production in the state and spending should easily surpass the record set last year of $898 million. Perhaps it will even top $1 billion.
Some final facts about Louisiana incentives:
• Fringes qualify
• Productions should allow 30-45 business days to receive initial certification.
• The minimum local budget is $300,000
• Finance fees qualify as long as the purchasers are from a Louisiana company.
Latest Headlines
September 22, 2011
The Louisiana Model
The First State to Implement Tax Incentives, Works to Perfect the System
September 21, 2011 | By Leslie Lindeman
From King Kong on the Empire State Building to Marilyn Monroe on the subway grate, New York will always attract filmmakers. From the green Pontiac Steve McQueen chased off the 19th floor of Marina Towers in The Hunter, to the baby carriage Brian DePalma pushed down the steps of Union Station in The Untouchables, filmmakers will always gravitate to Chicago.
But Louisiana?
When Louisiana became the first state to pass entertainment industry tax incentives in 2002, no one could have known that in less than a decade the state would be the third most popular film and television location in the U.S. Indeed, Louisiana has a chance to log a record 150 filming applications this year and to see local film and TV in-state spending for the first time top $1 billion.
The journey has not been without adversity. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated southern portions of the state in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill thoroughly disrupted the coastal economy in 2010. But Cajuns are nothing if not indomitable. “People would mention it (concerns that weather could disrupt filming),” said Chris Stelly, the interim director of the state’s Office of Entertainment Industry Development, “but time and education have soothed fears. The numbers of storms we’ve experienced and the amount of time people have to adjust when they do occur, has rendered them a non-issue,” he said.
Depending on the season, some productions choose to buy weather insurance, Stelly said, but the cost relative to the total budget and the weight of the state’s tax incentives, isn’t enough to undermine the overall cost effectiveness of shooting in Louisiana.
In contrast to the national jobs picture, Louisiana entertainment industry employment is up sharply. Hollywood generated more than 6,000 jobs in the Bayou State in 2007 (the last year for which statistics are available). IATSE membership has risen from fewer than 200 in 2002, to more than 1,000 today. The state is now 10 to 11 crews deep, Stelly said.
An oft-quoted independent analysis shows that film and TV productions spend $5.71 inside the state for every $1 in tax breaks they receive. Louisiana politicians are so confident in the incentives that they recently extended them beyond film and TV production. Stelly’s agency now governs incentive programs for three additional genres: sound recording, digital and interactive (such as computer games) and live performances. If you want to record “Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King,” in New Orleans as the Dave Matthews Band did in 2009, you get a 25 percent tax break; if you want to hire 20 software designers and set up shop creating games for smart phones as the French company Gameloft did in New Orleans last month, you get the tax credits; and if you want to stage a play, hold a concert or build a performing arts center in Shreveport, you qualify for the 25 percent break.
Film and television credits are even higher since 2009 when the legislature raised them to 30 percent. They also increased to 85 cents on the dollar the state’s commitment to buy back any tax credits that entertainment companies don’t need or can’t sell. The state also offers a 5 percent labor tax credit on payroll for Louisiana residents.
Meanwhile, since Louisiana instituted tax incentives nine years ago, 43 other states and more than a dozen foreign countries have followed suit; in many cases the packages are closely modeled on Louisiana’s original program.
But back in 2002 when Louisiana made its groundbreaking offer, the industry there had only fledgling status and no one could say for sure the plan would work. Canada had passed incentives in 1997 and lured production north, but relatively speaking, Louisiana had almost no infrastructure, crew or established locations.
The first big feature film to test the waters, Stelly said, came in 2003 courtesy of director Taylor Hackford and actor Jamie Foxx. “As the story goes, they were trying to get Ray made for maybe 15 years,” Stelly said, “and the director and producers have said since then, that our incentives were the difference. They (the tax credits) finally brought the amount needed to make that film within the limits of what they could afford – and that’s how Ray got made and Jamie Foxx got his Oscar.”
The same scenario is repeated with most of the productions that shoot in Louisiana today, Stelly says. “With the $30 to $80 million budget having disappeared from the landscape, the lower your budget, the more important the savings. An independent film will rely more on incentives because that money will go back into the product,” he said. “For those films, a 30 percent credit is often the difference between getting the project made or not. Our bread and butter has become the film in the $20 million range that comes in and spends about 80 percent of the entire budget in our state,” Stelly said.
Early on, Louisiana did not capture such large percentages of production budgets, but in the last few years the state has added significant amounts of stage space and postproduction facilities, and the efforts are paying off. The Celtic Media Centre in Baton Rouge, an hour from New Orleans, is managed by Raleigh Studios and recently expanded to 150,000 square feet of stage space and 81,000 square feet of office space. The studio owes its beginnings to a native Irishman named Brendan O’Connor who had run a transportation business in Baton Rouge for 30 years. In 2006 O’Connor began converting the shell of an abandoned recording studio into sound stages and three years later the studio hosted Sony’s Battle: Los Angeles. A year later it welcomed the two largest productions in the state’s history, NBC Universal’s Battleship, and Summit’s Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2.
Cineworks Louisiana, a full-service post facility with its Louisiana headquarters in New Orleans, opened a satellite location at Celtic Media last month as part of an ongoing strategy to have facilities throughout the state.
Unlike many states, Louisiana’s film business is not concentrated in one city. Productions set up in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, 100 miles to the north, and Shreveport, 340 miles north. Even Lafayette, a town of 120,000 west of Baton Rouge, is seeing action. The L.A.-based visual effects company, Pixel Magic, opened an office there in January, 2010 with a staff of 21, including 11 University of Louisiana graduates. One of the shop’s first assignments was 3-D conversion of 420 shots for, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
“Most of the producers bringing projects to Louisiana this year have been here before,” Stelly said, “but not all of them. Producers call me all the time saying, ‘I’ve never been (to Louisiana), I don’t know if my project will work there.’
“I tell them, ‘Come here and see what we have going on. Look at the locations. Look at the facilities.’ It’s no different than someone who has never been to L.A. – you’ve heard what goes on there but until you see it, you don’t really know why it’s the motion picture capital of the world. So 99 times out of 100 they’ll call me back and say, ‘You were right. I don’t know what my concerns were, but they weren’t well founded.’
“A lot of people fall in love with this state,” Stelly said, “including a good number of people from L.A. who move in and make this their primary home.”
Meanwhile, one of the most gratifying things about the incentives program is the homegrown talent that is returning to the state. For instance, software-developer brothers Keith and Ken Hanson returned to Louisiana from the Bay Area to open Twin Engine Labs in Shreveport. Some of their work has been in conjunction with groundbreaking Louisiana author and publisher William Joyce, whose company, also in Shreveport, is called Moonbot Studios. Joyce’s first project is his digitally interactive and animated book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore. The app of the same name is ranked #1 on iTunes.
Stelly and others have high hopes for the 25 percent tax incentives applied to music recording because the state has a strong historical tie to the music industry and a tradition of attracting top musicians. Grammy-winning drummer and producer Brady Blade, who has played on 50 records with Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Indigo Girls, Jewel and Bob Dylan, recently opened Blade Studios in his native Shreveport. “Technology has made sound recording a lot simpler,” Stelly said. “Mixing boards that took up a room now fit in an iPad and a lot of recording can be done in home-type studios, but most musicians still like to get out.”
That’s where Louisiana’s rich musical history comes into play. For instance, in 1954 Elvis Presley got the first of what would eventually be innumerable rousing public responses when he played in Shreveport on the radio show, The Louisiana Hayride. At the time, he had not yet been received well at the Grand Ole Opry. “You hear anecdotes about Robert Plant walking around Shreveport, sort of in the shadow of Elvis, and Eric Clapton sitting on the stage,” of the municipal auditorium where Elvis played, he said. “Music means a lot in Louisiana and people like to come here to record.”
But film and TV are still posting the biggest numbers in Louisiana. As we head into the final quarter of 2011, Hollywood has spent nearly $800 million on production in the state and spending should easily surpass the record set last year of $898 million. Perhaps it will even top $1 billion.
Some final facts about Louisiana incentives:
• Fringes qualify
• Productions should allow 30-45 business days to receive initial certification.
• The minimum local budget is $300,000
• Finance fees qualify as long as the purchasers are from a Louisiana company.
Latest Headlines
September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
From Politics On The Hudson Blog
(to see the huge list of productions, go to this site and then scroll down...
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/09/13/your-tv-guide-to-new-yorks-film-tax-credit/
Your TV Guide To New York’s Film Tax Credit
Posted by: Joseph Spector - Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 13, 2011
Following our recent report on the state’s lucrative film-tax credit program, here’s the list of all the shows and movies that have received film-tax credits from New York between Jan. 1, 2008 and May 31 of this year.
Gannett’s Albany Bureau filed a Freedom of Information request in May seeking from the state Empire State Development Corp. the amount of taxpayer-funded breaks that each project has gotten. But the agency hasn’t released the information, saying much of it could be proprietary.
It did release a list of the shows and movies that received tax breaks, but not how much each one got. The shows and movies are popular ones: including “30 Rock”, “Ugly Betty” and “Law & Order”.
From the article:
Some hits on the big screen have also received state tax breaks: the Will Smith movie I Am Legend, the critically acclaimed Black Swan and both Sex and the City movies.
Even Saturday Night Live — a New York City staple for decades — got tax breaks, including for its election specials in 2008, records show.
All are courtesy of the New York State Film Production Credit program. The state has aggressively expanded the tax credit, agreeing in 2010 under then-Gov. David Paterson to set aside $420 million a year for five years for the production of movies and television shows through a 30 percent break on many expenses.
Supporters hail the program as an economic boon and a way to stay competitive with other states.
But the success has been criticized as a New York City-focused initiative funded by the entire state. And the big bucks for the studios come as New York has cut back on funding for schools, trimmed its workforce and limited aid for job-creation programs.
Empire State Development Corp. said it has issued tax credits to 274 productions worth $824 million since the program started in 2004.
Your TV Guide To New York’s Film Tax Credit
Posted by: Joseph Spector - Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 13, 2011
Following our recent report on the state’s lucrative film-tax credit program, here’s the list of all the shows and movies that have received film-tax credits from New York between Jan. 1, 2008 and May 31 of this year.
Gannett’s Albany Bureau filed a Freedom of Information request in May seeking from the state Empire State Development Corp. the amount of taxpayer-funded breaks that each project has gotten. But the agency hasn’t released the information, saying much of it could be proprietary.
It did release a list of the shows and movies that received tax breaks, but not how much each one got. The shows and movies are popular ones: including “30 Rock”, “Ugly Betty” and “Law & Order”.
From the article:
Some hits on the big screen have also received state tax breaks: the Will Smith movie I Am Legend, the critically acclaimed Black Swan and both Sex and the City movies.
Even Saturday Night Live — a New York City staple for decades — got tax breaks, including for its election specials in 2008, records show.
All are courtesy of the New York State Film Production Credit program. The state has aggressively expanded the tax credit, agreeing in 2010 under then-Gov. David Paterson to set aside $420 million a year for five years for the production of movies and television shows through a 30 percent break on many expenses.
Supporters hail the program as an economic boon and a way to stay competitive with other states.
But the success has been criticized as a New York City-focused initiative funded by the entire state. And the big bucks for the studios come as New York has cut back on funding for schools, trimmed its workforce and limited aid for job-creation programs.
Empire State Development Corp. said it has issued tax credits to 274 productions worth $824 million since the program started in 2004.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/09/13/your-tv-guide-to-new-yorks-film-tax-credit/
Your TV Guide To New York’s Film Tax Credit
Posted by: Joseph Spector - Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 13, 2011
Following our recent report on the state’s lucrative film-tax credit program, here’s the list of all the shows and movies that have received film-tax credits from New York between Jan. 1, 2008 and May 31 of this year.
Gannett’s Albany Bureau filed a Freedom of Information request in May seeking from the state Empire State Development Corp. the amount of taxpayer-funded breaks that each project has gotten. But the agency hasn’t released the information, saying much of it could be proprietary.
It did release a list of the shows and movies that received tax breaks, but not how much each one got. The shows and movies are popular ones: including “30 Rock”, “Ugly Betty” and “Law & Order”.
From the article:
Some hits on the big screen have also received state tax breaks: the Will Smith movie I Am Legend, the critically acclaimed Black Swan and both Sex and the City movies.
Even Saturday Night Live — a New York City staple for decades — got tax breaks, including for its election specials in 2008, records show.
All are courtesy of the New York State Film Production Credit program. The state has aggressively expanded the tax credit, agreeing in 2010 under then-Gov. David Paterson to set aside $420 million a year for five years for the production of movies and television shows through a 30 percent break on many expenses.
Supporters hail the program as an economic boon and a way to stay competitive with other states.
But the success has been criticized as a New York City-focused initiative funded by the entire state. And the big bucks for the studios come as New York has cut back on funding for schools, trimmed its workforce and limited aid for job-creation programs.
Empire State Development Corp. said it has issued tax credits to 274 productions worth $824 million since the program started in 2004.
Your TV Guide To New York’s Film Tax Credit
Posted by: Joseph Spector - Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 13, 2011
Following our recent report on the state’s lucrative film-tax credit program, here’s the list of all the shows and movies that have received film-tax credits from New York between Jan. 1, 2008 and May 31 of this year.
Gannett’s Albany Bureau filed a Freedom of Information request in May seeking from the state Empire State Development Corp. the amount of taxpayer-funded breaks that each project has gotten. But the agency hasn’t released the information, saying much of it could be proprietary.
It did release a list of the shows and movies that received tax breaks, but not how much each one got. The shows and movies are popular ones: including “30 Rock”, “Ugly Betty” and “Law & Order”.
From the article:
Some hits on the big screen have also received state tax breaks: the Will Smith movie I Am Legend, the critically acclaimed Black Swan and both Sex and the City movies.
Even Saturday Night Live — a New York City staple for decades — got tax breaks, including for its election specials in 2008, records show.
All are courtesy of the New York State Film Production Credit program. The state has aggressively expanded the tax credit, agreeing in 2010 under then-Gov. David Paterson to set aside $420 million a year for five years for the production of movies and television shows through a 30 percent break on many expenses.
Supporters hail the program as an economic boon and a way to stay competitive with other states.
But the success has been criticized as a New York City-focused initiative funded by the entire state. And the big bucks for the studios come as New York has cut back on funding for schools, trimmed its workforce and limited aid for job-creation programs.
Empire State Development Corp. said it has issued tax credits to 274 productions worth $824 million since the program started in 2004.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
From The Contra Costa Times, by Bob Strauss
Senate OKs production incentives
By Bob Strauss, Staff Writer
In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the California Legislature extended the state's film and television tax credits program for one year.
The state Senate voted 34-2 to continue the $100 million per-year incentive to keep production in the entertainment industry's home state available through 2013.
The Assembly had passed a bigger, five-year, $500 million version of the bill in May by a 77-1 margin.
"I'm happy to get what I got," said Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Arleta, who authored the extension bill, AB 1069. He had bargained throughout the legislative session to come up with a version that wary Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, would bring to a floor vote.
"But I will say that I agree with what I think the industry would say, which is that if we're going to send a market signal that's meaningful, it has to be a comprehensive program that, in my opinion, would have to be more than just one year," Fuentes added. "So while I'm not completely satisfied with what the Senate did to the bill, I'm confident that it, at least, continues to help the industry."
The legislation now awaits Gov. Jerry Brown's signature. Should he sign it, Fuentes intends to introduce a measure that would continue the film tax credits program for four more years when the Legislature reconvenes in January 2012.
California's first-ever production tax credit program, which was instituted during Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
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administration, runs out of funding next July. It was passed, after decades of failed attempts, in response to the incentive programs in other states and foreign countries that have lured runaway productions from California and especially the Los Angeles region.
As the national recession has persisted, however, some cash-strapped states have begun reassessing their film incentive programs. California's dire budget situation, which has led to severe cutbacks in education and other state programs, is at the root of the Senate leadership's reluctance to hand tax breaks to the relatively wealthy entertainment industry.
A Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. report released in June found that the first two years of the tax credits program resulted in more than 20,000 film and TV industry jobs, and the tax revenues those productions generated were slightly more than the credit amounts, rendering the program essentially budget neutral.
Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton, who voted against Fuentes' bill, is skeptical.
"I don't think it's the government's job to pick and choose economic winners by manipulating the tax system. I mean, either give tax credits to everybody or give 'em to nobody.
"Why is Hollywood more deserving than RV manufacturers or strawberry growers or wineries?"
Supporters of the film tax credits, which include just about every production company and workers union in the state, are unambiguously bullish about the incentive.
"We're into our third year of the program and it has been highly successful," said California Film Commission Director Amy Lemisch, who administers the tax credits. "Any extension would help us to keep more production in California."
By Bob Strauss, Staff Writer
In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the California Legislature extended the state's film and television tax credits program for one year.
The state Senate voted 34-2 to continue the $100 million per-year incentive to keep production in the entertainment industry's home state available through 2013.
The Assembly had passed a bigger, five-year, $500 million version of the bill in May by a 77-1 margin.
"I'm happy to get what I got," said Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Arleta, who authored the extension bill, AB 1069. He had bargained throughout the legislative session to come up with a version that wary Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, would bring to a floor vote.
"But I will say that I agree with what I think the industry would say, which is that if we're going to send a market signal that's meaningful, it has to be a comprehensive program that, in my opinion, would have to be more than just one year," Fuentes added. "So while I'm not completely satisfied with what the Senate did to the bill, I'm confident that it, at least, continues to help the industry."
The legislation now awaits Gov. Jerry Brown's signature. Should he sign it, Fuentes intends to introduce a measure that would continue the film tax credits program for four more years when the Legislature reconvenes in January 2012.
California's first-ever production tax credit program, which was instituted during Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
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administration, runs out of funding next July. It was passed, after decades of failed attempts, in response to the incentive programs in other states and foreign countries that have lured runaway productions from California and especially the Los Angeles region.
As the national recession has persisted, however, some cash-strapped states have begun reassessing their film incentive programs. California's dire budget situation, which has led to severe cutbacks in education and other state programs, is at the root of the Senate leadership's reluctance to hand tax breaks to the relatively wealthy entertainment industry.
A Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. report released in June found that the first two years of the tax credits program resulted in more than 20,000 film and TV industry jobs, and the tax revenues those productions generated were slightly more than the credit amounts, rendering the program essentially budget neutral.
Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton, who voted against Fuentes' bill, is skeptical.
"I don't think it's the government's job to pick and choose economic winners by manipulating the tax system. I mean, either give tax credits to everybody or give 'em to nobody.
"Why is Hollywood more deserving than RV manufacturers or strawberry growers or wineries?"
Supporters of the film tax credits, which include just about every production company and workers union in the state, are unambiguously bullish about the incentive.
"We're into our third year of the program and it has been highly successful," said California Film Commission Director Amy Lemisch, who administers the tax credits. "Any extension would help us to keep more production in California."
From KWQC.Com/ Associated Press
'Contagion' spreads film cash in Illinois
CHICAGO (AP) - The new film is called "Contagion." But what state officials hope the rest of the country is catching is a fondness for making movies in Illinois.
Illinois' Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity says the movie about a deadly virus generated about $12.5 million in the state.
"Contagion" stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet. And it premiered nationwide Friday.
Dozens of Chicago-area locations are in it, including Chicago's Palmer House Hilton and Midway Airport.
Illinois officials say "Contagion" helped make 2010 a banner year for the state's film industry. Overall, the year saw a record $161 million in movie-related spending.
The Illinois Film Tax Credit provides a 30% tax credit to filmmakers for money spent on Illinois goods and services. That includes wages paid to Illinois residents.
CHICAGO (AP) - The new film is called "Contagion." But what state officials hope the rest of the country is catching is a fondness for making movies in Illinois.
Illinois' Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity says the movie about a deadly virus generated about $12.5 million in the state.
"Contagion" stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet. And it premiered nationwide Friday.
Dozens of Chicago-area locations are in it, including Chicago's Palmer House Hilton and Midway Airport.
Illinois officials say "Contagion" helped make 2010 a banner year for the state's film industry. Overall, the year saw a record $161 million in movie-related spending.
The Illinois Film Tax Credit provides a 30% tax credit to filmmakers for money spent on Illinois goods and services. That includes wages paid to Illinois residents.
From WTDN.Com ... Ohio Has Its Act Together, Or Acts
Filming begins soon for 5 Ohio movies
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WDTN) - Ohio’s film industry continued to grow as Ohio’s Motion Picture Tax Credit secured more productions in September.
The following five projects will bring in anticipated revenue of more than $17.1 million for Ohio.
Confession will receive a $1,033,712 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to shoot in an Ohio location that is yet to be determined. Confession revolves around the murder of a retired sheriff and the investigation to find the perpetrator. The cast of the film includes Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, Saw), Melissa Leo (The Fighter, 21 Grams), and is directed by Stuart Cooper.
Galaxy Command will receive a $116,177 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit and will be produced in the Akron area. This interactive video game, which is produced by Blue Frog Gaming and directed by Matthew Maroon, involves players competing for the largest empire in a vast virtual universe. Gamers conquer planets, mine resources, and build warships throughout their quest to achieve virtual domination.
Needlestick will receive a $193,750 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to shoot in the City of Toledo and the City of Maumee. The film, directed by Dr. Steven Karageanes, explores medical ethics and the value of human life and character. The script won horror feature awards at the Action On Film International Festival in Pasadena, California and was a finalist in the Great American Screenplay Competition.
The Yank will receive a $330,831 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to shoot in the Cleveland area and other locations in northern Ohio. This romantic comedy, rumored to star Fred Willard (Best in Show), centers around a middle-aged Irishman’s search for love in the country of his ancestors.
Unamerican will receive a $1,699,540 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to shoot in northeast Ohio. The film is a satirical depiction of contemporary American society in which one man loses his seemingly perfect materialistic lifestyle due to corporate downsizing but gains insight on the true meaning of life.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WDTN) - Ohio’s film industry continued to grow as Ohio’s Motion Picture Tax Credit secured more productions in September.
The following five projects will bring in anticipated revenue of more than $17.1 million for Ohio.
Confession will receive a $1,033,712 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to shoot in an Ohio location that is yet to be determined. Confession revolves around the murder of a retired sheriff and the investigation to find the perpetrator. The cast of the film includes Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, Saw), Melissa Leo (The Fighter, 21 Grams), and is directed by Stuart Cooper.
Galaxy Command will receive a $116,177 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit and will be produced in the Akron area. This interactive video game, which is produced by Blue Frog Gaming and directed by Matthew Maroon, involves players competing for the largest empire in a vast virtual universe. Gamers conquer planets, mine resources, and build warships throughout their quest to achieve virtual domination.
Needlestick will receive a $193,750 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to shoot in the City of Toledo and the City of Maumee. The film, directed by Dr. Steven Karageanes, explores medical ethics and the value of human life and character. The script won horror feature awards at the Action On Film International Festival in Pasadena, California and was a finalist in the Great American Screenplay Competition.
The Yank will receive a $330,831 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to shoot in the Cleveland area and other locations in northern Ohio. This romantic comedy, rumored to star Fred Willard (Best in Show), centers around a middle-aged Irishman’s search for love in the country of his ancestors.
Unamerican will receive a $1,699,540 Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to shoot in northeast Ohio. The film is a satirical depiction of contemporary American society in which one man loses his seemingly perfect materialistic lifestyle due to corporate downsizing but gains insight on the true meaning of life.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
See This Local TV Report On Film Trial
Tom Wheeler, the Official Iowa Film Scandal Scapegoat, was convicted on only one of nine charges yesterday. The following web site is a good report ...
http://www.woi-tv.com/category/190187/myabc5com-video
http://www.woi-tv.com/category/190187/myabc5com-video
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The (scape)goat at the bottom of the hill
They say that “shit flows downhill”. They also say that “scum rises to the top”. Both were proven today with todays verdict at the Tom Wheeler trial. Tom Miller, the prosecuting attorney threw everything he had at Tom Wheeler but the jury only aligned itself with the prosecution for one count - “Felonious Misconduct”.
Throughout the trial Miller tried to paint Wheeler as the “inside man” and as someone “with an inflated sense of self-importance”. The “inside man” charge simply didn't fly given the evidence. Given the background of Tom Wheeler – him having a low level Production Assistant job at Fox Animation, and then having to return to Iowa to work such jobs as landscaping and the photo Department at Walgreens, it isn't surprising that he might display a bit of puffed up pride when he finally gets a title (Director of the Iowa Film Office) and a decent salary for a change. What for Tom Wheeler was pride in an important position was for his higher ups “arrogance” and you just know they can't stand someone who is uppity – especially in an office that they consider unimportant and just for “fun”. He was a “maverick” according to them, a regular loose cannon and when things went sour it was him who was to blame. Tom Wheeler was the one to throw under the bus.
And who instigated the whole mess? Mike “Teflon” Tramontina. He brought up the issue of the cars and then simply resigned and floated down gently to another cushy, well paying job. He blithely skipped off, leaving the mess to those who were left. Of course he made no mention of denying Tom Wheeler additional staffing for the Film Office because it was just there for “fun” or that he had denied a request from the Iowa Department of Economic Development's Legal and Compliance section to help Tom with the avalanche of contracts and make sure the producers were complying with the terms of the agreements.
It wasn't the first time that Mike “Teflon” Tramontina had left trouble behind while nimbly avoiding the fallout as this item in CityView's “Civic Skinny” column points out:
“The hurried “resignation” of Iowa Economic Development Director Mike Tramontina surprised folks who have watched his career. A lifelong bureaucrat, Tramontina had a survivor’s instinct almost unparalleled in the state. The single biggest screw-up in the not-very-many-screwups administration of Tom Vilsack was the hiring — for millions of dollars — of A.T. Kearney to find efficiencies in state government. It was ill-conceived and badly implemented, and it accomplished little if anything. Tramontina, who was then running the Iowa Department of Management, was “driving that bus,” in the words of one guy who followed it closely, but when the shooting and the shouting were over, it was Mollie Anderson of the Department of Administrative Services who eventually left. Most folks assumed Tram would leave at the end of the Vilsack reign — the Culver people have little use for anyone associated with Vilsack — so it was a surprise when Tramontina ended up with the plum $145,000-a-year job at Economic Development. He wasn’t the first choice — UNI’s Randy Pilkington, and perhaps others, were sounded out — but he got the job, and Culver called him “a proven leader.” It was under Tramontina’s watch that the IDED was roundly criticized by the state auditor for failing to monitor, verify and assess a jobs-training program the community colleges run to help lure and keep businesses. It was fraught with, at best, sloppiness — at worst, negligence. But he sidestepped that one, too. Last week, the nimble Tramontina did his best to shift blame in the mess over film tax credits that led to his resignation late Friday. On Wednesday, he sent a cover-your-ass memo to his board and the Governor’s office noting that he had discovered these irregularities and laying out his plan of action. But it was too little, too late. By Friday evening, he was toast.
The lesson, says one pol: 'If you’re going to fuck something up, don’t do it in an election year.' Even if you’re Mike Tramontina.”
And then there is Vince “hear no evil, see no evil” Lintz who rubberstamped everything Tom Wheeler put on his desk without checking much of anything – who essentially said during testimony at the Wendy Runge trial as well as this one “I just let Tom do everything”.
And finally we have the prosecutor himself, Tom Miller. He was alluded to during the trial of giving no help at all to the Film Office. If anything lately Tom Wheeler is certainly not the defender of Iowans and the public purse but has eagerly taken on the role of the protector of the wealthy and the powerful. Think about it. Who had more power and connections within state government – Tom Wheeler or Mike Tramontina? Who has the Attorney General's Office gone after for “felonious misconduct” and on who's urging? So far Miller's office has wasted lots of tax payer's money on this perscecution and witch hunt while the man who made all of this possible, Mike “Teflon” Tramontina sits comfortably in a new job. And, to go off on a tangent, there is Tom Miller letting subprime lenders get away with fraud and siding with these people rather than Iowans losing their homes. But I digress.
A quote from one of the latest articles on the verdicts of the Tom Wheeler trial:
"Fraud in state government, whether perpetrated by those outside of state government, or enabled by those within state government, cannot and will not be tolerated," said Deputy Attorney General Thomas J. Miller.
Yes, that's right. Tom Miller won't tolerate fraud unless it is by subprime lenders and he won't tolerate felonious misconduct unless it is by someone well-placed and well-connected such as Mike “Teflon” Tramontina.
A great injustice was meted out today at the trial and Tom Miller was able to bring home the trophy to the powerful people he serves. Yes, today Tom Wheeler became the sacrificial goat so that those above him could escape all personal responsibility and any bit of tarnish on their images.
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