Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Michigan Film Incentives on the chopping block...

More than 1000 people have RSVP'd for the Michigan film incentives Town Hall in Livionia (a Detroit suburb). Speakers for tonight include Mitch Albom, Jeff Daniels, Mike Binder, and many more. Here is the link to an article in today's Detroit Free Press by Mitch Albom, film incentive proponent and noted author: http://bit.ly/ibUQ6w

There is also a Town Hall meeting planned for Grand Rapids, on the West side of Michigan, with presentations from Livonia being streamed to the GR audience. Several hundred more are expected to attend this venue. Here are the details: http://www.wmfva.org/

And for those of you not in Michigan or unable to attend in person, you can watch it live on USTREAM. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mpa-11810
 
Frank Cueto said:
There are sooo many diferent perspectives here.

I've been involved firsthand in many incentivized productions since prepro. Many of them have included the incentive as part of their budget (they sell the tax credits and use that money to pay production expenses). Only then did they manage to have enough budget to get greenlit.

So, at least in the projects i've been involved it, has allowed us to do more with less.

Some movies are getting done with 14mil. Producing them in LA was about 25Mil. So as you can see, its not only the incentive, its that producing in LA is damn expensive too.

There are many ways to see this, and in no way I mean to take value away from the expressions of fellow posters, JIC.
Click to expand...

Frank, after reading your posts, you make me want to got to PR to shoot a movie:cheers2:
 
I don't know how well the gathering at GVSU was attended, but it was standing-room only in Livonia on Thursday night. The space that was used is about 15,000 square feet, and it was packed. I'd say there was 2500 people there, minimum, though I'm now crowd expert.

People started to leave by about 9:30, probably from having to stand for 2-3 hours straight. When I left there was a sign posted by the fire chief on the door stating it was a full event, no more admittance. It's nice to see the film industry in MI looks like it isn't going down without a fight.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0462.jpg
    IMG_0462.jpg
    84.9 KB · Views: 0
  • IMG_0459.jpg
    IMG_0459.jpg
    46.7 KB · Views: 0
  • IMG_0460.jpg
    IMG_0460.jpg
    45.8 KB · Views: 0
There were about 200 at GVSU in Grand Rapids. Frankly, I was somewhat disappointed by the turnout, but we did have a nice mix of students, recent graduates, working professionals, local press coverage, actors, and others whose business stands to be affected by the loss of the film incentives. We had a streaming feed from the Livonia rally, and were able to see most of the presentations. The GR meeting broke up around 10:00. There is another meeting in GR scheduled for next Tuesday, March 3...more details as I know 'em.
 
The Michigan Film Office's annual report to the governor is out for 2010, and contains some very interesting numbers. Over $921 Million Dollars in qualified production revenue since the program began in April 2008!! http://bit.ly/hk38s4
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again.

With all these state govt's going broke and the unrest over debt, why in the world is Marijuana still illegal? I saw a study from a few years ago that stated California could raise over $900 MILLION dollars per year just from a $50/oz. tax on retail Marijuana sales. And this study had no measure of the savings from NOT fighting the drug war on pot, and also doesn't factor in the legalization of industrial hemp, which would be a new cash crop for agriculture.

States would find themselves well on their way back to black within 18 mos. With those budgets back on track, filmmaking incentives and lots of other issues would be moot.

... Oh, and this is coming from someone who's never even tried pot, or tobacco. If I have 3 drinks per month I'd be surprised. I have no personal stake in smoking it without getting busted.
 
more news about this subject (not Michigan, but industry related)


---------------

For those who care, new film incentive in Puerto Rico.

In a nutshel, we now offer 40% tax credits on local talent/spenditures & 20% on out of state talent, including but not limited to Leading Actors.

We have also upped the cap from 15 million to 50 million USD.

Read all about it here.


http://prsun.blogspot.com/2011/03/puerto-rico-governor-signs-new-film-tax.html
 
Chris Ratledge said:
About 2 weeks after the Gov. pulled the plug on the film incentives in MI, now "The Avengers" is filming in Cleveland instead.
Click to expand...

So in other words different US employees are being employed. This is why incentives should all be tossed out.
 
Certain banks in California are saying their intel tells them that if a project hasn't been earmarked as of March 4th in Michigan there's no point in applying until next year. Seems like their cap is a done deal.
 
Gavin Greenwalt said:
So in other words different US employees are being employed. This is why incentives should all be tossed out.
Click to expand...

The point is that the MI Governor's action has had an immediate negative effect on the effected workers and businesses in the state.

"Tossing out" the incentives will push more productions overseas and have a detrimental effect on the independent film industry in the US , and relegate movie production back to ONLY the established production centers. (Which is what I think a great many people outside the 'flyover' states actually want)
 
Jeremy Torrie said:
Certain banks in California are saying their intel tells them that if a project hasn't been earmarked as of March 4th in Michigan there's no point in applying until next year. Seems like their cap is a done deal.
Click to expand...

There was a post on facebook today from someone who said the Governor crashed a public town hall event with a state rep and asked the following to Mr. Snyder:

"The MFO is waiting for "guidelines" from you for all pending and new applications. I would like to know when these guidelines will be forthcoming."

The Gov's reply:
Well as you know I have proposed to set aside $25 mil of appropriated funds for this industry, and in the next 2 years this same we will be honoring the funds already awarded to the amount of $125million......This is why I proposed to cut all tax incentives because they cost $500 million in deficit dollars before we ever start paying it back (wrong....very wrong)......

So Jeremy, you may be right on with your statement, given the Governor's dodging the question.
 
This info came directly from the Governor's office...and LA can't drop Michigan fast enough, which is really really sh***y.

I was also told given all the uncertainty surrounding the actual future ability to pay out on the tax credits 90+% of all banks won't write paper for them, which only accelerates the exodus.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top