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...

If I am reading this right, it sounds like the industry in Michigan won't be getting any more taxpayer funded welfare checks. I'm all for eliminating income taxation and business taxes but it seems to me like Michigan is straight-up giving money to these productions.
 
I don't know all the details of how the $ is doled out, but I don't think it's just a straight up check that's being cut. ~ I could be dead wrong though ~

Regardless, if the new Gov's proposed budget cuts happen as he's outlined, it'll KILL the film industry there, which is honestly just getting underway.

According to the lists on the Michigan Film Office website, in 2007, the year before the incentives came into being, there were only 3 legitimate feature films shot in Michigan. Each year since with the incentives in place, there's been an average of 37 features shot there. How in the world that could be bad for the thousands of freelancers, industry suppliers, and indirect economic benefactors that have thrived on this- I don't know. :huh:

If a lot of that was going to interests outside the state and not benefitting the local economy more, that is a issue to be addressed, but to just hack it to pieces and cap it at a level that puts it in the bottom of the competitive list will cause a LOT of unemployment, "brain drain," and the sucking sound of people packing up and leaving the state, cause the productions will just go somewhere else.
 
Not good. I'm planning to move to LA or Michigan to try and find PA work (none available where I live) and if this passes...it's LA and all that entails.
 
Matt W. said:
Not good. I'm planning to move to LA or Michigan to try and find PA work (none available where I live) and if this passes...it's LA and all that entails.
Click to expand...

What does that ' all that entail?'

The worst you can say about life in LA is traffic and maybe... vapid. What, you don't like actresses? (I dont, but were talking about you, a youngster in search of PA work.) In Michigan they have winter, by the way. And 38 seconds after the bribes dry up, so will the film industry in Michigan. We bitch that LA is loosing jobs to tax credits, but it's still the center of the industry.

I'm not 'from here' (not too many are) but, for the most part, it's a pretty good life now that it's home. I guess I'd get in more ski days if I lived in Denver, but I probably couldn't afford the lift tickets. Just sayin.

I feel bad for people who will loose their livelihood when Michigan stops bribing Hollywood. But what did they expect would happen? Next state... The carnival is already packing up. -rant off-
 
This is GREAT news for Oregon which is raising its $7.5M fund to $25M (what MI just lowrred it to) pending legislation.

MI rebates 40%.BUT Its TOO much.

Iowa tried and failed 40% (greed and embezzlement)

Louisiana gets it. New Mexico which is hours away from LA, "gets it"

OR will soon pay 20% CASH MONEY REBATE within 60-90 days of wrap for goods and services PLUS -20% for Native Oregon talent and crew hired PLUS 10% for out of state labor
the latter still have to pay OR state income tax.

Tertiary revenues are hard to tabulate. but besides crews paying taxes on wages in OR. they also buy food, gas, lodging, laundry , etc etc.
Current estimates are to be $2 to OR for every $1 rebated to the films. its a NET GAIN proposition.

MI's 40% rebate makes no long term economic sense. they are paying for the films to be there. its a net zero proposition. SMART cut imho
except for crews losing jobs. that sucks
 
It would be great if the Great Tax incentives Rush would just die already and they would go back to making films in places that have the infrastructure, crew and locations.

N.
 
Tim Whitcomb said:
New Mexico which is hours away from LA, "gets it"
Click to expand...

New Mexico may not get it for long. Their program is undergoing legislative review, and their legislators need to make cuts to a state budget which is in crisis.

http://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/11 Regular/bills/senate/SB0044.html

It will be interesting to see what happens. Since the introduction of New Mexico's incentive program, major productions and outside dollars have dried up in my state, just to the north. But on a level playing field, perhaps some may return. While I don't wish New Mex filmmakers any ill will - it would be nice to see major productions return to Colorado.
 
I knew it was coming- very relieved.

These are the only people the program has helped:

1)Above the line/Studios
2)Local Caterer's/teamsters/pa's

Ive honestly been on a few "Big" sets here where every person (besides the noted few local's) Everyone involved in the production is from out of state- From The top to near the bottom, the Grip/electric rental is from out of state, the camera dept rental is from out of state. Crew is from out of state. And they still get the tax rebate. How? Because productions lie (or "stretch the truth") on this requirement: "40%-42% Resident Below the Line."

On the smaller films (as Michigan gives incentives from films $50k on up), there are many more local crew- maybe just a few above the line from out of state- and most of the time its 100% grip/camera rentals from in state.
This is where the program possibly works- on smaller productions as it forces local economic exchange almost across the board.

So maybe the best idea for Mr. Snyder is to cap the budget allowance to push the studio's out, who are essentially just receiving Michigan Tax payer money for the hell of it (and we accept this by thinking how great it is that films are shooting here)

Thats it for my rant, but I have seen it and Im embarrassed for the rest of Michigan that thinks this program is great because you get to see clips of movies in production on the local news.:patriot:
 
Keep your eye out for Puerto Rico...

Its about to pass the most agresive tax incentive on the planet.

We've had the 40% for over a decade and its been very sucesful in all aspects so far.
Time will tell indeed.
 
haha my apologies if i offended you, buddy. i come from the world of computer graphics and digital imaging. so naturally...

I was just more curious about your adventuresome travels.
 
paulherrin said:
haha my apologies if i offended you, buddy. i come from the world of computer graphics and digital imaging. so naturally...

I was just more curious about your adventuresome travels.
Click to expand...

If you come from the world of computer graphics, then you have a computer. If you have a computer you can do a Google search. You can also go to imdb and look up anyone who's gotten a credit on just about anything.

Before you make a comment like the one you directed at Geoff, I would strongly suggest that you do at least 10 seconds of homework in order to understand who you're talking to. That's part of what we mean by "professional courtesy."
 
like i said, my apologies. i'm not used to the ability to approach "superstars", and i'm still trying to figure out how one is supposed to know otherwise. i'm someone that doesn't really watch tv... or other people i don't know. i suppose a man of integrity like jim has given me the wrong idea about those with a high status. he doesn't ever talk down to anyone or require them to know or care who he is. thanks jim.

and i just realized what it is mike? apparently something that i do conflicts with the morning crowd... you know, the guys that are never awake to actually see jim post, they just read about it in the morning because they pretend like they don't really care that much, but then the first thing they pull up on the computer screen is a reduser thread. yeah those guys don't like me, i guess?

remember when i called you the grinch over the holidays? (in jest, of course)
 
Tim Whitcomb said:
Louisiana gets it. New Mexico which is hours away from LA, "gets it"
Click to expand...

Louisiana has a unique situation that has allowed them to create a sustaining incentive program. By crafting it around resellable tax credits, and by having an indigenous industry eager to purchase those credits at 80 cents on the dollar (the oil industry), they have created a situation where the up side has been maximized and the downside minimized to some degree. They have also avoided guising it as an entitlement program, which is the mistake that Florida and a few other states made a few years back, thus creating a situation where the legislature had to choose between movies and schools.

New Mexico is making a strong move towards gutting their incentive program for many of the same reasons Michigan is citing. For any incentive program to work long term, it either needs to be structured in a relatively self sustaining way (like Louisiana), or needs to make enough of an early splash to create infrastructure and a job base that makes it indispensible to the local area's economy. That's what happened in Vancouver, but as they once learned, just being cheap is not enough, because sooner or later another location comes along that's even cheaper than you are. In that case, it wound up being Prague, the Eastern Bloc countries, South Africa, and Australia for a time. Vancouver got business back because it built up enough of a trained crew base and demonstrated enough ability to get the job done that being the lowest cost location was no longer the only important factor. That's the thing that locations such as Michigan and even New Mexico have, to some degree, failed to heed.

We'll see how long Georgia maintains its program.
 
paulherrin said:
and i just realized what it is mike? apparently something that i do conflicts with the morning crowd... you know, the guys that are never awake to actually see jim post, they just read about it in the morning because they pretend like they don't really care that much, but then the first thing they pull up on the computer screen is a reduser thread. yeah those guys don't like me, i guess?
Click to expand...

And you've seen this happen? Or are you just making even more assumptions about people you don't know?

Look, nothing I or anyone else say to you can turn you into a mature adult overnight. That only comes with life experience, but I think it might help you if you read and listened a bit more here, and spoke a bit less. You really need to refrain from making these assumptions about people, society, and life, because from what you often say here, it seems that you're quite a bit younger than many other posters, and you take things as being personal because of that. As you get a bit older that chip will come off your shoulder and you'll wonder why you were once so frustrated. But until then, when you're around a group that includes a lot of very experienced professionals, you'd really do well to listen and learn a bit more than you seem willing to at the moment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top