4,730 jobs lost as Detroit 187 & other films leave state thanks to Rick

[Gsgeorge]

Since Rick Snyder's 'brilliant' plan to rehaul the state budget and eliminate the film incentive credits over the next five years, reducing them to a paltry $25 million this year, we have seen film after film leave this state.

Rumors are coming in the Detroit 187 is heading elsewhere to shoot Season 2 of the show -- despite the fact that film takes place here and the whole 1st season was shot here. This is painful.

The Detroit News today reports that a combined 4,730 jobs have been lost to other states because of the collapse of the incentives, not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity that would have been generated because of these films. This is probably a low estimate because it is only looking at 9 recently-denied applications out of over 50.

http://detnews.com/article/20110401/...mith--director

The Doug Liman movie is among nine of 54 applications that are no longer in the running for incentives, Jones said. The nine projects planned to spend a total of $155 million in the state and hire as many as 4,730 people, according to applications obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. In total, the nine projects sought $60.5 million in incentives.

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"They decided to move the project elsewhere," Carrie Jones, director of the Michigan Film Office, confirmed Thursday. She did not have a date when producers told the film office about their decision.

Paramount Picture Corp. had a different story.

"The application was not withdrawn," Paramount Pictures Corp. spokeswoman Virginia Lam said in an e-mail statement. "Rather, the application [[for) the state's film rebate program was denied."

Nice job Rick!

Now a personal note. I know a lot of you out there think the money is just going to Hollywood types, that this is a fly-by-night industry and that it does no good for the state except some nice publicity. Well, in 2008 I graduated from U of M with a degree in filmmaking. I was a heartbeat away from moving to LA, like thousands of Michigan grads do every year, just another brain-drain statistic, when suddenly the incentives were passed. I decided to take the risk and stay in the state, despite my contacts & prospects in LA. I moved to downtown Detroit and was working consistently, one movie after another, making a good living, paying city and state taxes, and absolutely loving it here in Detroit. Then, a few weeks ago, the rug was pulled out from under us. In two years, the burgeoning film industry exceeded all expectations, and it didn't even have time to mature. Now, I have been out of work since the day the budget announcement was made, and I am looking to move to LA or NYC in the coming months. This is absolutely heartbreaking to me, but it is necessary if I want to earn a living. I would love to stay in this state, but $25 million is not gonna cut it, and what does it matter if Rick wants to do away with the incentives all together in a few years. This will support maybe 4-10 films. That is nothing. That is not enough for the thousands of people like myself and my friends to find work. I can attest that the films I have worked on were composed of 80%-99% Michigan-based crew. The money is staying here, going to hard-working Michiganders, not to the elite in Hollywood. Keep the money here.

Please support the incentive. You will be supporting Michigan workers, and young people like myself will continue to be able to pursue their dreams here in their home state. Please call Rick's office and tell them you support the film industry in Michigan. It takes two seconds, and not that hard, please call them and voice your support! Tell them you want to be added to the list of film incentive supporters.
517-335-7858

Even better, call, write, or meet with your senators & representatives and do the same!

Please, I don't want to leave!

[lilpup]

I have a hard time believing Detroit 187 would go elsewhere after making the investment of building a studio here. BTW those films that already had their incentives approved aren't losing them.

[Gsgeorge]

not sure I get what you're saying lilpup, yes 4 films have been approved this year but they are very small projects with a far smaller number of people being hired compared to the last two years. In the hundreds instead of the thousands. That is significant and should not be ignored.

[Gsgeorge]

This is compared to over 50 projects approved last year.

[EL Jimbo]

Also, the primary savings to businesses from the new item pricing bill does not come from the cost of the price tags. It comes from the 300-500 stocking positions statewide that will no longer be required. So, if we are keeping track, Snyder, the supposed job creator, has created -5,030 jobs statewide due to his policies.

[Gsgeorge]

Right Jimbo, plus he has reduced unemployment, so what are all us unemployed people supposed to do? Only one thing to do--- leave Michigan! I'm not gonna wait around on the sinking ship until its too late. No thanks.

I would love nothing more than to be a part of detroit's comeback, but this is flat-out not gonna happen with Rick in office. Between his proposal to eliminate the the film incentives, historic tax credits, & brownfield credits, Detroit is totally and utterly screwed. Sorry but it's true.

[lilpup]

This is compared to over 50 projects approved last year.

the approvals are given before production starts - how many of those 50 projects approved last year have even started filming yet?

[Gsgeorge]

No, that's incorrect. All the films approved last year have already shot. The last one wrapped up mid Feb around the time Snyder made his announcement. This year, there have been hundreds of applications & only 4 approved.

[lilpup]

The film office site indicates otherwise: http://www.michiganfilmoffice.org/Ma...n/Default.aspx

[401don]

Every indication is that Detroit 187 is being cancelled due to low ratings. I wouldn't believe it's going elsewhere unless it's in a new city with a new format to revive ratings.

[lilpup]

To be perfectly honest with Detroit's low living and production expenses I don't see why some aren't shooting here even without incentives, unless they're taking an equivalent amount in incentives from another location. It's not like NYC or LA will naturally beat Detroit's low costs.

[Gsgeorge]

I count 4 films in production plus another 7 approved, that's still nothing. We had over 50 films shoot here last year. It also does not note the budget or number of hires for these prospective projects. Most of these are very low budget, only 2 are of a moderate budget, and 1 big budget.

Take it from somebody who works in this industry and know what they're talking about: THIS WILL NOT CUT IT.

[Gsgeorge]

They're leaving for Louisiana, Georgia, Ohio, all of which have 25%-35% incentives.

Producers want a percentage. A cap of 25M means nothing to them. That means they could get $1 or $25M dollars. It is arbitrary, up to the state & gov how much they get. With a percentage, a producer knows exactly how much they will get.

Also, they are not putting their projects on hold while they wait for Michigan to get its thumb outta its ass. They are leaving because they know they will get an incentive elsewhere, and they have to shoot now. Time is money.

[Gsgeorge]

We don't need to have a 42% incentive like before. Michigan will fare well with a 30% incentive. Another modification: cut the rebate for Above-The-Line pay [[this would be like lead actors, directors, producers, the big money earners) so we are not giving the money to hwood, but keeping it here in the state for vendors & crewpeople.

[Ocean2026]

Hey baby they can shoot DET 871 here! Its a sleepy seaside town in Texas, beach palm trees and there are two or three criminals in the jail.

[detroitlives]

As hard as it is for those directly involved, it is actually a good thing that the film credit program as it existed has ended. It just doesn't pay back enough for what Michigan taxpayers were paying into it, and quite simply was unsustainable. It's like a drug additiction & the related highs--artificial, short lived, unhealthy, and really difficult to give up.

[Mikeg]

........Also, they are not putting their projects on hold while they wait for Michigan to get its thumb outta its ass......

Stay classy and don't let the door hit you on the ass as you leave to search for the next state's taxpayer-funded teat to suckle on.

[Gsgeorge]

As hard as it is for those directly involved, it is actually a good thing that the film credit program as it existed has ended. It just doesn't pay back enough for what Michigan taxpayers were paying into it, and quite simply was unsustainable. It's like a drug additiction & the related highs--artificial, short lived, unhealthy, and really difficult to give up.

Wrong again. http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/02/...lm-tax-credit/

“When we hired Ernst & Young’s Washington, D.C., office to look into the real financial picture behind Michigan’s film production credit, we weren’t sure what the report would show,” said Larry Alexander, president and CEO of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. “When the final report was presented to us last week, we were delighted to learn that this fast growing new industry had already created 3,860 full time equivalent jobs for Michigan residents in 2010, at an average salary of $53,700 per year, and generated an estimated impact on statewide sales of $503 million in 2010 alone — or $5.94 per dollar of net credit cost.”

$6 ROI for every $1 invested. Seems pretty good to me.

[NorthEndere]

Kind of only tangentially related, but what's this rumor about Detroit 187 moving, when all indicators point to it being cancelled? No one else is going to pick it up if its cancelled.

BTW, see the teabaggers are out in full force, again. Their just pissed that the GOP used and abused their silly @sses and now want nothing to do with 'em.

[lilpup]

$6 ROI for every $1 invested. Seems pretty good to me.

It's not $6 returned for every $1 invested. It's $6 spent in the state [[generating 36 cents in sales tax if fully subject to sales tax, probably less than that if only subject to other taxes) for every $1 of tax money invested. Looking at sales tax only the spending would have to be almost $17 for every $1 of tax money invested. Realistically break even is probably upwards of $30-$40 spending for every $1 tax money invested to get all of the tax money invested back.

[Scottathew]

Screw absurd tax loopholes. Let's tax everyone fairly and not have any of these really weird tax-free industries.

[rjk]

They're leaving for Louisiana, Georgia, Ohio, all of which have 25%-35% incentives.

Producers want a percentage. A cap of 25M means nothing to them. That means they could get $1 or $25M dollars. It is arbitrary, up to the state & gov how much they get. With a percentage, a producer knows exactly how much they will get.

Even Ohio as example has a cap on how much money they'll spend on films. In fiscal year 2010 they spent 10 Million on films. In FY 2011 they have 20 million to spend.

If we're dumb for capping the incentives at 25M, Ohio must be even dumber than us.

How much money do you think Michigan should spend on movie incentives? Half a billion, a billion, or not limit it at all? If it's so great why sould we place any cap on how much we spend?

[mwilbert]

If it's so great why sould we place any cap on how much we spend?

I don't think the people who think the credit is a good idea want a cap either. I think the cap was imposed by people who think the credit is bad policy.

[Gsgeorge]

We should probably have a limit on spending, yes. Probably in the $100-$200M range--HOWEVER it needs to be consistent, each film gets a certain PERCENTAGE back. 20%, 25%, 30%, whatever... But the point is you don't just allocate any arbitrary dollar amount the program without setting a percentage on how much each film gets. Ohio has a limit on how much they will spend, but they have a 25% credit across the board to each film. So any film that applies will get 25% until the funds are depleted. With Snyder's plan, there is no percentage. This is not good from a production standpoint. In Ohio, if your film is approved, you will get 25% no matter what. Here in Michigan, if your film is approved, you might get $5.00. That makes no sense and producers will look elsewhere if there is no percentage amount attached to the credit.

[Gsgeorge]

I'm also pretty shocked at how unsupportive you all are! I thought this board was full of forward-thinking Detroiters who want to see this state succeed. This is your young, educated people we're talking about here. And older professionals who have not had luck in the Auto industry. We are all going to leave, and you all scoff at us like we don't deserve to be here?