Implemented about a year ago, Michigan's aggressive tax incentives
for film production resulted in nearly two dozen feature-length movies
being shot in the state. Producers say that the majority of the films
are being distributed direct-to-video, pay-for-view or at genre film
festivals rather than general theatrical distribution.
According to excerpts from the story:
Under
an unusually aggressive program of state film incentives that began in
April, nearly two dozen feature-length movies (in addition to short
films, documentaries and television shows) were shot in Michigan last
year with public support that can reach 42 percent of a movie’s cost,
the largest such incentive offered in the United States.
The idea is to create employment in that economically depressed state.
The
ploy was recently matched by California, which devised a film credit of
its own to compete with incentives now offered by three dozen states,
including New Mexico, New York and Louisiana.
The first round of
Michigan credits cost that state’s taxpayers about $48 million in 2008,
while generating about $53.8 million in new employment income, and the
equivalent of 1,102 full-time jobs, according to a report last month by
the Center for Economic Analysis at Michigan State University.
But
only a handful of pictures shot with the subsidy have secured
theatrical distribution. The shining stars are Clint Eastwood’s “Gran
Torino,” a Michigan-backed movie that was released by Warner Brothers
in December, and “Youth in Revolt,” which was directed by Miguel
Arteta, stars Michael Cera, and is scheduled for release by the
Dimension Films unit of the Weinstein Company next fall.
Read the complete story here.
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