“I think there is a big financial impact that we have on any location we’re in.  Whenever you bring in a couple hundred people with disposable income to a city, it’s going to have an impact.  Our people go to restaurants, they go to bars, they go to grocery store, they go to the mall on the weekends.  They spend money and aside from that, we also employ people.” says Tripp Vinson, Red Dawn’s producer. [read more]

Carpenter and prop maker K.C. Bartos’ last two years have been the greatest of his 20-year career, he said, thanks to the passing of the Michigan Film Incentives Program through the state legislature.

Bartos worked on three feature films last year. “Red Dawn,” which is currently being shot in downtown Detroit, is his fourth film this year.
“Literally, I’ve made more money last year than I have in 20 years of making industrial training films for the auto industry,” Bartos said.

Bartos, who lives in Canton with his wife of 19 years and their three children, is a member of the Local 38 Stage employees Union. He was a stay-at-home dad for almost five years before finding employment because of the Michigan Incentives Program.

“It’s put a lot people to work. It’s been amazing,” Bartos said.

Bartos, 48, attended Wayne State in 1982 for a year and majored in communications. He worked with the Bonstelle Theatre but decided to opt out of college and get into industrial training films. He said he’s had more fun doing feature films these past two years, and “Red Dawn” is definitely the most action-oriented movie he’s worked on. [read more]

For a long time Neal Garron was one of Michigan’s many unemployed. A husband and father of four, Garron, 40, had worked as an assistant in a recording studio making $9 an hour until he was laid off nearly two years ago.

Garron struggled to find another job and even considered starting his own business. “I thought I would start a small little studio in my house but nothing really came of it,” he said.

In the meantime, his wife Shelly worked two jobs to make ends meet. Then Garron heard a few advertisements on the radio for opportunities in the emerging film and entertainment industry in his area.

Thanks to generous tax incentives, many filmmakers have been encouraged to come to Michigan, bringing lot of film and television jobs with them. Programs like the ones at the Center for Film Studies and Film Industry Training help local job seekers learn the skills they need to be competitive for those jobs.

Using a loan from his wife’s 401(k), Garron signed up for a two-week course. It was a big gamble, but one that Garron was confident would pay off. His program led to a series of internships and also valuable contacts.

“It’s not like getting a job at a factory or something like that,” Garron explained. “It’s a who-you-know business.”

After the producer of an upcoming television show contacted him, Garron landed a job as a boom operator on set. Now he makes $31 an hour working full-time filming the show’s first season. Plans are in the works to shoot a second season after that. [read more]

Warner Bros Pictures announced they were pulling production of DC Comic’s Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds from Australia because of the faltering U.S. dollar. With the way the Australian dollar is performing compared to the US dollar and the financial gurus predicting it to climb to even or higher in the coming months, Warner Bros will be reconsidering all of its shoots there.  It is reported that the economic condition abroad could have add as much as $20 million to the films costs. [read more]

Senator Nancy Cassis intros Bills to kill incentive Phone: (517) 373-1758 Fax: (517) 373-0938 senncassis@senate.michigan.gov

CONTACT THE CO-SPONSORS OF THE LEGISLATION AND TELL THEM TO KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF THE FILM INCENTIVE:

Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo
P.O. BOX 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
Phone: (517) 373-0793
Fax: (517) 373-5607
email

Judson Gilbert, R-Algonac
P.O. Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
(517) 373-7708
1-877-GILBERT1-877-445-2378
(517) 373-1450
senjgilbert@senate.michigan.gov

Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi,
Senator Nancy Cassis
P.O. Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
By Phone: (517) 373-1758
By Fax: (517) 373-0938
By Email: senncassis@senate.michigan.gov

Michael Switalski, D-Roseville,
P.O. Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
Phone: 517-373-7315
Fax: 517-373-3126
http://www.senate.michigan.gov/switalski/pr.php?id=454

CONTACT REP. EILLEN KOWALL and tell her not to support the Cassis legislation.
Phone: 248-858-0100 (County); 248-887-3089 (home); Fax: 248-858-1572 (County)
E-mail: kowalle@oakgov.com

Additional from the MPA:
Sen. Nancy Cassis (Chairman Senate Finance Committee)
senncassis@senate.michigan.gov
FAX – 517/373-0938
Office no. – 517/373-1758

Finance Committee Members

Sen. Jud Gilbert (vice chair, R – 25th Dist., Algonac)
senjgilbert@senate.michigan.gov
Office no. 517/373-7708
FAX – 517/373-1450
District no. 810/794-3631

Sen. John Pappageorge (R – 13th Dist., Troy)
senjpappageorge@senate.michigan.gov
Office no. – 517/373-2523
FAX – 517/373-5669
Dist. no. – N/A

Sen. Mark Jansen (R-28th Dist., Grand Rapids)
senMJansen@senate.michigan.gov
PH – 517/373-0797
FX – 517/373-5236
Dist. no. – N/A

Sen. Gilda Jacobs (Minority Vice Chair, D-14th Dist., Huntington Woods)
sengjacobs@senate.michigan.gov
PH – 517/373-7888
FX – 517/373-2983

Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D – 23rd Dist., E. Lansing)
sengwhitmer@senate.michigan.gov
PH – 517/373-1734
FX – 517/373-5397
Dist. No. – 517/333-3250

Sen. Deborah Cherry (D – 26th Dist., Burton)
senDCherry@senate.michigan.gov
PH – 517/373-1636
FX – 517/373-1453

Additional enemies of film incentives:

Sen. Mickey Switalski, (D – 10th Dist, Roseville)
senmswitalski@senate.michigan.gov
PH – 517/373-7315
FX – 517/373-3126
Dist. No. 586/734-2430

Rep. Pete Lund (R – 36th Dist., Shelby Twp.)
petelund@house.mi.gov
PH – 517/373-0843
FX – 517/373-5892
Dist. No. – 586/677-2175

All Senate snail mail should go to:
P.O. Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536

House of Rep. mail should go to:
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Be Awesome!
Billy Whitehouse

Ludwig (vice chairman and chief creative officer at Warren-based advertising agency Campbell-Ewald ) said there’s a bloc of Republicans led by Nancy Cassis, R-Novi, that oppose adding commercials and have made no secret of their desire to cap the current legislation, likely at 35 percent (down from the max of 42 percent now). Anything under 35 percent would doom Michigan to returning to its status as an incentive backwater because other states in the film game are at 35 percent already. [read more]

When did we lose our freedom of speech and ability to parody our politicians? What happened to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States?

It is important that all of us communicate the real facts and successes with Michigan’s Film Production Incentive and counter the misinformation being disseminated by Senator Cassis. – Billy Whitehouse, Writer/Director

“We see the bills come through on the audits. You wouldn’t believe how much these film productions pay for hotel rooms when they’re parked here for five weeks. It’s tens of thousands of dollars.” – Robert Schellenberg of Schellenberg & Evers, a CPA firm in Grand Rapids. [read more]

What I find when I look at the arguments is that there is no statistical way to prove in Michigan right now whether or not this program is successful — and that’s because the program is only a year and a half old,” – Robert Schellenberg of Schellenberg & Evers, a CPA firm in Grand Rapids. [read more]

The nice thing about the film industry is it doesn’t necessarily have to have bricks and mortar to build an infrastructure — the film industry is about people,” – Rob Visser, Berends Hendricks Stuit Insurance Agency Inc.’s [read more]

Patterson said that shrinking the film rebate incentive from a maximum of 42 percent of qualified in-state production costs to 30 percent could harm the state’s prospects of attracting movie business.

“We can’t keep promising significant rebates to lure business in and then changing the game book,” Patterson said.

Also, Novi Republican Sen. Nancy Cassis’ STUPID IDEA of capping the film incentives is argued beautifully in the article by Doug Trevethan, editor-in-chief of Michigan Vue Magazine,

“Forty two percent is a ton of money. Thirty percent would still lure people to the state to do things. I think (30 percent) would still be an effective device to bring (film) work into the state, much better than a cap, which would scare everyone off,” he said. “A cap would eliminate Michigan from consideration right off the bat.”

Tomorrow in Lansing there is a rally at the capital organized by the Michigan Production Alliance (MPA). I urge everyone to attend and send a clear message to Sen. Nacy Cassis that her days as a local politician in this state are numbered. Even though she will be leaving office soon, I’m willing to bet Cassis has greater aspirations in the U.S. Congress or elsewhere in local government.  Besides attending the rally, you should also call Nancy Cassis here and let her know that capping the Film incentives is a BAD IDEA.