Luring Filmmakers - Florida Erred in Cutting Incentives
From the Editorial Pages of the Brandenton (Fl) Herald.
While Florida lawmakers look everywhere in the state budget for savings, at least one cut is backfiring on our economy.
The Sunshine State’s natural beauty and other charms have long drawn Hollywood moviemakers for location shooting. But Florida’s incentive program to help attract even more got whacked from $25 million last year to $5 million this fiscal year.
While that looks like a tidy savings, the bottom line is the significant loss that Florida communities will no doubt suffer as studios take their business to states with generous paybacks.
Filming of the dog flick “Marley & Me,” the Owen Wilson-Jennifer Aniston hit now in theaters, pumped $10 million into the South Florida economy. Some 1,400 local movie industry workers earned wages and area hotels, restaurants and other businesses raked in money.
Click here to read the entire article
The incentives are the nut and bolt of the New Mexico Film Industry, and don't think for a moment that you'd be working in New Mexico Film without them. Watch for increasing updates from crewnewmexico.com about the NM FIlm Incentives, and what you can do to help preserve and strengthen them.
