Louisiana the new hot spot of filmmaking

[ProfessorU]

I have a friend who used the tax credits as a guaranteed return on investment on the film. Being able to give 40% back after principal photography wraps is a nice safety for investors who are looking for something more solid than just points on the back end.

 

[Barry_Green]

Wow, I guess I'm wrong about that. It seems way impossible that that is true, but all right. I guess I'm going to Michigan to make a movie like NOW.

That's exactly what I said to the film commissioner. It absolutely seems too good to be true. I challenged her on several fronts as to how they could do this without bankrupting the state, and she allowed a couple of reasons why the megabudget productions won't kill Michigan's budget:

1) There's a cap on individual salary, the incentive only applies on the first million dollars of salary for any one individual. So if Transformers 2 came in and had Tom Cruise at $30 million, they only would pay a maximum of $300,000 incentive (instead of, as you might expect, $9 million). * see item 3 below

2) The post infrastructure to handle a major film like that just doesn't exist in Michigan, so they're well aware that people will be going back to L.A. and spending a massive portion of their budget on post, elsewhere.

3) Out-of-state salaries don't get the full 40% refund, they're limited to 30%. So if you hire Michigan folks to act or work the crew, you get a full 40%; if you bring your own crew or cast, you get 30%.

So, with those restrictions in place to protect themselves from being overly exploited with huge productions, it seems like they're perfectly positioned to take maximum advantage of smaller productions coming into the state. And there's no end in sight and no maximum either.

The process, as I hammered over and over for answers, goes like this:

1) you shoot in Michigan
2) you turn in all your Michigan-based receipts for an audit
3) within 30 to 90 days they complete the audit, verify your Michigan-based expenditures, and CUT YOU A CHECK for 40% (or 42% or whatever your verified audited expenditures turn out to be.)

I asked about things like plane tickets and hotels, because obviously importing a production to their state may mean a lot of travel. They said yes to hotels, of course, and yes to plane tickets *if* you buy them through a Michigan travel agent, such that the dollars were spent in Michigan. If driving there, I'd try to time it so that you buy most of your gas actually in Michigan as I'd be pretty confident that travel gas will count towards the incentive as well.

And, of course, the biggest one (for many of us here) is the low threshhold, $50,000. You only have to spend $50K to qualify, unlike $250K in Louisiana or North Carolina. So if you can raise $30k for your film, beg/borrow/steal another $20K from somewhere because it's practically guaranteed that you'll get that $20K back from the State. Therefore, your $30K becomes $50K in Michigan.

 

[Mark Harris]

That's exactly what I said to the film commissioner. It absolutely seems too good to be true. I challenged her on several fronts as to how they could do this without bankrupting the state, and she allowed a couple of reasons why the megabudget productions won't kill Michigan's budget:

1) There's a cap on individual salary, the incentive only applies on the first million dollars of salary for any one individual. So if Transformers 2 came in and had Tom Cruise at $30 million, they only would pay a maximum of $300,000 incentive (instead of, as you might expect, $9 million). * see item 3 below

2) The post infrastructure to handle a major film like that just doesn't exist in Michigan, so they're well aware that people will be going back to L.A. and spending a massive portion of their budget on post, elsewhere.

3) Out-of-state salaries don't get the full 40% refund, they're limited to 30%. So if you hire Michigan folks to act or work the crew, you get a full 40%; if you bring your own crew or cast, you get 30%.

So, with those restrictions in place to protect themselves from being overly exploited with huge productions, it seems like they're perfectly positioned to take maximum advantage of smaller productions coming into the state. And there's no end in sight and no maximum either.

The process, as I hammered over and over for answers, goes like this:

1) you shoot in Michigan
2) you turn in all your Michigan-based receipts for an audit
3) within 30 to 90 days they complete the audit, verify your Michigan-based expenditures, and CUT YOU A CHECK for 40% (or 42% or whatever your verified audited expenditures turn out to be.)

I asked about things like plane tickets and hotels, because obviously importing a production to their state may mean a lot of travel. They said yes to hotels, of course, and yes to plane tickets *if* you buy them through a Michigan travel agent, such that the dollars were spent in Michigan. If driving there, I'd try to time it so that you buy most of your gas actually in Michigan as I'd be pretty confident that travel gas will count towards the incentive as well.

And, of course, the biggest one (for many of us here) is the low threshhold, $50,000. You only have to spend $50K to qualify, unlike $250K in Louisiana or North Carolina. So if you can raise $30k for your film, beg/borrow/steal another $20K from somewhere because it's practically guaranteed that you'll get that $20K back from the State. Therefore, your $30K becomes $50K in Michigan.

Oh you've convinced me. I have been up all night re-writing my scripts from:

EXT. NEW YORK STREET - DAY

to

EXT. DETROIT STREET - DAY



Do you know if they will honor this down the road? I mean, if you tell them you are planning on coming and shooting there next Nov, and then in June they discontinue these incentives, will they still upload their end for people planning on it?

 

[ProfessorU]

Usually the tax incentives are part of the state budgets, so if they change, it's often January 1. But you could go hire a Michigan lawer to find out for sure.

 

[Sad Max]

I think it is in the form of tax credits, not rebates. I know a producer who is on picture five out of ten which are all lensing exclusively in Louisiana this year.

e

Lensing?


Have mercy, dude.

If I want to be subjected to cutesy wannabe-insider crap slang, I can get that from Variety.

Talk like a pro, man, I mean, after all you are one!

 

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

Lensing?


Have mercy, dude.

If I want to be subjected to cutesy wannabe-insider crap slang, I can get that from Variety.

Talk like a pro, man, I mean, after all you are one!

Sad Max wins my 'Unsolicited Aggressor of the Day' Award.

And remember kids, just let 'em have it and you too could be a recipient!

All in fun, sad max. :beer:

 

[Sad Max]

I wouldn't have to offer unsolicited aggression, if someone would just step up and solicit some.

 

[hoofandmouf]

Tony, I worked on In the Electric Mist

when we were shooting out near catahoula la, I swear I saw at least 5-10 copperheads and water mocassins a day (16-18 hr days mind you)... I also killed a horsefly that was roughly the size of a tomato

also the water we were shooting in (basin bayou sh*t) had so much e coli bacteria in it (from the sewer run offs into the bayou) that the instruments they used to test it wouldnt calculate that high... yeehaaww:crybaby: