Posted on 11/08/2015 3:14:18 PM PST by Kaslin
Here’s an interesting way the government is blowing your tax dollars, but more on the state and local level than the federal.
As much as I love movies, (well, some of them anyway) the process of making them involves a lot of money. This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who follows the box office numbers on a regular basis. In 1980 the average cost of making a Hollywood film was $4.3M. By last year the average had gone up to $200M and studios are spending up to $100M just on marketing for the big ticket pictures. With that in mind, producers are looking to trim costs wherever they can. One way they do this is to cut deals with states and cities when they need to go do on location shoots in various scenic locations.
The states, for their part, seem to be very eager to attract film crews to their locations. In theory, it’s good business. The studios bring in lots of people who have to stay in hotels, eat, rent various equipment and services and even hire some part time help. The municipal governments also get to charge the studios for permits to film and tourism boards love to see their locations featured in the finished product. But in order to attract them, many governments have been offering huge tax breaks to the studios, often to the point of being crippling. (Press & Sun Bulletin)
Nearly two-dozen studios raked in more than $1.5 billion in rebates from New York over the past nine years as the state rapidly expanded its incentives to lure in movies and shows.
At a time when upstate New York is battling job losses and Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to entice new companies through tax incentives, it’s Hollywood that is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the state’s largesse…
NBC/Universal was by far the leader in rebates awarded between 2006 and 2014, getting back a whopping $320 million for up to 30 percent of its production costs to film in New York.
Sony/Columbia was refunded $200 million, while HBO got $198 million, the WB got $185 million and CBS received $171 million, the records obtained by Gannett through a Freedom of Information request showed.
In 2014, New York sent $423 million back to Hollywood studios, TV networks and producers with $117M going to CBS alone. That’s at a time when the state is bleeding jobs and population. And how much does this really bring into the coffers of the city and the state? Not that much, really. It’s a very brief infusion. The jobs they create are short term and generally low wage. It’s true that the amount they spend is a nice injection for some local restaurants and hotels, but that only helps a handful of businesses and none of it produces long term growth. And none of this addresses the weeks at a time when they can simply shut down traffic and inconvenience everyone in the area.
The amount of money that the government is giving back pretty much wipes out most of the benefits, and how many people really decide to pick up and move someplace new based on the backdrop to a a movie? Shouldn’t the competition at the state government level be going toward sustainable growth and attracting businesses which will actually stick around and build communities? These figures are pretty staggering, particularly for smaller cities trying to get a piece of this pie. Voters need to speak up and let local leaders know that it’s their tax money being given away at home and the profits are all going to the studios and networks. (They aren’t really hurting for profits in most cases, by the way.)
This is just one more example of poor fiscal management and it takes place on the local level where voters can have a much larger voice and more direct impact. Hollywood is doing fine. They don’t need a massive tax refund just to bring their show to town for a month or two.
ping
Does this mean Hollywood is a giant sucking sound?
On the contrary, Hollywood delivers the very best culture degenerating material available from Satan today,...
where are the protests from lefty agitators
I didn’t realize the price of garbage had risen so fast. I have not been in a movie theater for many years and am watching mostly old ones on TV if I can find one I haven’t seen already. There is nothing new in movies or music worth bothering with even if it is free.
Imagine all the great movies made in the past with the little money they had and now a movie cost a jillion dollars and the movie sucks. But it gets a nice tax writeoff and the studio still makes money.
FTA: In 1980 the average cost of making a Hollywood film was $4.3M. By last year the average had gone up to $200M and studios are spending up to $100M just on marketing for the big ticket pictures.
Just wondering....
How much of these tax benefits did cop-hater Quentin Tarantino pull in?
Get Q/T’s tax returns NOW.
Just the tip of the iceberg...
Quentin Tarantino set to shoot “Hateful Eight” in Colorado
By Lisa Kennedy and Aldo Svaldi
The Denver Post
POSTED: 09/26/2014
The state has blessed a $5 million incentive package to help bring production of writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s eighth feature film to southwestern Colorado in December.
The state Economic Development Commission approved the package Friday morning, allowing the state to beat out rival locales Utah and Wyoming for filming.
Minutes after approval, state film commissioner Donald Zuckerman signed the necessary contracts so production spending could move forward in the state.
Budgeted at $44 million, Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” would be the most significant production undertaken in the state since the 1969 classic “True Grit” was shot here.
“The whole movie’s going to be shot here, exteriors and interiors,” Zuckerman said. “They’re going to build it on a ranch.”
The film’s Colorado budget includes $15.7 million for payroll, including a Colorado crew of 168, and $9.35 million in other in-state spending, including lodging. The state rebate of $5 million represents 20 percent of that spending.
(snip)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.