While Michigan may lead the nation in raw unemployment numbers, there's been an interesting turnaround. I've just read about the many Los Angeles area production and prop houses serving the film industry that are hurting. Much of the film production business has moved out of Hollywood and to points all across the country. And Michigan is a leader in siphoning off that work from California. According to the Michigan Film Office, eight productions have already wrapped up shooting in 2009, with perhaps another dozen in the works. Michigan is offering a 40% refundable tax credit, a lure that many production houses find irresistible. It remains controverial though among taxpayers and legislators in Michigan, since a large portion of these credits represent actual cash outlays to producers, estimated at $48 in 2008. That's money that can't be used for schools, parks or to help the unemployed.
Of course the goal is to generate a thriving new industry that will employ people in this struggling state. It is doing that, but even so it remains a tiny portion of the employment picture. As one small part of the picture it makes sense. But to see the movie biz as a savior is certainly misguided.
As a Detroit photographer I had my own small brush with Hollywood in Detroit some years ago when Out of Sight with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez filmed here. Read my account of that experience.
Of course the goal is to generate a thriving new industry that will employ people in this struggling state. It is doing that, but even so it remains a tiny portion of the employment picture. As one small part of the picture it makes sense. But to see the movie biz as a savior is certainly misguided.
As a Detroit photographer I had my own small brush with Hollywood in Detroit some years ago when Out of Sight with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez filmed here. Read my account of that experience.
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