Cameraman/DP Andy Sparaco went to New Orleans more than two years ago for work, shortly after Louisiana’s 25%-plus Investor Tax Credit brought a flood of entertainment projects to Gulf cities.
Louisiana, particularly New Orleans and Shreveport, where Sparaco has worked non-stop, attracted close to a billion from 70 movies and TV shows so far this year, up from 56 in 2007.
The thing is, Sparaco would rather work in Chicago, go home for dinner with his family, if there were a steady stream of work here.
Last year, however, only eight movies and TV shows filmed in the state; the biggest was the multi-million “Public Enemies.”
That number could’ve been greater if the legislature hadn’t stalled the incentives’ enactment for five months, coupled with a SAG strike threat and the ramped up competition.
“The Beast” TV series is Chicago’s sole Hollywood production. When it packs up and leaves around Thanksgiving, the stage goes dark, with nothing firmly on the books for the foreseeable few months.
Everyone agrees that a better tax incentive that can go nose-to-one with the competition can restart Illinois film business.
Like it or not, states CFO director Rich Moskal, “Incentives have become the singlemost driving force in the U.S. as to where and how movies are made.”
Or as IPA president Lars Ullberg puts it, “We’re in an incentives arms race.”
“Incentives are the first question producers ask, when they talk to us about why they should film here,” says Moskal.
To put Illinois back in the race, the Illinois Production Alliance is working toward convincing the legislature to raise the present, comparatively puny 20% incentive to a more robust 30% on Jan. 1, and keep it on the books for at least three years.
“Not having a tax incentive in place Jan. 1 is a bigger danger to our film economy than the SAG strike,” says Eileen Willenborg, executive director of SAG/AFTRA and its combined 5,500 members.
Hollywood studios are gearing up and greenlighting projects for the year ahead, a SAG strike notwithstanding, she says. “With incentives locked in for three years, Illinois has a good chance of landing some of those projects.”
“But we have a lot of work to do to get the bill scheduled during the two-week legislative veto session in November,” Willenborg adds.
