The Illinois House’s last-minute amendment to Senate Bill 4 (SB4) to add a sunset clause in five years to the state’s hard-earned tax incentives has riled up film workers who are eager to do something about it.
“By all means contact your state senator and tell him how you feel about the importance of retaining our incentives,” urges John Coli, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 727, with 6,000 members.
The Teamsters, the Illinois Production Alliance, IATSE film locals, AFTRA-SAG and the DGA have joined forces to fight SB4, which on March 17 passed the House by a 90-20 vote and returns March 29 to the Senate, which has to approve the amendment.
While the sunset clause would affect the overall film business, it would be the most detrimental to the state’s ability to attract television series, whose production is based on an industry standard five-year plan.
Assurance to the producing company that incentives will continue in effect for the length of a series’ duration is a strong selling point for states competing for this kind of long-term commitment.
A loudly voiced complaint heard was that the legislators, who had seemingly tacked on the sunset clause as the last item in the 43 page bill, never talked to anyone in the film industry about their proposed action.
In 2008, the IPA and the Teamsters were successful in their fight to have the legislature remove the previous sunset clause from the tax incentives, which helped to accelerate the number of entertainment projects and commercials that filmed in the state since.
“When you couple the tax credit with our infrastructure of experienced workers, breathtaking scenery and a new multi-million dollar film studio, Chicago has become an ideal place for production companies to film their projects,” Coli says.
“Even in a down economy, the film business has been booming here and we have more members working than ever before,” says Coli. “This bill would put our members’ livelihoods in jeopardy, and that is something we absolutely cannot stand for.”
Find your state senator and write to him today.
