It was a sad yet fitting sign of the times for the Tucson movie industry Monday night, as movers and shakers gathered at the dilapidated Temple of Music and Art for the Tucson Film Industry Summit.
Seven panelists, consisting of the leaders of the Tucson and Phoenix film offices, a crew union rep and a Hollywood producer gathered for a muddled event that came off to me as a roundabout, two-hour pitch for donations to the foundering, Scottsdale-based Arizona Film & Media Coalition, which lobbies for the tax incentive program and wants to conduct a $50,000 study on filmmaking’s economic impact in the state.
I walked away from the meeting, which was full of contradicting messages (Our tax incentive plan isn’t good enough! Donate to us to keep it alive!) fairly depressed about the present and future of our once-thriving movie scene.
It was fitting the meeting took place Downtown, amid torn-up streets and decaying buildings. Tucson Film Office director Shelli Hall likened the tax incentive’s impact to Rio Nuevo, saying that progress has been made, but it’s difficult to see.
I think Hall was spot-on with the metaphor, only not in the way she wanted to be. The tax incentive program, instituted in 2006 and set to expire in 2010, is just like Tucson’s fumbling of Downtown renewal and attempts to keep Spring Training. Nice, well-intentioned people are spearheading these movements, and seem to lack the connections or resources to get anything significant accomplished.
The panelists pointed to the 2006 filming of “The Kingdom” as a sign that the incentive program was working. I found the declaration laughable, especially given the illuminating comments from panelist Ronnie Clemmer, a Hollywood producer, who stated again and again that it made no business sense to film a movie or TV series in Arizona when as many as 43 other states offer programs at least as appealing.
Clemmer echoed sentiments from a study presented by the Tucson Film Office. Tucson’s incentive program doesn’t offer a high enough rebate (A 30 percent rebate on production dollars spent in-state, as opposed to 40 percent in Michigan) and is handicapped by a byzantine approval process that can take well more than a year to show production companies the money, an arbitrary $70 million cap on incentives, a head-scratching ant-obscenity guideline meant to keep the credit away from pornos and a stifling requirement that 50 percent of crew hires must be Arizonans (never mind that the state largely lacks enough crew members to serve a New Mexico-like production slate).
“Build it and we will come,” Clemmer said, pleading for fellow panelists and audience members to ask state legislators to come up with a competitive bill.
As thankfully blunt as Clemmer was, Arizona Film & Media Coalition president Noel Paynter seemed discombobulated. His droning speeches slowed the meeting down and were unsuccessful attempts at patting his organization on the back for what little Hollywood filmmaking takes place in the state, while casting blame at others for how little is done here.
After noting that Arizona’s current tax incentive is safe after a threat earlier this session, he passed out leaflets asking for donations to ensure the safety of the incentive. The leaflet said the goal is to raise $70,000 in order to pay lobbyists as well as conduct an economic impact stud, and that the organization has only raised $9,500 so far.
One of the few things made clear to me at the summit was that giving money to the AFMC will accomplish nothing. At least Paynter has the good sense not to waste time this session pushing a new bill through the legislature. Money is so tight, and looks to be for at least another year, that even asking for tax incentives to stimulate an industry with tons of growth potential just won’t work.
I look forward to the 2010 eclipse of the current incentives as a chance to start again from rock bottom. There is nowhere to go from here but up.
