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Film Commissions in Crisis
Illustration by Mike Bertino
It was a close call for the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission (NJMPTC) in July 2008. Despite the millions of dollars and thousands of jobs the organization had brought into the state’s economy over the years (in 2007 alone, a record 972 projects, including 95 features, generated $121 million), it still teetered on the brink of elimination due to state budget cuts. As fiscal figures were bounced around in Trenton, a cautious optimism for restored funding prevailed among the commission’s small staff, which lobbied furiously behind the scenes. And then “Save New Jersey Film” was created, which by most accounts helped to seal the deal on the commission’s survival.
The grassroots online petition, designed by Sam Rohn, a New York locations manager who has called upon the Newark-based NJMPTC on many occasions, garnered some 1,000 signatures. Coupled with numerous letters, e-mails and phone calls from concerned citizens and industry professionals, the outcry clearly demonstrated the commission’s value—a message that would not be lost on New Jersey’s legislators.
“The response was phenomenal,” says David W. Schoner, Jr., the NJMPTC’s production coordinator. “The unions and guilds were very vocal, and we eventually filled three, three-inch binders with letters and sent them, along with the online signatures, to the governor, his chief of staff, the state treasurer, the senate president, the assembly president, the head of economic development and a few other officials.”
One of the deluge’s recipients was New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey. “Any time legislators get inquiries from constituents, they respond,” says Codey. “In this case, all the phone calls, letters and e-mails were positive; no one was telling us not to restore the commission. The campaign had great impact. Many legislators don’t understand the benefits of a film commission, but when you sit down and do the math, you think, ‘Why would we do away with this and stop people from filming here?’ The return on investment is fabulous.”
“The outpouring of support from filmmakers all over the country was very rewarding,” notes Steven Gorelick, executive director of the NJMPTC. “So many letters detailed how important we’ve been to people’s lives, to their financial welfare.”
Worth and sentiment notwithstanding, the commission did not escape elimination unscathed. Its budget was reduced by more than 25 percent and its staff cut to four, leading to a more frugal existence. “Certainly, beyond the day-to-day work with filmmakers, we can’t do as much as we’d like to, such as building up our digital location database, helping with film festivals and going into the field to meet with town reps. But we’re making do as best we can,” Gorelick offers.
Lea Girardin, director of the Maine Film Office, understands budget reductions and staff cuts. In July, she will become the sole employee of her now two-person commission, thanks to fiscal restructuring that left no room in the budget for an assistant director. Girardin handles a heavy workload on a fraction of the six-figure budgets provided to many film commissions and depends greatly on the assistance of interns and volunteer industry professionals.
“Our first job is to continue to serve the productions that come into Maine, so they have everything they need to find locations, get permits, etc.,” she says from her Augusta office. “We’ve had to do a bit of triage to itemize the most important things and streamline some processes, and we still have our governor-appointed advisory board to raise funding.”
Girardin laments that she may have to let a pilot mentoring program, among other projects, fall by the wayside. Her plight follows an in-depth study of Maine’s visual media industry conducted by the film office, spanning 1996 to 2006, which discovered an average return on investment (ROI) of 39.1 to one. A recent independent investigation carried out by economic consulting firm ECONorthwest showed a direct economic impact of $371 million, based on 2005 figures. Also noted in the ECONorthwest findings were the thousands of full- and part-time jobs directly related to film production, as well as those created in response to it, and the resulting $80.9 million in direct wages.
“The benchmark research also found that for every $1 million spent in Maine by out-of-state visual media productions, $150,000 is generated in state and local revenue. That money circulates in the community and builds on itself,” Girardin points out.
Such hard numbers are invaluable in proving a film commission’s overall economic merit and bottom-line contributions to a state’s revenue base.
Film commissions date back to the late 1940s, and their goal has always been to serve as a liaison between production companies and municipalities. Today they operate around the globe through national, provincial, state, regional and local levels of government. Typical services include scouting and securing locations, facilitating permits, administering incentives and general troubleshooting. Economic development, once the gravy of the system, has grown to become a primary raison d’être. In fact, film commissions now aim to attract productions to their respective cities and towns to reap monetary benefits and promote opportunities for local crews, talent and goods and services companies.
“In almost every case, a government has chosen to provide a film commission because of strategic need,” notes Bill Lindstrom, CEO of the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI).
Founded in 1975, the AFCI offers professional development, marketing and networking services to a membership of 330 film commissions, representing more than 40 countries worldwide. About 57 percent are in the United States.
“I think that the purpose of any state’s economic development program is to make life better for citizens,” Lindstrom adds. “Over the last century, government resources involved in economic development have come to focus a lot on job creation. The entertainment industry generates jobs, as well as revenue, on a widespread basis.”
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Data entry jobs on 8/20/09 at 12:08 pm
The dicey question of runaway production is a crisis of national, even global, proportions. Texas Film Commission Director Tom Copeland points to traditional American outposts of film production that have taken a hit."Places like Seattle have really been hurt because of their proximity to Vancouver,” he adds. “Chicago will probably survive—although they’ve been hit really hard, too, since they’re so close to the border—but even New York City, which will always be a location for people, has also taken a beating.” Hollywood dream machine.
- Comment by Asada on 12/04/09 at 3:33 am
great post, thanks.
- Comment by angelina on 12/23/09 at 11:17 am
The financial crisis is causing more problems for the film industry almost any other business, so logically we are looking for the most best conditions, and nowadays they are offered in many countries in Europe.
Lucas praised the Czech crews working now on Red Tails. “Practically 90 percent of the crew is local,” he said. But he noted that many other territories — including Hungary, Australia and individual U.S. states — were offering incentives to film-makers and taking productions away from the Czech Republic
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This story was published in the Spring 2009 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
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