Rendell cutting back on film office
By MARTHA RAFFAELE Associated Press Writer
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – In the 26 years since Pennsylvania’s film office was established, the state has provided a multitude of backdrops for more than 170 movies, from Harrisburg State Hospital (“Girl, Interrupted”) to Lancaster County’s Amish country (“Witness”).
But in his effort to reduce administrative spending in the state budget, Gov. Ed Rendell has cut film promotion funding by roughly 50 percent, from $733,000 to $400,000 for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Of that money, $280,000 will be split evenly between film offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia – the same amount they received this year – but the state film office in Harrisburg will have to get by on $120,000, reducing its staff from three to one. Officials say they are ready to absorb the blow.
“There’s definitely a more efficient way to promote the state. We’re certainly not going to advertise … and we’re not going to go to every little cocktail party to network,” said James “Mickey” Rowley, deputy secretary for tourism, film and economic development marketing.
As states and cities around the country struggle to avert budget deficits, film commissions are becoming a common casualty, officials say. Governments are scaling back – or abandoning altogether – the marketing machines they’ve used to sell film and television production crews on their scenic charms.
“Every state is facing a deficit, and in the private world, the first place you look to cut is marketing, but a lot of people forget that the film industry is a business,” said Pittsburgh Film Office Director Dawn Keezer, who also heads Film US, a nonprofit coalition of nearly 200 state and local film commissions.
The Minnesota Film and TV Board has been relying on private funding to keep afloat after its more than $300,000 in state funding was cut to help make up a $5 billion deficit this fiscal year, executive director Craig Rice said. An incentive program that refunded a portion of filmmakers’ production cuts was suspended in January in a round of emergency cuts.
But Rice believes politics was a stronger force behind the cuts than economics, noting that the $2.5 million spent on the rebate program during its five years of existence pumped $54 million into Minnesota’s economy during the same period.
“What we heard a lot from legislators is that this is some kind of welfare for Hollywood,” he said. “I spent six months in the Capitol this year, and I think they think that if we don’t do it, the films will still come. They won’t. They’ll go where it’s easiest to shoot.”
In Washington state, Gov. Gary Locke proposed eliminating the $400,000 film office next year, but members of the industry successfully lobbied state legislators to restore the money. Part of that effort involved explaining that state residents who work in the industry benefit from the interest of outside production companies, said Doug DuMas, a Seattle location manager and scout.
“Once the production company realizes we can do this here, it’s turned over to the private sector,” he said. “The state basically hooks them. Our job in the private sector is to reel them in.”
In Pennsylvania, the budget cut will mean no state funding for film festivals, and limiting travel to one trade show a year, Rowley said. But maintaining the funding for the “hugely productive” Pittsburgh and Philadelphia offices will help offset his office’s loss of funding, he said.
“There are budget cuts and changes, but it doesn’t mean the sky is falling,” he said.
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On the Net:
Pennsylvania Film Office: http://www.filminpa.com
Minnesota Film and TV Board: http://www.mnfilm.org/
Washington State Film Office: http://www.oted.wa.gov/ed/filmoffice/
Film US: http://www.filmus.org
_AP-ES-06-13-03 1806EDT