posted on Sep, 16 2011 @ 03:25 AM
Originally posted by circlemaker
And those film productions will happen whether they are lured to specific places or not.
Maybe yes and maybe no; if a production can't be brought in on or under budget it may not happen. Also, the reason these governments do these things
to lure productions is because there is a lot of competition for those same movie dollars being spent in other places. A movie could get made in
Baltimore, or it could just as easily get made in Cleveland, probably. But because Maryland got very good at luring productions to their state a long
time ago, and Ohio didn't, there are more movies being made in that state and consequently more money is getting spent there. That means more people
get hired and that generates tax revenue for the state that comes back to the state. From the point of view of the state government, this is a method
of investing in bringing more work money into the state, same as trying to attract a large corporation to build a factory there might be, or to move
their headquarters there. In the case of Maryland, there is a small but very strong and very professional movie and TV industry happening there
because there has always been several productions going on there at any given time. That wouldn't exist without some way to convince productions it's
worth their while to shoot there.
Plunk down $420,000 and generate $5,000,000 in production revenue that all gets spent in-state, on jobs, on salaries, on hotels, restaurants, etc. and
you are doing pretty good for everyone involved, I think. I'm not defending the quality of the show Jersey Shore, I happen to think it is at the very
nadir of American culture (if you can even call it "culture"), but from an investment point of view something like that is a pretty sound endeavor.
The beauty of having a production happen in your location is that it's real work happening and real money being spent in that place. It's not like a
company that has an office in Des Moines, IA, that calls themselves an "American corporation," but then does all of their manufacturing in India, or
what have you. A movie or TV production brings real, hard cash into the pockets of people working and living in that place.
edit on 9/16/2011
by LifeInDeath because: (no reason given)