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  • Filmmaker Jennifer Latham speaks Saturday during the Traverse City Film Festival "Who's Killing Hollywood in Michigan" panel at the City Opera House. Record-Eagle/Keith King

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July 31, 2011

State filmmaking 'ripped out of the ground’

Plan to cut incentives will hurt movies

by lisa perkins lperkins@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Michigan is a great place to film a movie. Or maybe that's "was."

Panelists who spoke during the Saturday morning discussion "Who's Killing Hollywood in Michigan?" all agreed that while production talent is abundant, the recent reduction in filmmaking incentives has cooled interest in a burgeoning industry.

"Little by little, production companies were coming into Michigan, then February happened," said Traverse City-based filmmaker Rich Brauer, likening the industry to a little green plant.

"It was just beginning to grow, before being ripped out of the ground when Gov. Rick Snyder moved to cut back the Michigan Film Incentive," Brauer said.

The Michigan Film Incentive, a rebate to filmmakers first offered in 2008, will be scaled back in plans currently under consideration by the Michigan Legislature.

"Personally I would love to make more movies in Michigan, but the incentive really makes a huge difference in whether a production comes to your state or not," said Ash-har Quraishi, producer of "Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football," a documentary filmed in Dearborn using local crew.

"The quality of the crew was unbelievable; without them we wouldn't have had the institutional knowledge of the community that was instrumental in the quality of the film," he said.

Harold Cronk, co-owner of 10 West Studios in Manistee, takes pride in employing members of his own community.

"We have produced four features in the last two years and brought $2 million into the local economy," said Cronk, whose company collaborated with West Shore Community College to train area residents in the craft of filmmaking.

"It has been a real boost to our area," he said.

The Royal Oak-based makers of the zombie comedy "Deadheads" said by giving jobs to crew members working on their first film, they gained the experience to go on and work on other projects.

"It was a real steppingstone for many of them," Brett Pierce said.

Jennifer Latham, line director for "Sicko," said that employing local residents is only part of the story when it comes to the financial impact a film production has on a community.

"We buy groceries, gas, rent houses and hotel rooms, and I personally had my car fixed three times while I was here. Those figures aren't included when they are looking at the benefits of the incentives," she said.

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