REEL ATTRACTION: Local film industry hopes generous new incentives will lure business here

By JON CHESTOThe Patriot Ledger
It didn’t take long for the first e-mail to land in Sam Weisman’s inbox. Weisman, a director who lives in Newton, said he heard from a top film executive at Warner Bros. on Tuesday.
Apparently, the exec previously had problems with shooting movies in Massachusetts. But a new package of tax incentives, signed into law by Gov. Mitt Romney on the day before Thanksgiving, prompted him to reconsider.
‘‘He e-mailed me ... and said, ‘Congratulations. Let’s go make a movie,’’’ said Weisman, one of the last directors to film a major motion picture here - in his case, it was ‘‘What’s the Worst That Could Happen?’’ in 2000-.
Weisman is one of many industry insiders in the Boston area who expect e-mails like that one will represent just the beginning of a surge of interest in making movies in the Bay State.
Most states already offer some incentives to lure film crews to shoot within their borders. However, the size
and extent of the Bay State’s new film package - which provides up to $7 million in tax credits for a single production - makes it among the five most generous states in the country.
Other film-friendly states include Louisiana, Georgia, New York and Rhode Island. This is the first year that the Ocean State has offered the tax credits, and it already has seen the start of a TV series - Showtime’s ‘‘Brotherhood’’ - and commitments from two major studio films, ‘‘Hard Luck’’ starring Wesley Snipes and Disney’s ‘‘Underdog.’’
Massachusetts, meanwhile, has only had two major studio flicks fully shot here during the past seven years, according to Chris O’Donnell, the business manager for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 481 in Woburn. They were Weisman’s movie and Clint Eastwood’s ‘‘Mystic River,’’ in 2002.
Sure, many other recent movies have featured local settings. Wellesley College had a starring role alongside Julia Roberts in ‘‘Mona Lisa Smile’’ and Fenway Park co-starred in ‘‘Fever Pitch’’ with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon. Earlier this year, Martin Scorsese shot scenes in Boston and Quincy for his upcoming crime drama, ‘‘The Departed.’’
But, in most cases, crews shot the bulk of the films in less expensive places. For example, despite the New England roots of ‘‘Fever Pitch’’ directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, their movie was largely filmed in Toronto.
Movie makers have long been charmed by Massachusetts’ varied locations - its farmland, rolling hills, vast stretches of coastline and historic cityscapes. But the high costs associated with filming here has, more often than not, chased away big-studio business to Canada and other locales.
A federal probe into the Charlestown-based Teamsters Local 25 and stories of that union’s disruptions on movie sets also deterred studio execs. Industry insiders say that reputation has steadily faded as several years have passed without any notable incidents. But the stigma is certainly not completely gone.
Another blow came in 2002 when the state’s film office budget was eliminated. The film bureau’s executive director, Robin Dawson, has since been running it as a nonprofit with a shoestring budget. But observers say the office - despite Dawson’s connections and knowhow - lacks the clout it had as a state agency.
During the past few years, many states started to mimic Canada by coming up with their own tax packages. Louisiana led the way, putting generous incentives in place in mid-2002. That state’s film office boasts that in the following three years, Louisiana has seen more than $900 million worth of productions.
In recent years, the balance started to shift away from Canada with the proliferation of lucrative tax breaks among the states and a more favorable currency exchange rate in the U.S.
Momentum began to build behind a program for major tax credits in Massachusetts last year following the news that Scorsese’s ‘‘The Departed’’ would be largely shot in New York City - even though it is set in Boston.
Rep. Thomas O’Brien, a Democrat from Kingston, filed a bill on Beacon Hill a year ago that served as the basis for the legislation that eventually ended up on Romney’s desk last month. O’Brien credits actors Chris and Marianne Cooper, who live in Kingston, for drawing his attention to the need for the state to do something.
It probably didn’t hurt that the Coopers joined ‘‘The Departed’’ executive producer G. Mac Brown at a State House hearing this summer to urge lawmakers to pass tax credit legislation. Cambridge native Matt Damon - who co-stars with Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘‘The Departed’’ - also made a public plea for state-backed incentives.
Meanwhile, industry leaders in the area teamed up to lobby behind the scenes for legislation by forming the Massachusetts Production Coalition.
The generosity of the tax package that the Legislature eventually created has drawn some criticism, however. A state Department of Revenue analysis showed that the state would have lost nearly $50 million in tax credits had a previous version of the legislation been in place in 2002, the year ‘‘Mystic River’’ was shot.
Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the film industry’s jobs are largely freelance and don’t provide the permanent base that many other sectors offer.
‘‘We may get more films made here than otherwise,’’ Widmer said. ‘‘But the cost in lost tax revenues doesn’t justify it. There would be a lot better uses of this money to stimulate economic development activity.’’
But supporters say the incentives could lay the groundwork for a more permanent network of film jobs in the region. Plus, advocates say the state is only giving back a portion of what would represent new tax revenues; most of the production companies are expected to sell their tax credits to help defray their movies’ budgets.
‘‘This is revenue that wouldn’t be here,’’ said Dawson, of the Massachusetts Film Bureau. ‘‘We have to receive a dollar first before we give anything back.’’
Besides, Dawson said, the movies also act as effective marketing tools for the state. ‘‘There’s no stronger advertising medium than through a feature film or a television series,’’ she said.
The tax breaks in Massachusetts also apply to television commercials - a key selling point for producers like Mark Hankey, founder of the Picture Park production company in Boston.
‘‘Massachusetts is an attractive place to shoot but it’s always been an expensive place to shoot,’’ Hankey said. ‘‘Hopefully, (the tax breaks) will take the cost problem out of the picture.’’
Word of the legislation’s passage is already starting to circulate outside of New England. Weisman, the director, said a copy of Romney’s press release announcing the tax breaks was e-mailed to a number of Hollywood executives.
And Grafton Nunes, dean of Emerson College’s School of the Arts, said he heard about it from a film producer while in London over the Thanksgiving weekend. That producer, Nunes said, was already lining up plans for a production in Boston.
‘‘It’s a wonderful city for locations, and producers have always recognized that, (but before now) the bottom line was better elsewhere because of the tax credits,’’ Nunes said. ‘‘People are just looking for a chance to shoot here.’’
Jon Chesto may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.
Copyright 2005 The Patriot LedgerTransmitted Saturday, December 03, 2005

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