The state of Missouri has shut down an office created to help lure filmmakers and boost movie-related spending as the fate of a related tax credit program remains uncertain.
The Columbia Missourian reports that the Missouri Film Office in Jefferson City closed at the end of June after 28 years. Gov. Jay Nixon cut the film office's $175,000 annual allotment to help balance the state budget.
The move comes after a state commission recommended eliminating a $4.5 million annual tax credit program for films, part of a broader review of the state's tax credits. No such credits for movies have been awarded so far this year, although applications remain pending.
Film industry boosters are criticizing the cost-saving step. They point to the recent successes of "Winter's Bone" and "Up in the Air," two high-profile movies filmed in Missouri.
After the success of "Up in the Air," Paramount Pictures returned to Missouri hoping to film another movie called "Fun Size," said Missouri Film Commission chairman Bill Lemmon.
"(The producers) were willing to spend $30 million in Missouri and asked for $4 million in tax credits from the state," Jones said. "Although $4.5 million in tax credits are earmarked, the state only offered a million," he said.
Paramount crews instead sought and received a better deal from Ohio, he said.
"It's difficult to get studios to come to Missouri from states like California and New York, but Paramount was poised to come back," said former film office director Jerry Jones, one of two employees who lost their jobs with the closure. "Missouri was on the verge of attracting a lot of big production, and it will take a long time before studios return."
Filmmakers looking for tax credits can still seek assistance from the Missouri Department of Economic Development, which administers the tax credit program that lawmakers considered cutting earlier this year. But Lemmon said he doubts the department will be able to perform at the level of the film office, which also helped filmmakers choose locations, find equipment and obtain permits.
"Jerry and Andrea speak (the filmmakers') language," he said, referring to Jones and assistant director Andrea Sporcic. "Now, who do filmmakers call when they have questions about Missouri? There's no one for them to call. The department does not have the experience or expertise to handle questions."
State Sen. Chuck Gross, who helped lead the Tax Credit Review Commission, said the state's film tax credits serve too narrow an industry and provide inadequate economic return.
Over a 10-year fiscal period, the state received $734,811 in benefits from the film tax-credit program, with total costs listed at $6,639,652. That's roughly an 11-cent return to the state for every dollar spent.
"You can't call that economic development. It's a bad, poorly structured program," he said.
Lemmon and Lemmon countered that the state's formula doesn't include local taxes, food costs, hotel stays and other expenses by visiting production crews.
___
Information from: Columbia Missourian, http://www.columbiamissourian.com