Gorilla film production michigan
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He's also a partner in S3 Entertainment, a production house that offers to do much of the legwork for movie companies: financing, gear rental, tax-incentive consulting, catering and accounting work. It's been the backdrop for at least one movie and is the location now for a pilot being shot for a sitcom for tweens.Īugust has been reinventing his Royal Oak, Mich., commercial film business to cater to the burgeoning movie demand. There's even a barely used high school west of Detroit in Howell, Mich., which has stood empty since 2003 because the town can't afford to operate two high schools. It's gritty, it's urban, and it's a very film-friendly city." "You have a city that was built for 1.8 million or 2 million people, and it has a lot fewer people than that (912,000 now, the Census Bureau estimates). "Detroit is a fantastic resource," says Larry August, director and managing partner of Avalon Films, which has done mostly auto commercials in the past. The Irishman, a movie due next year starring Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken, was shot in several neighborhoods of Detroit and barely interrupted city life, even when explosives were set off. There are lots of charming old towns with charming old buildings, several universities and plenty of out-of-work autoworkers itching to do something with their hands, such as build sets, operate lighting systems or learn makeup artistry.Įven Michigan's economic malaise has an upside for Hollywood: Those empty, abandoned streets in Detroit are perfect for moviemakers, who can close off entire blocks for weeks without worrying about disrupting the city's flow. It has more than 3,000 miles of coastline along the Great Lakes, bodies of water so big their horizons are as empty as an ocean's.
Unlike Louisiana or New Mexico, which are also film hot spots, Michigan has four marked seasons. I say give it five years before you say we can't do this."īesides the tax incentives, Michigan has several traits that make it attractive to the film industry.
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"We have finally got the imagination of people in Michigan that there can be another industry here other than the auto industry. Burnstein says he's worried the tax credit will become a political target for lawmakers to cut for short-term gain. "If you're going to go back and say we can't afford this, I would say you don't understand the true value of the program," says Jim Burnstein, a screenwriter and professor at the University of Michigan who helped the state develop the tax credit. This year's spending hasn't been tabulated.
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In 2007, moviemakers spent $2 million producing in the Great Lakes state. In 2009, there are already 85 movies made or with production applications filed with the state. In 2008, after the credit was enacted, 35 films were, according to the Michigan Film Office. In 2007, before Michigan offered the credit, two films were shot there. Some lawmakers argue that the tax credit is too generous for a state with an enormous budget deficit and the nation's highest unemployment rate, topping 15% in June, but there's no arguing the fact that the credit has generated business. That's thanks in part to generous tax incentives that give the entertainment industry a refundable business tax credit of up to 42% for production costs spent in the state. The gypsy-like movie industry, which roams from place to place to find the best locations - and best deals - has taken a liking to Michigan in the past two years. We're not talking the D-list: Stars have included George Clooney, Drew Barrymore, Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Edward Norton and Hillary Swank.