D.C. to pay Disney $200,000

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The D.C. government will cut a six-figure check to the Walt Disney Co. as compensation for the production company spending more than a month in the nation’s capital filming the sequel to the blockbuster “National Treasure.”

Crystal Palmer, head of the D.C. film office, said Thursday the District will pay Disney $211,432, refunding the company for 100 percent of the sales taxes it expended during preproduction and filming. Crews spent a month and a half in D.C. between March and April, laying out more than $3 million overall, Palmer said.

“That’s exactly what we had in mind to keep them here,” said Ward 2 D.C. Councilman Jack Evans, who introduced the film incentive legislation in 2006.

“National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” which opens Dec. 21, is the first project to dip into the District’s discretionary movie-incentive fund. The film stars Nicolas Cage as a treasure hunter who tries to unravel the mystery of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination using the diary of John Wilkes Booth.

The incentive program was spurred by a trend away from on-location filming. Crews were visiting the city for only days to get their obligatory monument shots before bailing for less expensive locales.

For “Wedding Crashers,” the crew shot a Georgetown street sign and then left for Baltimore to recreate the Northwest neighborhood. “Breach,” the story of FBI spy Robert Hannsen, was set in D.C. but filmed almost entirely in Toronto.

Monetary payments under the incentive measure are limited to 10 percent of production-related expenses or 100 percent of the sales taxes paid on those expenses, whichever is less. To qualify, a production company must spend at least $500,000 and remain in town for at least five days.

Producers of “State of Play,” now in preproduction, have applied to partake in the fund. What was supposed to be two weeks in D.C. for the film featuring Russell Crowe and Edward Norton was negotiated up to six weeks, Palmer said.

“We were able to bring our costs in line with what it costs to film on the streets of Los Angeles,” she said.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com

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