Film Florida, held a launch event yesterday at the Renaissance Vinoy hotel in St. Petersburg.  The event included a panel of state representatives, Senator Nancy Detert. President of Film Florida Graham Winick, and Lucia Fishburne from the State Film commission.  They were addressing a room full of industry professionals that came from all over the state.

The goal of this discussion was to find a way to bring more movie and TV productions back to the state of Florida.  The panel is in full support of pushing through legislation to help not only the filmmaking industry in Florida, but to give the entire state's economy a jolt that it desperately needs.

A quick history on why this meeting was necessary from a layman's point-of-view.  Florida was once a sought out state for major film and TV productions.  The state of Florida was ranked # 3 in the U.S.  Now, the state is not even in the game.  Productions are now seeking other states that give better incentive programs.  To date, 43 states offer these type of incentive programs.  So why isn't Florida's incentive program enticing anymore?

Because other states are doing it better and Florida needs to get with the times.  The advantage to the state is the crew needs to stay at hotels, so they spend money there, which boosts revenue for the hotel.  They also need to eat, so the crew dines at the local restaurants.  Get the picture?  The on-location crews do get a chunk of money from the state to spend on production costs, but they still have to live right?  That's why the state's economy earns money by giving money.  Hence, the incentive funds need to be raised to attract more projects.

In economical terms...for every $1 of film incentives that was provided by the state in 2008, was directly related to $22 in gross state product.  Every $1 invested in film tax incentives, production companies spend just about $7 on Florida goods and services.

Well, the current budget for the fiscal year of 2009/2010 is $10.8 million for film industry incentives.  So if a production wants to come to Florida, they can get a piece of that money.  However, once the money runs out, the state can't offer anymore incentives to other possible productions.  Therefore, the productions look to other states that have a substantially higher incentive plan than Florida currently does.  Florida loses out in many ways that impact the entire economy.

Of the 36 projects that applied for the incentive funds when they became available, the State Film Office could only approve 12.  Of those 12 projects that did come to shoot in Florida, they spend an enormous amount of money in the State.  9,000 jobs were created for Floridians in the industry, and it translated into $44 million if Florida wages.  In other words, when those projects start filming in Florida, they hire within the state, and they spend money that boosts our infrastructure.  

Now let's look at the 24 projects that chose not to come to Florida, because the state had no more incentive funds to offer them.  8,500 jobs could have been created but weren't.  $64 million was lost in wages, and the production crews didn't spend a dime in Florida because they obviously weren't here.

The goal is to help Florida get back to a stable economy.  Having film productions would give a giant push in the right direction.  Film is inter-twined with so many other industries that would also benefit, if the state could entice more projects here.  The workforce would also stay put in Florida and not travel to other markets to seek out work.  Part of the discussion, that many of the State House of Representatives who were present on the panel emphasized, was keeping Florida's film students here.  Rep. Kevin Ambler is tired of seeing students fly off to other markets and he and others are making big moves to try to stop that hemorrhaging.

One win for Florida is that Digital Domain Studios is now going to call the state home.  Having a studio in Florida offers more opportunity for students, and current industry professionals.  The studio will be making their rumored home in North Palm Beach.  President of Film Florida Graham Winick wants to get more studios to call Florida home.  He believes that having the natural resources of Florida and no state income tax, can go a long way in achieving that vision.  He also mentions that to be a major player again, Florida must come together push for higher incentives.

The meeting covered a lot of ground, and it was nice to see the entire panel speak and give tangible evidence on how to boost Florida's film industry.  As most movies tend to do, the discussion ended with a bit of a tease from Rep. Ambler.  He stated that something "big" will be announced in roughly a month that will benefit the film industry in Florida.  He left everyone with a cryptic message, saying the announcement is apart of "Project Bumblebee."  Most of the discussion during the cocktail hour that followed the meeting, were people speculating about the top-secret deal.

To find out more about legislation visit FilmFlorida.com and peruse the site.

Here's the list of people who took part in the panel discussion:

Graham Winick, President of Film Florida.  Dr. Rick Harper, Economist from UWF Hass.  Sen. Nancy Detert of FL. Lucia Fishburne State Film Commissioner.  House Reps. Ron Reagan, Gary Aubuchon, Stephen Precourt, Michelle Rehwinkel-Vasilinda, Michael Scionti, Nicholas Thompson, Richard Glorioso.