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The film credit fiasco: the clued-in and the clueless, media edition

September 28, 2009

Once burned, twice shy works for most of us. Some reporters and columnists seem to require repeated burning.

John Carlson at The Des Moines Register has pulled his hand away from the stove:

We are, indeed, suckers — a lot of us, anyway — smitten by the thought of spotting some third-tier actor at the next table in our favorite restaurant. Also high on the sucker list are the knuckleheads in state government who slobber at the very thought of nuzzling up next to somebody with a 90210 ZIP code. If it means handing a hay barn full of cash to people who make motion pictures, so be it.

...

It's kind of like the popular kids letting us sit next to them in the lunchroom as long as we buy their dessert. Except in this case, we bought movie executives a $67,783 Mercedes, a $61,000 Range Rover and probably a bunch of other stuff we haven't heard about yet.

But his colleague Rekha Basu seems to think the stove will cool down if she just keeps touching it:

Just weeks ago, Iowa's star shone so brightly in Hollywood that movie folks from there were talking about moving and buying houses here. The bars were full of actors, local crews were getting work and real-estate deals were in the making.

Yes, buying houses with our money with big garages for their taxpayer-funded Mercedes.

The fiasco has some Iowans suggesting all tax-credit programs be eliminated and criticizing the up-to-50-percent filmmaking credit. Certainly, requirements could be tightened. But that discussion should be had after a careful examination of all benefits and costs.

Maybe the Tax Update is just old fashioned this way, but shouldn't you do the "careful examination of all benefits and costs" before you spend $300 million?

Over at Lee Enterprises, Charlotte Eby shows how to present one side of the story in a piece on the woes of film welfare recipients. The story provides the viewpoint of a few Iowans who have gotten splattered with the money gushing to Hollywood:

Movie crews have also brought their business to Smash, a custom T-shirt shop in Des Moines’ East Village neighborhood.

Retail manger Jen Morrow said several actors, including McGowan and Abigail Breslin, have bought shirts in the store.

Smash designed T-shirts that will be worn in the movie “Janie Jones,” now being filmed in Iowa.

“You’d have to be blind not to see it’s stimulating our economy here locally,” Morrow said.

Well, they're buying T-shirts here! That's worth $363 million!

Like almost every story about the film credits, at least until last week, Ms. Eby focuses only on those who get money from the film credits, with nary a word about the 3 million Iowans who might pony up $121 each without even getting a crummy T-shirt.

Donelle Eller at The Des Moines Register has a rare piece that actually addresses the economic absurdity of the credit, as a counterpoint to the boosterism of the looter lobby. She even talks to an actual economist:

"Talking about a return on investment means you get your money back," said David Swenson, an Iowa State University economist. "The state isn't getting any of its film money back, let alone a return."

Film credits aren't magic beans. They cost real money, money that either comes from higher taxes on everybody else or reduced state services. If they actually could grow the economy by more than they cost, the state could devote its entire budget to funding the film industry, knowing that it would all come back in the form of new Range Rovers for everyone.