The Republican leader of the state Senate is looking for ways to boost the value of Michigan's film industry incentives. Film projects bailed out of the state after the incentives were scaled back this year by Governor Rick Snyder and the Legislature.
The state used to award credits worth up to 42 percent of the cost of a film project.
State Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville says taxpayers could not afford the subsidies the state was handing out, but he says the boom in film-making has been good for Michigan.
"It's got to be a new world regarding how we provide incentives for filmmakers to not just come to Michigan, but -- we've got a bunch of them in Michigan -- to help them to grow and compete nationwide," he says.
Richardville is expected to introduce legislation this week to make Michigan's remaining film incentives more competitive. He says that might include focusing more rewards on spending that keeps film dollars in Michigan.
People who work in Michigan's film industry say they hope efforts to boost incentives are successful. They say the new $25 million dollar cap on the incentives are not enough to attract big productions.
Chris Baum, who helps market the state to Hollywood with Michigan Film First and Film Detroit, says the state does not have to be as generous as it has been in the past to movie-makers. But it still has to put more money into incentives if it's going to build a movie industry here.
"It's not brain surgery," Baum says. "We've invited an industry here. We've promised them that we wanted them here. We need to continue to giving them conditions that allow themselves to establish themselves here and then down the road, they'll be so comfortable coming to Michigan that we'll be able to pull back on the incentives further."
Baum says Michigan need to have at least $100 million dollars available for incentives if it's going to attract the big budget movies that generate the most economic activity.
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