Alioto-Pier Throws Lasso Around Runaway Production
Charlie Goodyear of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on what Michela has up her sleeve for Tuesday:
Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier plans to introduce legislation Tuesday that would rebate city-imposed fees and expenses on big-budget filmmakers who film at least 65 percent of their principal photography in San Francisco. For productions under $3 million, shooting 55 percent would qualify. Rebates would be given only after a production has wrapped.
If approved by the Board of Supervisors, the measure would be the first of its kind in California, which has seen in recent years a flight of film productions to Canada, Australia and now even other states in the United States that offer similar financial incentives, according to the California Film Commission.
…
“What I see across the country is that these incentives are working and that they almost immediately increase the number of productions and the spending that that brings on the ground,” said Amy Lemisch, director of the California Film Commission. “All of these regions are pushing to get incentives through because they see the value of the economic impact that a film production brings to a community.”
The Screenwriting Life blogs on similar efforts in Los Angeles.
[Update:] The San Francisco Examiner covers the story.
