WisBusiness: Boosters have high hopes for Wisconsin’s month-old film incentives

By Brian E. Clark

WisBusiness.com

If movie-making takes off on the country’s “Third Coast” – as Wisconsin’s promoters like to call this state – Scott Robbe says Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton should get a big pat on the back.

Robbe, executive director of Film Wisconsin, said Lawton’s “leadership in building our state’s creative economy overall has been impressive, especially with the legislation that went into effect Jan. 1 to grant tax credits to studios and others who film in this state.”

“We haven’t had a major movie made here in several years,” he said. “But if things work out as we hope — like they have in New Mexico and Louisiana — this could give our state’s economy a $500 million annual boost.”

According to the state Commerce Department, a movie company could receive a tax credit of 25 percent of the wages paid to employees to produce a film, video, electronic game, broadcast advertisement, or television production in the Badger State. The deal also includes credits for sales tax, construction, wardrobes, clothing and visual effects.

Tony Hozeny, a Commerce spokesman, said his department has been in talks with Universal Pictures about tax credits for “Public Enemies,” which is to be shot this spring and star Johnny Depp as John Dillinger.

The film company has been scouting sites in Wisconsin and looking for vintage vehicles from 1930 to 1935 in Madison, Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Chicago. The movie will be directed by UW-Madison alum Michael Mann.

Hozeny said no agreements have been reached with Universal, however.

Howard Bachrach, the “picture car captain” in charge of finding classic trucks, buses and cars for “Public Enemies,” said “no one is telling me exactly when or where it will be shot, which would sure make my job easier.”

But he noted that IMDB.com, a Web site that covers the movie industry, has reported the movie will be made in Illinois and Wisconsin starting in March.

Lawton, who recently returned from a visit to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, said she made quick trip to let movie makers know that the “playing field had been more than leveled in Wisconsin.”

She hailed a recent announcement by Milwaukee-based Marcus Theaters to guarantee that any movie shot in this state will receive theatrical exhibition.

Marcus made the deal with Film Wisconsin to offer its 600 screens in six Midwestern states to movie makers as a way to help stimulate the film economy in this state.

The Marcus decision, she said, is especially important for independent filmmakers who struggle to get financing for their projects.

“That is a huge deal because independent filmmakers can offer that when they are seeking funding as an attraction to potential funders,” she said.

“So Wisconsin entered (the film-making arena) as a very, very attractive place,” she said, noting that video game producers are considering expanding or locating here because of the incentives.

At the Sundance festival, she pitched Wisconsin as the “Third Coast” because of its miles of lake and riverfront and myriad landscapes and filming sites.

She said she found “a great deal of buzz about Wisconsin opening its doors to the industry. And we’ve done it with a great deal of élan, so it was a real privilege to be there representing our state.

“And I think they were taken by the fact that we are serious about this and that the lieutenant governor had come to meet with them,” she added.

Lawton said she inked no deals while in Park City – she was only there 13 hours – but said she took part in a panel on state incentives, of which filmmakers are acutely aware.

“They were happy to know about our very competitive basic film credit legislation, but also about … Marcus Theaters sweetening the incentives with their own offer,” she said.

Lawton, who grew up playing the bassoon and piano, said she believes promotion of the so-called creative arts — including filmmaking – is an ideal complement to Gov. Jim Doyle’s efforts to push biotechnology, agriculture and high-tech manufacturing in Wisconsin.

Lawton said the push to bring film production back to Wisconsin is the “leading edge” of work by the Wisconsin Arts Board.

She said the group is “providing the kind of leadership for development of the creative industry and development of the kind of workforce we need to be innovators and entrepreneurs in our standard industries.

“The arts are very important. And today we know that children learning music and keyboard at age five, that that is a better way to teach them math skills than the direct instruction of math.”