Hollywood trip shows tax incentive not enough

Gov. Bev Perdue and the North Carolina Film Council spent last week in Hollywood trying to entice filmmakers to come to Hollywood East. They returned with knowledge and a plan.

The Governor and the Film Council thought increasing the state’s tax incentive for film projects to 25 percent was what they needed. Turns out it wasn’t enough.

In an interview we did with Gov. Perdue last month, she didn’t seem too clear about our state’s film incentives calling the reason talent and production is leaving the state “some kind of million-dollar cap.” She found out in LA that cap on the tax incentive is capping interest in projects coming here. Now she says she is ready to fix it.

Producer Tim Bourne is well aware of the problem with the cap. He went with the Governor and the Film Council to LA. He says the only thing keeping filmmakers from coming to our state is money.

“A lot of people have this misconception that movies is all about red carpets and cocktail parties with actors and stars and stuff like that,” Bourne, who was an executive producer for “The Blind Side,” said. “That’s not what it is. It’s about the carpenter. It’s about the electrician. It’s about the driver, the people behind the scenes. Those are jobs. Those are people who live here, who spend money here. They buy cars. They buy homes. They buy aspirin. This is money the state needs to have and needs to retain. Otherwise everyone’s moving out of state.”

Now the future of film in our state lies in the hands of the governor and the state legislature. Bourne and other Film Council members plan to go to Raleigh in may when legislators reconvene to continue the push to fix the state’s film incentive