With the reminder being put in place, an unsettling panic from every branch of the film industry has spread across the state as a bill is being introduced by our "representatives" of North Carolina.
This reminded me of another article in the Star News that came out just before Azalea Festival. If you remember there was a little talk with completely skewed low numbers coming out of some of the General Assemblies' mouths. Billy Saffo was outraged by their comments. After I read it, I sure as hell wanted to slap somebody. But I thought, wow, they're ignorant, and shook my head because they was no way anyone could take them seriously…Was I wrong?
State Reps, Rick Catlin and Chris Millis and (along with others) have submitted the first draft of what many are calling a JOB KILLER BILL, H994.
So, what is all this mess about? From what I understand, the intent of this bill is to repeal the cash rebate and replace it with a tax credit. And they want it retro to January 2013. I can't imagine CBS, Warner Brothers, and NBC being okay with that. I believe that is called breach of contract. We all can conclude, however, if this did happen and the filming well went dry, as many think it would, how long would it take to get things back the way they are now? It took, what, 6 years to get the 25% tax incentive in the first place..
But it not only affects the thousands of people hired for each film, but it will have a major impact on the vendors as well i.e. hotels, local mom n pop shops, lumber, paint stores, restaurants, tourism. The list goes on and on. The productions spend the money where we need the money to go.
The media picked up on this ire from the film industry quickly. Star News' Cassie Foss jumped right on it: Local film leaders say bill would end N.C. film industry. Kudos to our Mayor to continue the support. Julian March posted this WATCHDOG ARTICLE today.
1) JOIN THE RALLY! Filmmakers, Actors, Set Dressers, fans of the film industry, YOU, all of you, are invited to attend a rally!
Saturday, April 20th – Riverfront Park (Market Street and Water) – 1:45pm.
Here's another link from the Wilmington Regional Film Commission urging you to attend the rally.
2) SIGN THE PETITON – I am sure it will get signatures, dunno if we can get 100,000 but I like to be optimistic.
3) WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE – Yep, the tried and true method, let them hear from you. Especially the vendors I mentioned above. You need to let your voice be heard if you would like to keep what we have.
Bill H994 is only a first draft, so no need to panic, but I can certainly understand it. Let's hope it ends up on the cutting room floor.