New York Times
Among the states that began underwriting film and television production with heavy subsidies over the past half-decade — 44 states had some sort of incentives by last year, 28 of them involving tax credits — at least a handful are giving new scrutiny to a question that was politely overlooked in the early excitement: What kind of films are taxpayers paying for? “This is tough for filmmakers to understand, but this is not about their right to make the movie,” Bob Hudgins, the Texas film commission director explained. “It’s about the public investing in it.” Several states have rules in their incentive legislation which prohibits funding for films which portray the state or the residents of that state in a negative fashion or which do not contribute to the economic development of the state. “This is not an entitlement program,” Ken Droz, the communications consultant for the Michigan Film Office said. In Florida, a recent legislative proposal to bar a special tax credit for family entertainment from films or shows that exhibit “nontraditional family values” was dropped after it was widely criticized as seeming to exclude gay characters. “All the states will be looking at this as they begin to tighten their belts,” said Marshall Moore, director of the Utah Film Commission. His state has unabashedly declined to fund pictures that, as Mr. Moore put it, you could not take the governor to see. Of the others, he predicted: “They’re going to ask, why are we giving money to that movie?”