Earlier this month there was an article published in the Windsor Star about the wave of film making that's taken place in Michigan over the last year. As a way of bringing revenue to the city, the government has offered filmmakers generous tax breaks for shooting in the state. As a result, last year they generated $126 million in spending. They state also plans to create three new ventures which will generate as many as 6,000 new jobs.
Here in Windsor we have many talented independent filmmakers, as well as university students hoping to break into the business. The problem is is that when most of these students graduate they'll likely leave looking for a better developed industry somewhere else. Losing talent is never good, but the saddest part is that Windsor really is a great city to make films.
The article talks about current Ontario tax breaks for shooting in this province, but as far as I can tell the incentives don't quite beat Detroit. On the plus side, our proximity to Detroit puts us in a good position to house a post production facility which a local filmmaker is hoping to build. This would allow the filmmakers to shoot in Michigan, and come here to use the state of the art post production facility to do their editing etc. This would create a variety of jobs in Windsor and bring much needed revenue to this city.
I think Windsor is a great city for film making, but it's potential is underdeveloped. Windsor allows for a big city feel, but quite country side is just 15 minutes away. Our unique border position to an even bigger city with lots to offer the industry is also advantageous. I think Windsor should try and work in collaboration with Detroit to try and bring the industry to the area as a whole allowing both cities to create a cross border film industry. People always talk about how we need to find a new "niche" to generate more money in our economy, I think movie making would be an exciting and profitable way to do that.
Here is the article that ran in the star, the address may need to be copy and pasted.
http://www.windsorstar.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Hollywood+migrates+Michigan/1334743/story.html
Monday, March 23, 2009
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I think it is good to know about alternative ways of making money for cities like Windsor.
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