By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Holland-based TicTock Studios is counting on the film industry incentives to pass legislative muster in the next few days, establishing the country’s most aggressive film industry incentives package.
“The proposed incentive is focused on bringing in film production from outside the state, who will get 40 percent of their Michigan expenditures back,” says Hopwood DePree, TicTock Studio owner. “That will turn the motion picture industry into a huge economic driver for the state.”
Riding the crest of that wave, the studio hired renowned producer and director Jeffrey Stott—whose credits include The Bucket List, In the Line of Fire, Shawshank Redemption, City Slickers, and The Green Mile—to train out of work Michigan residents as members of a number of professional film crews who will be ready when the expected droves of filmmakers flood the state.
“This is an incredible step toward creating more film production jobs in Michigan,” says DePree. “The skills of our unemployed manufacturing workers, plumbers, construction workers, and electricians can be easily adapted to the hundreds of jobs behind the camera, like, setting up lighting, transportation, set design and construction, set painting, and all the technology jobs.”
DePree says that, in Louisiana, the film industry in 2002 was equal to Michigan’s now, and last year it brought in nearly $1 billion and 4,000 jobs. New Mexico’s film industry grew from 120 homegrown crewmembers to over 1,800 well-paying jobs with fewer work hours.
The Michigan Legislature is expected to vote on the film incentives this week.
Source: Hopwood DePree, TicTock Studios
Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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