Area film workers hope higher incentives bring work back to Wilmington
From StarNewsOnline
By Amy Hotz
Amy.Hotz@StarNewsOnline.com
Published: Friday, August 7, 2009 at 4:54 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 7, 2009 at 4:54 p.m.
John Bankson is ready to come home. And now that Senate Bill-943 is on its way to Gov. Beverly Perdue’s office, he and many more film industry workers just might be on their way back to Wilmington.
After about a yearlong fight, the bill to increase North Carolina’s film incentive from 15 percent to 25 percent finally passed over all the hurdles in the state legislature – Thursday in the House and Friday in the Senate, and is on its way to Perdue’s desk. Perdue has long been a supporter and is expected to sign it.
“That means I’ll be able to put my children to bed at night. That means that I will not have to drive six hours round trip every weekend to see my family,” said Bankson, a property master for movies. “It means that Wilmington businesses will begin to see a major spike in spending.”
Bankson, who has worked in Wilmington’s film industry off and on for years, says he had to move to South Carolina to work on “Army Wives” because of the souring economy and the fizzled film industry in Wilmington.
The trend of skilled film workers moving out of Wilmington began when other states raised their film incentives. South Carolina offers up to a 20 percent rebate on wages and up to a 30 percent rebate on supplies.
Georgia gives a 30 percent rebate. Other states give as much as 40 percent to productions that film within their borders.
At 15 percent, North Carolina just wasn’t competitive, said Kelly Tenney, who is on the N.C. Film Council board and is a co-producer on made-in-Wilmington “One Tree Hill.” He and many others in the local film community have been working on increasing the incentive for about a year.
The work paid off. Tenney says they got “absolutely” everything in the bill that was wanted and he feels the people who moved away will come back.
“It was a lot of hard work, a lot of people supporting the film industry that aren’t even in the industry,” said Tenney. “And it was really great to see the bi-partisan vote and that everyone believes in the film industry.”
According to EUE/Screen Gems Executive Vice President Bill Vassar, the higher incentive is already working. More than one project is being considered for the area, he said, and “Stage 10 might get a grand opening.”
“Dream” Stage 10 at the studios on North 23rd Street is the 37,500-square-foot monster stage with an indoor special effects water tank the studio completed building this spring. It has sat empty all this time.
“I’m very excited about how this is going to bring people back to North Carolina. I’m excited about how the lot’s going to be buzzing again,” Vassar said. “Does that mean we’ll get every job? No. Are we going to be more competitive? Absolutely. Are we going to win every job over Georgia? No. But it’s going to bring work back to North Carolina.”
Amy Hotz: 343-2099
On Twitter.com: @AmyHotz
