The meeting was chaired by Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland. The following members of the committee attended:
From left to right at the table:
Nick Kotik
Gary Haluska
Dan Moul
Frank Burns
Chris Sainato
Mark Longietti
Thaddeus Kirkland
Paul Costa
Dom Costa
Daniel Deasy
Susan Helm
Mario Scavello
Vanessa Lowery Brown
Don Walko (not at head table)
(The following House Tourism and Recreational Development members were not present: Stephen Barrar, Curtis Sonney, Brian Ellis, Keith Gillespie, John Pallone, Steve Samuelson, Scott Boyd, Rob Kauffman, John Payne, and Marguerite Quinn)
About 130 people attended, most of whom had connections to the film industry:
The Pittsburgh Film Office worked with some local organizations to produce a T-shirt, designed by Beth Pedone, for audience members to wear. I didn't get a clean shot of the T-shirt at the rally, but here's what it looks like:
Representative Thaddeus Kirkland briefly opened the meeting, but before turning it over to Mickey Rowley, Deputy Director of Tourism for Pennsylvania, he made a point of putting on a "Save the PA Film Tax Credit" T-shirt.
Sean Fox gave a brief talk for Dan Onorato, and Bruce Kraus gave a brief talk for Doug Shields, promoting the film tax credit.
Mickey Rowley went on to present the highlights of an independent study on the economic impact of the Pennsylvania Film Tax Credit. The report will be uploaded to the Film in PA Web site shortly. But the independent study indicated that not only does the film tax credit help create jobs and economic activity it more than pays for itself. The tax credit produces a very slight tax gain of about 4%. So, in short, if the Republicans are able to shoot down the Film Tax Credit, the state will lose a little tax revenue overall, in addition to the job, hotel room and rental loss.
Jane Saul of the Pennsylvania Film Office pointed out that we have to be able to compete with the tax credits being given out by other states. Almost every state now has a film tax credit for bringing film production to their states. Here is the testimony Jane Saul gave at a film tax credit hearing in Pennsylvania in early May.
Dawn Keezer of the Pittsburgh Film Office acknowledged the attendance of Russ Steiner, who was the producer of the Night of the Living Dead movies, some of the first movies shot in Pittsburgh in the late 60s. Keezer also reminded the audience that one of the very first film studios in the country was founded by Warner Brothers in Pittsburgh in the early 20th century. Since the founding the the Pittsburgh Film Office in 1990, 90 feature films and TV shows have been shot in Western Pennsylvania, generating over $325 million in economic development.
Most of the people who presented testimony to the House Committee on tourism ran small businesses that film companies frequented. Local business who sent representatives to testify included Cherokee Helicopter Service, Haddad Rental, Peak Security, Cort Furniture Rental, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and the Sheraton Station Square. All of these business have benefited from Pennsylvania moviemaking, and all support the film tax credit.
Alex Orlovsky, a producer for Blue Valentine, said the tax credit made it possible to film the movie in Scranton rather than film it in another state.
Union representatives from the Stage Engineers, Teamsters and AFTRA pointed out that their membership had grown and their members were making more money over the last two years.
Mary Jones, a Dean at DuBois Business College, pointed out they had recently added a filmmaking associates degree program to their curriculum. Finally, Jordan Lippert, a local college student, was hired to do carpentry work for several films in 2008 and now hopes to stay in the Pittsburgh area to work on future movies.
Members of the House Tourism committee were given the chance to comment. A number said how they enjoyed visiting Mogul Mind studio and the set of Warrior, currently being shot in Pittsburgh. They pointed out that Stephen Barrar, a member of the committee who was unable to come today, now favors the tax credit after reading the independent report mentioned earlier in the hearing. While the members of the committee at the hearing were overwhelmingly in favor of the tax credit, Dan Moul (Republican, Adams/Franklin) did not appear to be in favor, and Chris Sainato (Democrat, Beaver/Lawrence County) appeared to be somewhat on the fence. Mark Longietti (Democrat, Mercer County) asked "If the tax credit didn't work, why are so many other states pursuing it aggressively?" Vanessa Lowery Brown said that since our kids are consumers of entertainment products (movies/games), wouldn't it be nice if they could one day be producers of entertainment?
Committee members encouraged the audience to write to their state representatives and senators in support of retaining the Pennsylvania Film Tax Credit.
The meeting was estimated to last about an hour, and ran about an hour and a half.
Ironically, the same hallway of the Convention Center that saw the Film Tax Credit hearing today, was used as a TV show location for the Three Rivers pilot, for its view of the Allegheny River.
- Post-Gazette on the hearing
- Tribune-Review sent a photographer and perhaps a reporter to the hearing but haven't posted an article about the hearing at their Website
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