It was a Sunday night, and the red
carpet was rolled out in front of the
Byrd Theatre for the premiere of the
HBO miniseries “John Adams.”
Executive producer Tom Hanks and
actor Paul Giamatti, who plays Adams,
attended, as did Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
Hundreds of cast and crew members were
invited, and crowds filled the sidewalks
to catch a glimpse of celebrity.
Despite the premier’s flashbulbs and
fanfare, new film projects – some that
are even set in the commonwealth – are
bypassing Virginia for location shootings
for other states offering competitive
incentive packages.
From major-studio directors to independent
amateurs, filmmakers say they’d
like to work in Virginia, but they can’t
afford to, because the commonwealth
doesn’t provide enough financial help.
According to the Virginia Production
Alliance, 10 major filmmakers
that considered production in Virginia
chose to film elsewhere at a cost to
the commonwealth’s economy of $356
million since 2006.
Robert Griffith, a filmmaker based
in Virginia for more than three decades,
created his latest documentary,
“Movie Making in Virginia: Take 3,”
to educate more than the public about
the commonwealth’s film industry.
Griffith said the documentary is aimed
at lawmakers, as well.
“They’re not informed enough about
how large this industry is,” Griffith said.
“Virginia has a tremendous amount of
talented people working in this business
on a regular basis.”
During the session that ran from Jan. 9
through March 13, the General Assembly
rejected bills that would have created
tax credits for film companies working
in the commonwealth and would have
expanded the sales- and income-tax
exemptions currently available.
Virginia, along with six other states,
does not offer an incentive program
to filmmakers. The incentives would
provide a rebate on a percentage of the
film’s budget to filmmakers who locate
their projects in Virginia.
The only break offered to filmmakers
this session is a sales-tax exemption on
certain purchases-such as for hotels and
food. Those exemptions were set to expire
in 2009, but the General Assembly passed
legislation, House Bill 711, to eliminate
the sunset date for the tax exemptions and
allow them to continue indefinitely.
Another program intended to attract
filmmakers to Virginia, the Governor’s Motion
Picture Opportunity Fund, was created
in the General Assembly’s 1999 session and
received appropriations in 2006.
The fund is used at the governor’s
discretion to attract film projects to the
commonwealth and to encourage local
productions. Sen. R. Creigh Deeds,
D-Charlottesville, and Sen. L. Louise
Lucas, D-Portsmouth, submitted budget
amendments to request $4 million a year
for the fund.
Although those amendments were
killed in committee, a request by Delegate
Phillip A. Hamilton, R-Newport News,
for $200,000 a year was included in the
final House budget bill.
Todd Raviotta is an adjunct professor
in VCU’s photography and film department.
He also is first vice president of
the Virginia Production Alliance.
Raviotta said any money would help,
and the amount appropriated by the
House is far from what Virginia needs
to attract more film projects.
“We need a war chest for films to get
some real projects,” he said.
If $200,000 were added to the fund,
one or two independent features probably
would be produced in Virginia,
Raviotta said, and at least one major
studio film might be attracted to film
in the commonwealth. The $4 million
initially requested could have netted the
commonwealth up to 30 projects within
the next two years, he said.
“One thing the General Assembly
may not realize is that there are a ton of
films to be made. There are more than
enough to go around,” Raviotta said.
“Will we get one to four a year or 10
to 15 a year?”
Rita McClenney, director of the
Virginia Film Office, said the company
is hoping for a well-funded program.
“There’s eight films that want to film
in Virginia (that) I hope we can recruit,”
McClenney said. “We’ll keep marketing
as we have, but certainly it’s not realistic
that we can compete with states without
an incentive program.”
Among the eight films McClenney
hopes to recruit are “Secretariat,” “Big
Stone Gap” and “The Man Who Moved
a Mountain.” All three films are set in
Virginia, and the films’ combined budgets
amount to $65 million.
“We can certainly see the power
. an epic film can have on Virginia,”
McClenney said about the historical
miniseries “John Adams.”
“It was very significant from a revenue
standpoint. Lots of businesses made
money and lots of Virginians were hired,”
McClenney said.
In his documentary, Griffith highlights
how attracting the “John Adams”
miniseries to film on location in Virginia
was a victory for the local film industry.
The commonwealth was chosen instead
of Connecticut as the location for the
production.
Griffith’s film also explains how
Virginia lost Richard Kelly’s “The Box”
to Connecticut because of Connecticut’s
incentives. “The Box,” set in Richmond,
was written and directed by Kelly, a
Midlothian native.
Connecticut implemented an incentive
program after losing the “John
Adams” production. This program
attracted the producers of “The Box,”
which stars Cameron Diaz and has a
budget of more than $30 million.
The exodus of film jobs from Virginia
is a trend Raviotta finds troubling.
“That’s one of my biggest fears and
something I confront every day,” Raviotta
said. “I have trouble sometimes finding
freelance gigs for myself, let alone (for)
these people I’ve gotten excited, taught
them the basics of how to put together
a film. Is there going to be a place for
them to start work on Monday?”
Raviotta estimated that only a fraction
of VCU film students remain in
Virginia to work in film-related jobs.
Of Raviotta’s graduating film class of
15 people, he said, no more than three
stayed in Virginia.
Griffith also is concerned about the
flight of “creatives and crew” from the
commonwealth.
“If we’re not competitive, then we will
continue to lose good talent. We will lose
our crew base,” Griffith said. “As that
diminishes, that makes it harder for people
to stay here and make films, and also to
solicit filmmakers from the outside.”
The House and Senate bills intending
to expand tax incentives have been
continued to the 2009 session for committee
review.
“One of the things that will come from
this year’s effort (is) more research will
be put in from the General Assembly’s
side,” Raviotta said. “If they are finally
serious about studying this and (if they)
see the impact, that’s good.”