Lights, camera … cut (the budget, that is): Vermont Film Commission faces elimination

Vt. Film Commission facing elimination over costs

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Filmmakers looking for quaint Vermont villages, scenic northwoods landscapes and historic covered bridges as their movie backdrops may soon be looking elsewhere.

In a budget-cutting move, the state wants to eliminate the Vermont Film Commission, which shepherds TV, movie and commercial productions in the state.

The head of the Vermont Film Commission says his agency should be spared because it brings in millions in expenditures and helps promote Vermont as a destination.

“I realize that these are tough times economically in the state,” said executive director Joe Bookchin. “The governor and the Legislature clearly have some difficult decisions to make. But the commission has played an important role in attracting clean, well-paying, stable jobs that are so crucial to Vermont’s economic future, while also pumping millions of dollars into the state’s hospitality, tourism and service industries.”

The state, which is forecasting a budget shortfall of up to $150 million in 2011, is looking for potential savings in all corners of state government. Last week, Gov. Jim Douglas proposed eliminating 55 state boards and commissions, including the film commission, in hopes of saving the state about $700,000.

In June, an Associated Press survey found that states gave $1.8 billion in tax breaks and advantages to the entertainment industry from 2006 to 2008, even though economists and policy analysts can’t agree on whether the deals are beneficial.

The Vermont film group, which operates out of a third-floor office in a converted 19th-century home in the shadow of the Statehouse, gets $171,000 a year from the state, employing an $80,000-a-year executive director, a part-time deputy director and a college intern.

Despite having only minimal tax incentives for performers, it has helped land feature films like “What Lies Beneath,” a 2000 Harrison Ford thriller; “Me, Myself & Irene,” a 1999 Jim Carrey comedy; and “Moonlight and Mistletoe,” a made-for-television Hallmark movie shot in 2008.

Moviemaking here didn’t start with the commission’s debut in 1996, though. In 1954, Alfred Hitchcock filmed “The Trouble With Harry” in Craftsbury. Portions of “Beetlejuice,” ”The Cider House Rules,” ”Baby Boom” and “The Spitfire Grill” also were filmed in Vermont.

By the commission’s count, it has brought in productions that have spent more than $60 million.

“It’s found money, but it only comes when you have somebody who has a lot of production experience and really understands how these productions work,” said Bookchin. “It’s a logistical nightmare. It’s like having an army: feeding them, getting them from Place A to Place B and doing it in a way that’s cost effective. And that’s what we excel at.”

The state says the work could be done by others in state government.

David Coriell, a spokesman for Douglas, says the commission was originally expected to become a self-sustaining entity but hasn’t, instead running up high administrative costs.

David Giancola, who runs Edgewood Studios in Rutland and produced “Moonlight and Mistletoe,” said the state might as well eliminate the commission, because the state hasn’t kept pace with the incentives offered by other states.

“I’ve been trying to lead the Legislature to understand how important film production is to the state in economics, in increased travel and tourism. We’re as green an industry as you’re going to find,” he said.

The Legislature will have the final say in whether the commission goes dark.

State Sen. Vincent Illuzzi has introduced legislation that would preserve $100,000 in funding for the commission next year but have the state examine the feasibility of shifting its work to the state Department of Travel and Tourism after that.

Mainly, he says, the state has to retain some kind of liaison for movie producers looking to Vermont.

“We can always hide behind challenging economic times as a reason not to do something. There are some things we can’t afford not to do, and this is one of them,” said Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans.