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The Hollywood handout: Jim Amann extended state bucks to Tinseltown

"Majestic shorelines. Quiet meadows. Old world architecture. Bucolic town greens. Mill town grunge."

That's how the state's official tourism office sells Connecticut to Hollywood filmmakers looking for the perfect location.

Oh yeah, plus we'll pay a third of your expenses — millions of dollars for stuff you purchased out of state!

That's the unspoken deal the state's made with Tinseltown to lure the likes of Harrison Ford and Robert De Niro to our towns to shoot major motion pictures.

And it's costing us dearly.

The state has paid out $114 million in digital media and motion picture tax credits since the program was launched in 2006. At a legislative hearing Monday, the state's tourism director ballyhooed the deal for earning 12 cents in new tax revenue for every dollar invested by the state.

What you didn't hear is that films have benefited from $114 million in tax breaks and spent only $37.8 million with Connecticut-based businesses.

Overall, film crews have spent close to $400 million shooting movies here, but just $38 million has gone back into the pockets of local business owners. The rest is supporting lumber yards in Long Island, caterers in Los Angeles and consultants in Texas.

The reason: The film incentives allowed productions to expense anything they used on a Connecticut shoot, even if they didn't buy it here. Cameras from New York, wardrobes from New Jersey, makeup from Hollywood, actors from all over the map — they're all "qualified" expenses under state law.

That recently changed. As of January 1, productions are only allowed to expense half of what they purchased out of state. By 2012, only in-state purchases will be qualified.

Karen Senich, director of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, says there's a good reason for that. Connecticut didn't have the businesses to support the film industry when the program launched in 2006. Producers couldn't have purchased all the stuff they needed in-state if they'd wanted to.

Fair point. Connecticut may not exactly be bursting with prop houses and costume designers. The best things we can offer are probably hotel rooms, restaurants, dry-cleaning, proximity to New York, extras — and, of course, the locations themselves.

But the movies' official vendor lists, supplied to the Advocate through a freedom of information request, are filled with services bought elsewhere that seem readily available in the state.

Take for instance The Bronx is Burning, a miniseries shot in Norwich and New London about the New York Yankees' quest to win the 1977 World Series.

The producers, ESPN Original Entertainment, used Diva Limousine LTD of Los Angeles and Lonoble Lumber Company of New York City. They couldn't find local limos or lumber yards instead? In fact, they did! Two pages later, we find they used Premier Limousine Service of Glastonbury and Ring's End Lumber of Niantic.

Senich says there are reasons local businesses, even if they're available, wouldn't be able to perform the services the film crews need. Even for something as simple as catering.

"To cater a film shoot, you have to be prepared to serve at certain hours, you need a truck, the food has to be hot," Senich says.

Sounds like any old wedding, but Senich says it's different. "If the food isn't served on time, the production gets penalized."

Most striking about the film expense reports is what they don't show: any dollar figures. Senich's office blacked out with magic marker anything that showed what vendors hired by films got paid (see expense report below). She says that's because film budgets (what they pay for services) are trade secrets and therefore exempt from open records law. Hollywood wants your money, they just don't want to tell you what they're using it for.

On top of that, at least two films are getting multimillion-dollar tax breaks without even submitting the required paperwork: Old Dogs ($11 million tax break) and Righteous Kill ($12.5 million break) both failed to submit a Connecticut vendor list, as required by the state, instead delivering an unsorted list of all vendors used by the films.

Senich brushes off the omission and defends blacking out the budgets. "You can't look at taxpayer information at the Department of Revenue Services."

True, but the movie industry isn't a millionaire taking a mortgage deduction or writing off a "bad investment." It's a multibillion-dollar industry sucking tens of millions of tax dollars out of the state's treasury with zero transparency and no accountability.

That's the reel truth, but of course that doesn't make a very good tourism pitch.

According to Jim

Jim Amann's convinced tax breaks for Hollywood make money for the state. His only question is how much?

Forget that Connecticut's tourism director says that films have received $114 million in tax breaks and in return spent just $37.8 million at local businesses.

Forget that state economists found the film tax credits didn't even "pay for themselves" in their first year, even though they created 395 jobs.

Forget that state taxpayers are footing the bill for expensive film gear, limousines and catered meals trucked in from out of state.

Amann's sure it's a boon to Connecticut.

"No doubt in my mind we're making money," Amann says. "The question is, are we making 7 cents on the dollar or 70 cents on the dollar?"

Amann, a Milford Democrat, created the state's motion picture tax credit when he was Speaker of the House with the goal of turning Connecticut into "Hollywood East." Now as a candidate for governor in 2010, Amann's hoping to ride his film credits into the state's top job.

Connecticut's film industry is a great deal for filmmakers. It reimburses them for 30 percent of whatever they spend shooting here — even if they didn't buy it here. But facing an $8 billion budget deficit and unconvincing numbers about the program's success, lawmakers in Hartford are considering scaling back Hollywood tax breaks or scuttling them altogether — like officials in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania want to do.

That could sink any hope Amann has of riding Hollywood East as a campaign issue. Or it could let him off the hook if the program continues to be a money loser for the state.

And even Amann admits more facts are needed.

"Connecticut has to do a real study so we have real data to work with," Amann says.

Why wasn't such a study required as part of the tax breaks? And why weren't the tax credits tied to job creation?

"Time runs out," Amann says. "That's what we could get to pass that year."

To be continued ...

abromage@newhavenadvocate.com 

Click here to see the expense report from "The Bronx is Burning."