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A New Frontier In Film Making
by Chris Aliapoulios Photo by Melany Gambee
 The year of the “great global recession,” 2009 ended with record movie box office results, led by Avatar. In the rest of the world, annual box office bests were reported in Brazil, France, Sweden and other countries. Buyers bought less of most everything in 2009 except movies, video games and other recreational activities which cashed in.
As the movie business grows, major studios are earning the dough, while independents fight for their piece of the pie. The studio giants have emphasized high budget special effects and CGI, while reducing their production of low budget films and scaling back their indie divisions. The low budget movie space has gone up for grabs. Quality, low budget films are now being produced in increasing numbers by genuine independents. It has become more cost effective for major studios to buy low budget movies, than to make them. For example, Paranormal Activity was independently produced for $15,000. Paramount purchased the film for around $300,000. It grossed $140 Million. The profits for independents are typically harder fought. The chances of getting a deal with a major distributor are slim, and maybe not worth the effort. Independent filmmakers are looking toward internet niche marketing strategies for distribution, and to retain their intellectual properties. The race is on as do it yourself (D.I.Y.) filmmakers, and marketers devise creative solutions to market their films online, and directly connect with international distributors and regional theatres. With the increase in regional indie feature film production, California’s dominance in feature films is waning quickly. The Golden State’s two-thirds share of U.S. feature film production in 2003 has plummeted to around one-quarter in 2009. The city of Los Angeles is now creating a film commission to market the city to the film industry and slow runaway production.
Meanwhile jobless Michigan is quickly becoming one of the best places to produce a film. Tax credits have fueled injection of $350 million worth of film production in the state over the past two years. Naysayers claim too much of the film production and rebate money is leaving the state, and yet grassroots growth, required to sustain a regional film industry, has begun.
Cynics short sell progress, and questions abound: Are the studios built yet? Is this sustainable? Where are the jobs? Meanwhile opportunists are just doing it. Crew depth is increasing and many actors are getting “taft-ed” and becoming SAG eligible. Others are pursuing their own low budget indie aspirations.
As more and more, low budget films emerge, value and quality separate the good ones from the rest. Filmmakers have now discovered the value in the Midwest’s low cost labor, depressed real estate, lodging and film friendliness. And quality is improving. However, as the Michigan film movement is gaining strength, a minority of the legislature continues to voice opposition. Given the miserable economy, the state’s budget deficit looms large. The Washington based Tax Foundation also recently released a study criticizing state film incentives, and consequent state price competition. Nevertheless, popular support of the film initiative remains unfazed by stormy political headlines. The majority of the people support the movie business in Michigan. Nothing has done more to lift the spirits of the state’s economically depressed population recently. Young creative minds are staying in Michigan, for the time being, and people are actually moving to Michigan from states like California, Oregon and Georgia!
Rumored changes to the state’s film legislation have now been in the works for the better part of a year. This has caused some investors to choose other locations, yet the movement continues to create jobs, and more have been announced for 2010. Opposing lawmakers now have a new challenge: how to “tweak” the credits without hurting the private sector job growth they have initiated -- in an election year. Hundreds of millions of dollars are currently poised and ready for investment in Michigan’s film infrastructure. With the inkling of a long term stable view from Lansing, 2010 will see some real ground breaking news in Michigan film.
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