 Hello everyone my name is Luigi Scarcelli this is my show Friday p.m. I am very happy to have the gentleman Eric Van Wick here with me Eric is the co-founder of picture main He's also the co-creator of the bill that does going to bring tax incentives to Maine So it's very nice to meet you Eric. I had a chance to talk a little bit before. Yep It's very exciting. I just wanted to kind of get a chance for me as the as a viewer as a filmmaker to just get an idea of What's been going on? What's you know, I mean most people I think are gonna say well, what's taken so long? Why why have we gotten to where we are now? So can you kind of explain a little bit of that to me about you know What got you to the table here and and then we can kind of go into the bill a little bit. Sure I Moved to Maine in 2015 early 2015 prior to that I lived in Los Angeles prior to that lived in New York City Actor writer, you know filmmaker recovering actors what I tell people now and So I continued Kind of working as a filmmaker, but more moved here to urban flight You know the way many people are doing these last few years, especially with the pandemic Because it's a better place to raise a family raise kids, but still wanted to keep doing what I was doing On audition down in Boston, and then I got an opportunity to make a film here in which we shot late 2016 film called Holly Star which is now a Netflix with My good friend and a wonderful filmmaker named Mike Nichols and then in early 2017 I was approached by a guy named Dan Stevenson who was the Economic Development Director at Bitterford, you know works in Westbrook If you've ever met Dan he is a force of nature. I like to call him the fifth beetle On Holly Star because he was our local fixer and he kind of brought this issue and said what do you know about film incentives and Had somebody ready to go in the legislature that could sponsor the bill and said you know Why don't you dig into this? I think you might be the guy and so I Started to look at it start to see kind of what the history was where it was at what the incentives were and still are currently why previous bills had failed and also Tried to study and draw on other successful incentive programs and and what they Brought and what they highlighted and what made them successful and work for the for the local population So that's how I got here. Okay, great And that yeah, so that got you to here which got you to the website picture main picture main film picture main film Com so we want to make sure We're hopefully put that logo right here so you can take a look at it But before we go too much further into the nuts and bolts of the bill Yeah, let's take a look at a video you guys created When did you create this video by the way? It's great. We oh, thank you. Yeah, and that was Largely spearheaded by other members in the a picture main film Team Amanda Bowers Molly Connors, Sandra Berkeley who's also a wonderful actor and and filmmaker and so Amanda and Molly really kind of put went out and shot the footage all over the state talking with people meeting with people and That was done a few months ago. Let's just take a look at the video. We'll come back. We'll talk about the bill itself And then we'll go from there. So thanks a lot main is magical. I Can't imagine Living somewhere else and I would love to be a little worker bringing new industries in the main is Going to help stimulate the economy and bring matters back. We have a way to share main and share in that profit More than ever we need to diversify our economy and job opportunities because the hospitality industry has taken a huge hit I think the economy is hurting and I think it's only gonna hurt more over the next few years And this is one of the surefire ways to bring industry into the state getting main exposed Through film would bring more people into main on a permanent basis from that point of view would be an economic driver It would be great if young creatives had more incentive to pursue their ideas and talents within Maine potential Impact for the state is limitless If the film industry was here, which is an industry that operates year-round Who knows the winters could then be as lucrative as the summers for our business and all of the businesses in Maine brings jobs that are high pain and Interesting and exciting for a younger generation Every single thing you see on screen piece of clothing prop furniture Vehicle and even locations themselves need to be purchased or built locally There are carpenters and painters from builders to electricians all those types of things that go along with making Movies that is way behind the scenes and we don't think about them to say nothing of what it's going to do to local restaurants And the development of hotels the decision on where to shoot Is almost always going to be based on what state has the best incentive for that project And those folks are going to spend money locally bringing films in Maine will help All the creative industries are booming right now More entertainment media is being produced this year Than at any other time in the past century that i've seen the power of film to Inspire communities and I think more of it in Maine would be a great thing So right now is the perfect time to invest in legislation like this because of the benefits that it will bring Economically it would draw a lot of attention to development around here It would be a dream to get to do it here. Let's work here Let's make some tv shows. Let's make some films. My name is scott couture. I'm retired law enforcement Hi, my name is liz trumbly, and i'm a student at usm. I'm chris elliott I'm an actor a writer and patrick demsey's body double And I support filming in Maine Thank you. We're back It was great to kind of get an idea of the bill So that's uh, we could dig into the bill. I mean Was there did you want to talk about who you worked on the bill with? Like the representative or how that all works. I mean when we talked about that before I I had no idea how a bill gets kind of created and you talked about how A representative gets the bill and it you kind of helped write it Sure, um, yeah, so What happens so in early 2017 earlier iteration of this bill? ld 1450 The center that it was attached was senator deschenbow Who I I think is still serving she had a mostly law enforcement background But what happens is if you when when you have a bill and you find a sponsor You know that legislator that attaches themselves to the bill It might be something that they're interested in but they attach themselves to a number of bills, right? And then it's really incumbent on the people that are, you know, either lobbying for the bill or Creating the bill to to feed them talking points Feed them the nuts and bolts of it Um, they still have to have their own kind of personal passion about it But senator deschenbow was interested She was I think she was a first time senator at that time and she was excited about the prospect of it Had enough of a belief system in it. We met a couple times And so she on her end would go up talk to other legislators try to find co-sponsors champion it You know up in augusta back when you could do these things in person Um, but as far as the language the first iteration of it was I basically wrote from start to finish and I um Cobbled it together from other bills, uh that I researched like new mexico For example that um, and I really tried to hone in on Uh protectionisms and keeping dollars in state and having a positive local impact And so I also tried to seek out the criticism of what these film incentives, uh, you know, uh have You know Taken on over time why people have a problem with them And close any gaps in in that that that that I could right and the The idea that the public perception a lot of times is oftentimes different than what it is And that's kind of what I wanted to get to is the idea that as though I'm you know Regular man or a guy and I you know, I'm not interested I'm this guy not interested in movies that much It doesn't you know, get me excited that brad pits walking down the street in my hometown Uh, and I'm saying well, what's this bill do for me? How does this help me? You know it brings money into hollywood. It's all hollywood elites, etc, etc Can you explain why I think you told me about this it it's not really a film bill It is a jobs bill. It's creation of jobs. This is jobs jobs jobs, which is really what main wants. Can you kind of Yeah, I I've always seen it as a jobs creation bill and um But in order you have to step back for a second and and look at film as an industry And I think a lot of people sort of are excited by the glitz and glamour of film of you know Watching a television show watching a movie, but they don't really sort of think about it as an industry and to me You can reframe the idea of a film as a temporary independent small business. That's what it is and it employs Uh many different types of people in in many different sectors not just actors directors and writers You know, there are people there's wardrobe people. There are there are lighting people there are like, you know electricians There are people working construction and props. There are people working accounting. There are Software folks are editing folks. I mean so these are jobs. These are everyday jobs that people do Um food trucks. Yeah, yeah food and hospitality is a huge one and we can get into that because that is An industry that was hard hit by the pandemic and and film was one of the first industries to kind of bounce back figure out ways to to thrive in the pandemic and Um, it sort of put a resurgence in that that sector So that's the first thing is just sort of understanding that that it this is a business like any other business and and there are um openings uh for many different kind of entry level positions and You can be in the right place or get an introduction to it and and have one of these jobs and and grow You know as as a crew member or in the film industry anytime you want That to me this um is the perfect kind of setup for a state like main because you um, you have a lot of seasonal employment here and main has one of the highest rates of uh self employment or independent contractors in in in the united states, so um If you're somebody that is used to kind of working one job in the summer or a different job in the winter You know film provides an opportunity to kind of fill in those gaps for six eight 12 week project either work in construction or Any number of skilled trades that that you might have and also because You're still working on building a crew base here again There are those open opportunities and we saw that on on a holly star the film that that that I produced or helped reduce um, you know, we had a number of people come in that had no film experience, but they just had You know The desire to learn the desire to work hard and they came in and and fit perfectly Now they have you know something on their resume that they can build that's what you what you had told me about What we spoke earlier was the idea that people shouldn't get the idea that hollywood's going to come to town And they're going to bring you know like the carnival right all of a sudden the carnival comes to town They bring all their own self-contained carnies. They trash the town and then they leave These are and also the bill that you're proposing is is really targeting a lot more Five to eight million dollar. This isn't going to be you said it's not going to be the big marvel movies That's not no all of these things where you know, they're spending all their money on cgi This is more like these films that are getting shot in massachusetts canada Places like that where they would be filming in a small town and really taking the best advantage of the town's resources And a very symbiotic way Yeah, so I mean I urge people again to go to picture mainfilm.com website, which outlines all the different nuts and bolts of Of the bill, but we can highlight a few of those things So that's the first myth that we can sort of completely put to rest is this notion that we're Subsidizing Hollywood salaries because There is no above-the-line wage incentive. And so what that means is there Actors directors producers Writers Anybody coming from away, sorry, I should say no above-the-line incentive for those from away So that Those are your hollywood people right there and then as far as below-the-line crew It it doesn't make a lot of sense to to fly in A whole bunch of people when when you're Trying to figure out your spending as it is and keeping you know trying to keep under budget You're going to hire as many local local crew as possible so Another thing the bill doesn't incentivize is is airfare is a production cost So it would just be a waste of money and an unnecessary expenditure to You might fly in your keys your heads of department, right? Yeah, but Mostly what you're going to do at that point if you want to qualify for this incentive Is try and find you know those those below-the-line crew members Locally and hopefully within driving distance of where your production is is going to be set up so those are all things that that in the bill we're trying to to Again incentivize and and and build so that People are more or less kind of forced to Offer jobs to the local community rely on local vendors And put direct spend into that local economy. There there are there are per project caps built into this bill So what that means is that at a at a at a certain point I think I think the first couple years it's 500 000 And then it eventually goes up to a million but at a certain percentage point because you've got that 25 and 20 for locals versus non locals At a certain point in the five beyond the five to eight million dollar range It it wouldn't make sense any any longer to investors so That's what's going to keep that Film cost or overall budget low in terms of it wouldn't make sense to be a project Above that line of spending and eventually that sorry one last thing eventually that Sunset so even the below the line incentive sunsets at five years So in other words the bill goes into effect in 2021 or sorry 2022 By 2027 you're no longer incentivizing the wages of Even below the line crew from away. So again to qualify for more of that rebate, right? You're going to try and Populate your crew with 100 manors. So that's maybe 100 150 jobs per film I want to get a chance to talk to some real manors outside We're going to do a little man on the street ask some manors. Uh, what do they think about film in Maine? I I think I may be surprised. I doubt that I will be I think people will have a pretty positive opinion about it So we'll be right back in just a couple minutes. Thanks a lot. Hey, so I'm out here on Munjoy Hill And talk to a couple of manors See what they think about films being made in Maine why there haven't been as many films made in Maine recently Just get an idea of what they think so stick with me. Let's go Would you guys be excited about seeing more films made in Maine? Absolutely? Yeah, yeah for sure So chris, we've been asking manors like would you like to see more films being produced here in Maine? Um, yeah, I actually I mean it's funny. You just brought that up, you know, everybody knows the name steven king, right? So it's like You know this person in particular has done a lot of like the writing for all these famous movies But the fact that we can't have a movie filmed here Is something that after you just saying I'm like, wow, yeah Like the setting of these novels that this person has written Should be in the you know in the location of where they originated from so yeah, I would I mean that's Something I would love to see. I was just wondering would you like to see more films being made in Maine that have been currently? Sure Do you know christian when the last movie with a budget over 500,000 was made in Maine? I do not I have no idea. It almost seems like i'm doing a game show Uh When it's shocking to find out it's been like since the 90s since there was any big budgeted movies being filmed here Wow, that's crazy. This is a beautiful place and I think More films should be shot here. It's wonderful here We're back. Thank you very much for sticking with us. Uh, that was very informative to get a chance to see what manors think Uh, so but what I really wanted to dig into eric is like Again, uh, what what happened? Why is it that main is just no longer competitive? I mean, I feel like there was a time when there's a lot of movies being made here Something seems to happen somehow other places, uh states other countries sometimes have passed us by That look like main whereas I think main does have a very Great spirit has some beautiful places to film it. Why why is it that you think that a lot of films that Are taking place in main like I see at a netflix hbo the movie theaters not even being filmed in main. What is going on? What do you think? Yeah, so I mean There's a lot at work here, but it's all I'll try to As concise as possible, but look you live in main You know, it's a special place, right? You know that it's more than just lobsters and christmas trees and uh And insider donuts so Uh You're Like I said before it's never it's it's it's never going to be and and I don't think we're aiming for it to be this sort Of catch-all place where you build a giant studio and you know You shoot water world here or you shoot, you know, the next star wars It's not going to be that but for the folks that Outside of main and within main that want to create main stories and keep exploring those spaces You know and obviously the most obvious example is for steven king Then This bill gives them an opportunity to do just that because if you lived here, you know the difference between You know a main tree or a main, you know saltbox house and and and uh, you know and somewhere else in massachusetts or canada so That's that's really what it's about now the question as to why that's not happening Well, it comes back to you know the business side of it and the bottom line So if you're an investor and you're and you're like i'm going to fund this film for three million dollars and it's like, okay Well, uh the story takes place in main. I'd like to film in main. That's where the vision is that's where you know We're going to get we're going to get the most authenticity The investor's then going to say does it have an incentive program? Well, no I mean it has a 10 10 to 12 percent wage rebate and a 5 percent Production spend but that's really based on tax liability. So of a production which also You know almost always has none So it doesn't really translate to anything versus massachusetts where they're giving away 30 percent on everything Your investor is going to say we're going to massachusetts, right, right? So it's i mean, it's just straight business And and and who can play them and you know, we'll figure out a way to kind of make it look Like that main town and you know as we spoke about before that's you know, very publicly what happened with tumbledown You know shan and desi's film and And you know, they were heartbroken and and that's the thing with the incentives that we have right now anything above $500,000 it no longer makes sense to film here. That's sort of the cutoff So you there are films that are made here But uh most of them sort of bump up against that you know 500k cap And then if you're going beyond that you're shooting somewhere else. So what this bill is proposing is 25 wage rebate for locals 20 wage rebate for non locals again, that's excluding the above the line portion So the the hollywood right for the non locals and then a 25 production spend that's going to make It competitive enough so those Main centric films in that five to eight million dollar range and that's still sort of a wide net Are going to be able to say yeah, we can film there and we can employ the local population And uh, we can repurpose some of those old buildings and you know, again, you and I spoke about this yesterday the nice thing about uh You know film incentive is is You know, it's it and an investment in that is it's it's low impact up front You have a crew that comes in here. You don't need to Build stuff beforehand and and and put your money in on the front end and hope for the best You don't get the rebate until you spend the money. I think mainers in general Um get it, you know, they understand And I think that they They have seen enough films and read enough about this and and understand how business works and I again I say to people I don't equate this any different than the main seed program for for example, which Offers up to a 50 rebate for businesses setting up here. Um, it's just again having that that Sense of it. Um, you know, there are people who push back because there's no sort of, you know, like really hard dynamic fiscal analysis on what the benefits of film incentives bring but You know as as you and I spoke about um if There's a whole bunch of spending going on at the federal level right now with with stimulus Money that went directly into people's pockets and also stimulus money that's going to the states and clearly that was Set up to Engender more spending right so if you cash those stimulus checks then to me as far as i'm concerned You can't be completely against the idea of of film incentives, which is You know subsidizing the idea of these businesses setting up But as I said the difference between the main seed program and those other programs Is that the rebates aren't given or cashed out until that spending is in Place and and again, I think a lot of mainers get this every day mainers that don't have any Experience with the film business. They they understand. I think at the at the legislative and the administrative level That's where it starts to get a little murky and and and maybe they haven't quite Caught up yet because the people that I've spoken to and even some of the legislators that I've spoken to understand this concept and understand that it's a creative out-of-the-box way to help You know Along with other items to jump start the economy And then it more or less dovetails in with the the governor's new economic plan, which talks about creating 75,000 jobs over the next 10 years and Keeping young people here in state and film incentives and film I think are our two things that would do Just that yeah, thank you so much and thanks for being on that was great. Yeah, uh, thank you everybody for a great show I hope you enjoyed it. We'll see you next week. Take care. Thanks a lot