Ohio's motion picture tax credit may be a victim of its own success

CLEVELAND - There’s no question 2011 was a banner year for the Greater Cleveland Film Commission as movies like "The Avengers," "Fun Size" and the soon-to-be-completed "I, Alex Cross" joined a list of several others in turning Cleveland streets into Hollywood back lots and pumping money into area businesses.

“Direct spend of about $85 million has been spent in Northeast Ohio in the last year," said Commission Executive Director Ivan Schwarz. The films were made possible through money set aside by the state in the form of tax incentives over the last two years.

But the program that spawned this success is, in a small way, a victim of it. When it comes to the money set aside in the budget for the incentives from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012, Schwarz said it was gone by July 15.

The last of the funds, about $3.4 million, was awarded to four films and a video game that will begin shooting in the fall.

Schwarz said the effort to build a film industry in Ohio is precisely where it needs to be but he doesn’t like having a gap now until next year.

“It is a concern, it’s a real concern, fortunately the gap is going to come at a good time of the year, it’ll come in the winter and nobody is really going to start filming in the winter.”

“But it's a real concern because it also sends a message to Hollywood and that message is that we're out of money and they may look someplace else,” he said. “Like a restaurant you don't want to give somebody a reason to go the restaurant next door to look someplace else, you want them to look here.”

Schwarz is working with the governor’s office and the legislature to make sure that they continue to build on what has been started here in not just shooting films but building a film industry.

“The only way this works is if we're creating an industry, the one of films that everybody's excited about isn't what's going to create an industry, the ancillary businesses, the infrastructure that will come along with this is what will create a new industry just like biotech or any other industry in the state of Ohio."