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What PBS and NPR funding cuts would mean at home
As you know, the Republicans, using the excuse of the federal deficit, are suggesting that we defund PBS and NPR. Like me, you’ve probably signed petitions and written to your elected officials, telling them how much you value Sesame Street and Frontline in a world run rampant with the likes of Justin Bieber and Glenn Beck. What you may not have taken into account, however, is the impact that federal defunding would have locally. Most notably, at least for me, it would likely spell the end of my favorite radio program, WEMU’s The Sunday Best with Arwulf. The following quote, from WEMU’s general manger, appears today on AnnArbor.com:
“If we were to lose that, probably what would happen is we would have to wipe out all of our locally produced music programs on the weekends and in the evenings, because the majority of our listening is between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays… We would lose a lot of our unique flavor because of it. We probably would have to reduce our news staff.”
– WEMU general manager Molly Motherwell, talking about possible federal cuts to public broadcasting funding
As much as I love Big Bird, this would be the bigger blow for me personally. If for no other reason than that, I ask you to please get involved and tell your legislators how you feel about NPR and PBS.
[note: Arwulf’s show is on Sundays, between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM EST, and you can listen online at WEMU.org. If you’ve never experienced the joy of 1920’s jazz, I’d encourage you to check it out. It has the power to change your life.]
Posted in Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, Media, Michigan Tagged Arwulf, Justin Bieber, local NPR celebrities, Miley Cyrus, NPR, PBS, public broadcasting, Sesame Street, The Sunday Best, WEMU 17 Comments
Familiar faces showing up in pop culture…
What’s weirder, to just find out that an old friend of yours was once on Star Trek, or to see a picture of a friend lurking behind Neil Partick Harris on a celebrity gossip website? I’ve been confronted by both this week.
Speaking of Neil Patrick Harris, I just found out that his partner, David Burtka, grew up in Canton, Michigan. At least that’s what Wikipedia says.
Report indicates that Michigan’s generous film incentives may actually be worthwhile
As we’ve discussed in previous threads, I have issues with Governor Snyder’s proposed budget. There are some things that I’m very much against, like the cuts to K-12 education and the elimination of funding mechanisms for brownfield remediation projects, and there are others that I’m not yet sure about. Among the items in that category, I’d include Snyder’s proposed defunding of his predecessor’s big film initiative. While I’ve enjoyed having celebrities around, like everyone else – did I ever mention that I bumped into Catherine Keener – and liked the fact that we were diversifying our economy a bit, I was never convinced that the program made good fiscal sense. The way I saw it, the entertainment industry, which is one driven, like most others, by the almighty dollar, would never put down real roots here. As soon as a better deal came along, I thought, they’d be gone. And history has pretty much demonstrated that. Before Michigan, after all, there were places like Alabama, Texas and North Carolina. All of them had economic incentives, but Michigan, by offering to reimburse producers up to 42-cents for each dollar spent in the state, started pulling business away from them. So, while I agree that there’s a certain feel-good value to it – which is probably particularly important these days, as people are leaving the state in droves – I don’t know that it was going to be a good bet in the long run. But, according to press reports coming out today, maybe there is a benefit to keeping the incentives, even if they don’t lead to long term investments by studios. The following comes from the Detroit Free Press:
…Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed ending the current tax breaks for filmmakers as part of a broad elimination of special tax credits and exemptions. He plans to allocate $25 million a year for new movie incentives, far below the $60 million paid out to production companies last year.
The study shows that the production of movies and TV shows in Michigan during 2009 and 2010 generated 6,491 full-time equivalent jobs in the state and $812 million in economic output.
“There is significant growth and economic activity,” said Larry Alexander, CEO and president of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, which teamed up with its counterparts in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Traverse City to commission the study late last year. “This is an industry that has not had a chance to mature (here) yet.”
Among the study’s findings:
• Production companies spent $532 million in the state in 2009 and 2010. Of that amount, nearly 60%, or $310.5 million, impacted Michigan’s economy.
• Eighty percent of the 4,656 indirect jobs that the movie business has created in Michigan have occurred in five industries: food services, business services, rentals and repairs, personal services and retail.
• The net cost of the tax credits awarded during 2009 and 2010 totaled $137 million. Taxes and fees generated from movie activity, plus reduced unemployment benefits because the filming creates jobs, offset the state’s costs, the study says. According to the Michigan Film Office, the state has awarded $304 million in film tax credits since April 2008 and has paid out $96 million so far.
• Film productions paid Michigan residents $42.8 million in wages and salaries in 2009 and $66.9 million in 2010. That equates to an average annual salary of about $53,700 per full-time equivalent employee.
• The average film production in Michigan lasted 90 days in 2009 and 89 days in 2010.
The state’s nearly 3-year-old movie tax breaks are the most generous in the nation, covering up to 42% of production expenses. But with the state facing a $1.8-billion budget deficit, Snyder’s budget cutters are targeting the incentives….
The study is the first to show that subsidies for the movie industry have produced positive benefits in Michigan.
In September, the Senate Fiscal Agency released a report saying that the incentives only generate 10 cents in new tax revenue for every dollar paid out…
According to the Detroit News, the report also points out that “for every dollar spent in state tax breaks to filmmakers, nearly $6 of economic activity is generated here.”
The report, which was produced by Ernst & Young, can be found here.
