Posted 20 April, 2007 in PA News
Friday, April 20, 2007
By Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
New Mexico has become a mecca for moviemakers and it’s no secret why:Producers go where the money — and incentives — are.
That’s how the so-called “Land of Enchantment” wooed “Wild Hogs,” “The Astronaut Farmer” and “3:10 to Yuma,” a modern take on the Western starringRussell Crowe, and 16 other projects for 2007.
So the natural question is: What would it take to turn Pennsylvania intoanother New Mexico or Louisiana, also a hot spot for production? The answer:Better incentives, to be competitive with those states.
That’s what Gov. Rendell heard at a meeting in Harrisburg this week withlegislators and some high-profile Hollywood participants, includingPhiladelphia director M. Night Shyamalan and New Castle native JohnDellaverson, an entertainment lawyer and Lionsgate producer whose creditsinclude “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and Usher’s “In the Mix,” partiallyscripted by his daughter, Cara Dellaverson.
Lionsgate, which had two representatives in Harrisburg, is behind “The KillPoint” series being filmed in Pittsburgh and it’s the distributor of suchhits as “Fahrenheit 9/11,” the Oscar-winning “Crash” and the darkly popular “Saw” franchise.
“At Lionsgate, we have been doing these kinds of deals all over the worldand, in particular, in New Mexico,” Dellaverson said.
“We’ve been trying to encourage the governor to enact a program that is verysimilar to New Mexico, a state where four years ago, there was less than $5million in film production and last year, there was $450 million in filmproduction, undoubtedly directly as a result of the film tax rebateprogram.”
New Mexico provides a 25 percent refund on direct production expenditures,including labor, that are subject to taxation. Pennsylvania offers a 20percent film production grant, but the pool of money is capped at $10million.
“You can’t be hoping and praying that somebody says ‘I’m going to shoot inPittsburgh no matter what,’ even though the studio’s saying, ‘But you can’t,you got to shoot in New Mexico or Connecticut, ‘ ” Dellaverson saidyesterday.
“You want to be the other side of the coin, you want people to say, ‘Isthere any way we can shoot this in Pennsylvania? It’s great, we have acredit, there’s a great work ethic there, we have a great time, we get ourpermits as soon as possible.’ That’s what you want. You want to be in thebusiness, not the wish business.”
Dellaverson took time to chat between meetings, talks, coffee and dinners atthe Duquesne Club and the New Castle home of his mother, Ann, a retiredschool administrator who makes authentic Italian pasta (al dente, just theway he likes it).
The 1968 University of Pittsburgh grad, who was speaking at his alma materyesterday for the first time, has not followed the usual path to Hollywood.The son of a steelworker who died in 1986, Dellaverson logged a memorablesummer himself as a foundry worker and started Pitt as an engineeringstudent, on scholarship, and switched to political science.
After the Peace Corps and law school, he worked for the National LaborRelations Board and joined one of the world’s largest entertainment firms,in Los Angeles and then in Rome, where he dealt with such luminaries asSophia Loren and her late husband, Carlo Ponti, and actor Roberto Benigni.More recently, he was a consultant to HBO for its “Rome” series.
Dellaverson, whose wide-ranging experience includes production,distribution, financing, tax shelters, deal-making and even new media (he’san advisory board member of MusicPlusTV. com), calls a boost in incentives ano-brainer that can only make the state more competitive.
He was being squired around by Carl Kurlander, a visiting lecturer at Pittand co-founder of the Steeltown Entertainment Project. He met Dellaversonwhen 200-plus expatriates assembled in Beverly Hills for a rendition of”Won’t You Be My Neighbor.”
“It’s clear that people are seeing opportunity here in a more tangible way,”Kurlander said. “Everybody’s working together. It’s not about Philly vs.Pittsburgh, it’s the whole state.”
Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, said yesterday that theincentives are working, as “Kill Point” proves, but they could be better.
“We are thrilled that the governor is working to increase and improve theincentives for the commonwealth. We are working on a 25 percent tax credit,without a cap on it, for the film industry and are very hopeful that ourrespected leaders in Harrisburg will support this initiative, as they havesupported the film industry in the past.”
In fact, Gary Miller, a spokesman for Rendell, said yesterday, “The governoris looking into expanding the film tax credit and, because of that, peoplein the film industry are looking to do additional work in Pennsylvania. Weview that as a positive development. ”
No timetable for such a change has been given.
Dawn M. Keezer
Director
Pittsburgh Film Office
Century Building
130 7th Street, 10th Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
(412)261-2744 office
(412)512-8780 cell
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