The End of the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission Part II

According to the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) there is an important connection between film commissions and the creative media industry. A film commission’s directive is to increase and maintain film and video production taking place in a region and to proportionally increase the economic impact of the industry on the region.

A film commission is a specialized office under the authority of a government entity or administrative office whose purpose is to promote the region through the development of film, video, and multimedia production.

Governor Christie plans to merge the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission with the New Jersey Sports Authority. So, who will be overseeing the film commission so that it will provide coordination and leadership while serving as the liaison between agencies, services, businesses, and the film production companies? According to an online article on NorthJersey.com, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority will absorb the employees of the state’s tourism and film agencies and sports authority President Wayne Hasenbalg will run the show.

It’s a curious decision, but makes more sense as New Jersey becomes ensconced as an Old Boy’s Club more so with Christie deciding to make the sports authority the “place” for anyone interested in bringing in sports or entertainment event anywhere in the state. Hasenbalg comes from the Teaneck-based DeCotis, FitzPatrick and Cole law firm (get the connection) and joined Christie’s team in 2009. They go back to the day former state Attorney General Cary Edwards’ unsuccessful run for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1989.

Apparently, this means that Hasenbalg, a self-proclaimed sports junkie, who is bringing in an Ironman triathlon and the Formula One Grand Prix auto race to Weehawken in 2013, must know all about film, television and multimedia production as well as tourism since the Division of Travel and Tourism and the Newark-based NJ Motion Picture and Television Commission will join the sports authority.

Currently, Steve Gorelick is Executive Director of the NJ Motion Picture and Television Commission and has been with the commission since 1980. During his tenure, filmmaking in New Jersey increased from 89 projects a year to 945 projects in 2007 with the annual revenue going from $6 million to $100 million. His vast experience in the industry has him as an advisory to the Rutgers Film Co op, a member of the advisory board of the Fairleigh Dickinson Undergraduate Film Program, he has been a trustee of the Cape May New Jersey Film Festival, an officer and trustee of the Black Maria Film and Video Festival and the New Jersey Young Filmmakers Festival as well as an advisor to the Entertainment Technology Conference at Mercer County College and was a pre-screening juror for the American Film Festival. There’s a lot of experience here and when supported, he had New Jersey in the Top Five states for film production.

There are 300 film commissions worldwide and the AFCI goes on to explain and what lawmakers against this tax incentive in New Jersey apparently refuse to understand. In an 2008 South Bergenite, Letters to the Editor, Freeholder Chris Calabrese, Councilwoman Rose Inguanti and GOP candidate (at the time) Paul Duggan wrote in their opening that “State and county Democrats have come up with another way to take money out of taxpayers’ pockets: Give it to the millionaires in the film industry” and “ithis may not be the time to give Hollywood elites tax breaks.” What these and others in the Christie administration don’t get is that the tax credit occurs after the production is completed and the money already in their budget is spent in the region filmmaking takes place.

The film, video and digital media business generates huge amounts of, and in many cases, sustainable, economic growth through the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually for on-location production. A studio-based feature film can spend upwards of $250,000 per day in a local economy and a large national or international television commercial can generate local spending of up to $1 million in less than two weeks.

The economic impacts generated by productions can positively affect local hotels, car and truck rental, catering, barricade rentals, local cast and crew, and hundreds of professions and local businesses. Finally, film production can help generate a sustained growth in tourism when a region or community is featured in a successful film.

Yet, the Christie administration obviously does not believe this and scoffs at the revenue potential because the state treasury department says tax incentives for this industry do not work. Tell that to New York where a thriving 10 billion industry is now rooted and flourishing as well as Atlanta, North Carolina, New Mexico among the “Top Five” states for film and television production.

Film, television, and multimedia production companies industry consider film commissions a valuable partner and resource to act as liaison between local governments and communities with production entities. They educate municipalities and communities, set standards of professionalism and provide production information. This in turn, increases the economic development impact throughout the region.

Often the presence and level of development and resources offered by a film office and/or commission determines if production companies will consider bringing their production to a particular region. It’s a highly competitive environment and so, makes a film commission an economic necessity as well as an integral ingredient in attracting film and television business and its ensuing revenue. At a press conference in October 2011, Senator Paul Sarno and Senate Majority Leader, Loretta Weinberg urged the Governor to reinstate the Digital Media and Film Tax Credit, Weinberg said. “the high cost of making movies today virtually guarantees that any state that doesn’t offer some form of tax incentive is certain to lose out on the lion’s share of the business.”

Governor Christie decided that doesn’t matter, his administration commented that there aren’t real film and television industry professionals in the state to attract lucrative productions, he put his friend, another lawyer, in charge and he would rather throw potential millions in tax incentives at the Triple Five developers for another shopping mall (American Dream, uh, Nightmare) in the Meadowlands.

Merging the New Jersey Film & Television Commission with the Sports Authority effectively brings an end to a once thriving Top Five revenue yielding State film commission. Too bad.