ABQjournal: Filmmakers' Charges Need Thorough Probe:
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Filmmakers' Charges Need Thorough Probe
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The state Department of Public Safety is investigating claims by a high-profile filmmaker and local film studio owners that a Department of Tourism official— who also represents a theatrical union— threatened to withhold union labor if they didn't support tax breaks for a competing studio.
Gov. Bill Richardson has high hopes of making New Mexico a film capital— backed up with generous tax breaks for films made here. That means the governor and taxpayers have a vested interest in the outcome of the DPS investigation.
Paulette De La Pascal, who represents filmmaker/producer Christopher Coppola, says state Tourism Department marketing director Jon Hendry told her that Coppola's company would have trouble hiring union workers if it didn't support House Bill 358, currently moving through the Legislature.
Hendry is also the business agent for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 480.
Michael and Ruby Jacobs, founders of Albuquerque's Rio Grande Studios, said Hendry made the same threat to them.
The narrowly written bill would give an additional 5 percent tax break to Lion's Gate Entertainment, which has been filming a TV series here and says it hopes to increase its presence in New Mexico.
Understandably, the Jacobses and Coppola (nephew of Hollywood film heavyweight Francis Ford Coppola) find the favoritism of HB 358 objectionable.
Legislators need to ensure that film incentives are applied equitably. And Richardson needs to ensure that executive branch employees— if found to be strong-arming film execs— find another line of work.
To do otherwise could spell an unhappy ending for the state's efforts to lure the film industry to New Mexico.
Technorati Tags: 2006, corruption, Fundraising, legislature, Politics, film, Tax credit
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