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Critically acclaimed indie production The Florida Project was shot on a shoestring in Orlando and Kissimmee in 2016. Credit: Image via imdb.com<\/p>\nCritically acclaimed indie production The Florida Project was shot on a shoestring in Orlando and Kissimmee in 2016. Credit: Image via imdb.com<\/p>\n
University of Central Florida senior Leah Ricketts, a local film student, told county commissioners on Tuesday that she\u2019s dreamed of working in film since she was a child. But she, like many other film grads, is worried about finding secure work in the industry \u2014 at least locally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Veteran actors are feeling the anxiety, too. Apopka resident Adam Vernier regularly works on TV sets these days and had roles<\/a> in locally shot films like Sydney White and Beethoven\u2019s Big Break \u2014 released in 2007 and 2008, respectively. He\u2019s also father of two little girls, but told county commissioners that he regularly has to travel out of state in order to find consistent acting work. \u201cI have to leave them to go shoot [for] work, and I absolutely hate having to leave my family,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n The problem is that other cities and states, including nearby Georgia and Louisiana, offer lucrative tax incentives or rebates for filmmakers that lure them into their communities for filming \u2014 even if the TV show or film is set in Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of us are tired of seeing other locations shot for Orange County. We want to see Orange County itself and see these locations that we love,\u201d said Jason Gregory, a local screenwriter, producer and \u201cproud\u201d graduate of UCF\u2019s film program.<\/p>\n Florida, once dubbed \u201cHollywood East,\u201d used to have its own statewide film incentive program \u2014 drawing in production for blockbusters like Edward Scissorhands and My Girl \u2014 but the right-wing, Koch-founded group Americans for Prosperity lobbied to kill that program about a decade ago<\/a>, tossing campaign cash at Florida\u2019s most influential politicians to help seal the deal.<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Florida Sen. Nancy Detert, a Republican who had supported the state\u2019s film incentives, publicly shamed<\/a> the Koch-affiliated group over the issue in a 2015 Senate committee meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re all on the Koch brothers\u2019 payroll. Good for you,\u201d Detert told<\/a> AFP lobbyist Skylar Zandar, sarcastically. \u201cI hope you\u2019re getting paid a lot of money to show up to these meetings and say meaningless things. Obviously you\u2019re for prosperity for yourself and not anyone else \u2026 You people serve absolutely no purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n With the defunding of Florida\u2019s film incentive program in 2016 also came the demolition of stable work for industry professionals like Vernier and Atlanta actor Chris Greene (whom we spoke to about this topic last year<\/a>). Local actors are, instead, more likely these days to have to travel to Louisiana or Georgia \u2014 which offers one of the country\u2019s most generous film incentive programs \u2014 for work.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have 3,000 students who graduate from film programs a year, and we\u2019re losing over half of them to other locations,\u201d Roseann Harrington, chief of staff for Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, told Orlando Weekly in a phone call.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harrington, for the last year, has been meeting with a work group <\/a>of industry professionals \u2014 including union leaders with IATSE and SAG-AFTRA, the Orlando Film Commission, and representatives of film programs at schools like UCF and Full Sail \u2014 to help find a way to \u201cresurrect\u201d the local film industry.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were going gangbusters in the \u201990s,\u201d Harrington told county commissioners Tuesday, noting the filming activity that came from Disney bringing in MGM Studios and Universal Orlando opening Nickelodeon Studios \u2014 a film location that, as of 2005, is no longer in operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n After the statewide incentive program ended, filming in Florida \u201ckind of dried up,\u201d according to Harrington, and in Orlando, \u201cWe kind of scaled back accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n The plan to revive the industry, approved by Orange County leaders Tuesday, is to create a local film incentive program \u2014 modest in scale \u2014 that will aim to draw in small to medium film and TV productions, like Hallmark movies and independent films. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re probably not going to compete with Georgia, because they\u2019re bringing in Marvel movies,\u201d Harrington told the Weekly. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not our goal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Georgia\u2019s incentive program, funded by the state\u2019s general funds, offers a 20 to 30 percent tax credit \u2014 rivaling even Hollywood \u2014 for productions that spend at least $500,000 in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n Orange County\u2019s program, in contrast, will offer up to a 20 percent rebate with a cap of $1 million (only paid after the completion of a project) for film and TV productions that spend at least $400,000 locally \u2014 on local labor, catering, hotel rooms, equipment and other production-related expenses. It will also offer up to a 10 percent rebate for TV commercial productions \u2014 capped at $50,000 \u2014 that spend at least $250,000 locally. Documentaries, porn and political content will be excluded from eligibility.<\/p>\n Unlike Georgia\u2019s program, Orange County\u2019s will largely be funded by the county\u2019s sizable money pot of hotel tax revenue, also known as the tourist development tax<\/a>. That tax, levied on hotel stays and short-term lodging in Orange County, generated<\/a> $359 million last year alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n The film incentive program \u2014 designed to promote tourism, support economic activity within Orange County, and retain local talent \u2014 will be funded by a sliver of that: $5 million of hotel tax revenue over the next five years, or a $25 million commitment total.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re probably not going to compete with Georgia, because they\u2019re bringing in Marvel movies. That\u2019s not our goal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Roseann Harrington<\/p>\n Eligible recipients for the rebate will have to use \u201cbest efforts\u201d to hire local film industry professionals and will need to hire at least five students or graduates of local film-related programs who still live in Orange County in order to qualify.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this incentive, I [would] feel more comfortable, more secure within the job market of film,\u201d said UCF student Ricketts, speaking in support of the program Tuesday.<\/p>\n Local filmmaker Eddie Venegas told the board that he built his career in Orlando and is hopeful that the new program will allow him to continue to live and work here. <\/p>\n \u201cThe proposed five-year $25 million TV incentive program is not a gamble,\u201d he argued. \u201cIt\u2019s a strategic, data-driven economic tool that counties across the country have already proven effective.\u201d<\/p>\n Banking on the power of the camera<\/p>\n A half-dozen other municipalities<\/a> in Florida \u2014 including Hillsborough, Duval, Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Pinellas counties \u2014 have already created their own local incentive programs, similarly hoping to help draw in production and spur economic activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n The annual financial commitment for these programs in Florida ranges from $500,000 in Duval County to Broward County\u2019s annual commitment of $12 million. <\/p>\n Hillsborough County, which earmarks $750,000 from tourist tax revenue for film incentives annually, managed to generate<\/a> 6,000 hotel night stays last year as a result of their film incentive program. \u201cThat accounted for $31 millions\u2019 worth of projects in the pipeline for next year, too,\u201d said Harrington.<\/p>\n Still, there are some skeptics, even among those who support the organized labor community. Kristan Wong Karinen, a research analyst for the pro-labor watchdog group Good Jobs First, said film incentive programs generally end up being \u201ceconomic losers\u201d for communities.<\/p>\n A 2023 audit of Georgia\u2019s program, for instance, found that their film incentives created just 19 cents<\/a> per every dollar spent, despite the creation of thousands of industry jobs. \u201cThe dollar-for-dollar return on investment is almost always negative,\u201d Wong Karenin told Orlando Weekly. A separate study by the Motion Picture Association (not exactly an unbiased party) disputed those findings<\/a>, demonstrating an economic impact of $6.30 in Georgia for every $1 in film tax incentives.<\/p>\n Most film incentive programs, Wong Karenin says, are statewide, not local. Some of the biggest or more lucrative incentive programs for filmmakers are in Georgia, Texas, New York and California.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAfter wildfires devastated Los Angeles earlier this year, the entertainment industry renewed its longstanding concern about productions fleeing California,\u201d Wong Karenin wrote<\/a> in a recent blog for GoodJobsFirst. \u201cIn response, the state more than doubled its filming tax credit program<\/a> from $330 million to $750 million annually.\u201d<\/p>\n Nonetheless, she said we do have some green flags going for us.<\/p>\n Wong Karenin told the Weekly that the structure of Orange County\u2019s new incentive program \u201cactually seems OK.\u201d Unlike some programs that draw from general funds, Orange County\u2019s will be drawing from a tourism-specific stream of revenue that (under state law, currently) can\u2019t readily be used for other community needs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tSen. Smith and Rosen Hotels CEO Frank Santos sparred over the issue at a League of Women Voters event Wednesday\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of times, what we see is that the reason why this is such a problem for communities is because they\u2019re pulling out of necessary resources like firefighting and schools and infrastructure developments, and just other pockets of public services that could better benefit the community,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n Orange County\u2019s program also has requirements for the use of local labor, and is performance-based \u2014 meaning, filmmakers will only get a rebate from the county after they\u2019ve completed production and demonstrated they\u2019ve met program requirements. \u201cThat\u2019s great,\u201d said Wong Karenin. \u201cWe love to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, another key aspect of any kind of subsidy program, she said, is transparency and a reporting mechanism for how this funding is being allocated. That\u2019s something the county did address Tuesday. According to Harrington, Orange County commissioners will have to approve every project eligible for incentive funding through the new program \u2014 meaning those projects will be added to the board\u2019s meeting agendas and should therefore be public record.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the challenges that we have with Georgia is that they don\u2019t publicly disclose which studios are receiving tax credits,\u201d said Wong Karenin. \u201cSo we\u2019re kind of like working on an aggregate basis. Like, we only really know the total dollar amount that they\u2019re subsidizing, but we don\u2019t know which studios are actually getting that money.\u201d<\/p>\n Although a critic, she added she was \u201cglad\u201d to see that representatives of industry labor unions, like SAG-AFTRA, were solicited by the county and involved in the local program\u2019s development. \u201cSometimes they\u2019re not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Film Florida, a nonprofit trade association that collaborated with the county on this initiative, for its part,\u00a0estimated<\/a>\u00a0that if Orange County started with an initial investment of $5 million, the incentive program could generate $33 million or more in direct spending in Central Florida and add 2,500 film cast and crew jobs.<\/p>\n \u2018Laying the kindling\u2019<\/p>\n During discussion of the program Tuesday, there wasn\u2019t really anyone expressing any opposition to the program, despite reporting on the mixed findings of incentives\u2019 return on investment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Maybe it was a welcome change from the county handing roughly one-third of its tourist tax revenue (over $100 million) to Visit Orlando, a not-for-profit tourism agency that paid its CEO nearly $700,000<\/a> last year, according to the Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n As we previously reported<\/a>, more than 90 percent of Visit Orlando\u2019s budget is made up of public money. The amount of money invested by county leaders in the film incentive program, meanwhile, will make up just a fraction \u2014 5 percent \u2014 of the funding that Visit Orlando gets. And it\u2019ll allow local film professionals to (fingers crossed) actually find work in their hometown.<\/p>\n \u201cI think 10, 20 years from now \u2014 hell, probably five years from now \u2014 we\u2019ll feel like this was money well spent and time well invested,\u201d said county commissioner Mike Scott.<\/p>\n Commissioner Mayra Uribe, who\u2019s running for Orange County mayor, similarly praised the film incentive concept, saying, \u201cThis is huge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Harrington, the idea is to help spotlight all parts of Orange County, not just the tourist attractions \u2014 like Walt Disney World \u2014 that people generally think of when they think of Orlando. \u201cWe want to hit the ground running and have something out there that says, \u2018This is the other half of Orange County that you don\u2019t usually see,\u2019 and promote all of these unique destinations,\u201d she explained to commissioners.<\/p>\n Another requirement of the program (based in part on where its funding is coming from) is to clearly identify Orange County landmarks in filming \u2014 to make it appear as a destination worth visiting. A recent survey<\/a> from travel agency JustFly found that 60 percent of Gen Z and millennial travelers now plan their trips around what they see on film and TV.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing today, I think \u2026 it\u2019s kindling,\u201d said Scott. \u201cWe\u2019re laying the kindling for what will be a larger flame.\u201d<\/p>\n With the commissioners\u2019 approval, the film incentive program will aim to open applications for rebate eligibility in the first quarter of 2026, likely in January. The first round of grants are expected to be approved for production projects in the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tAnd, yes, that does mean he\u2019s coming to Orlando at some point\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Performers represented by the SAG-AFTRA labor union rally in Orlando amid ongoing strike. (Aug. 10, 2023) Credit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n
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