'Overwhelming' Response to Film Package

'OVERWHELMING' RESPONSE TO FILM PACKAGE
Film and television producers have already sent in 80 scripts for review for production in Michigan, and Jan Lockwood, director of the Michigan Film Office, said Tuesday that her office is being overwhelmed with calls from executives in Los Angeles, New York, London and Canada.
The activity actually started just before Governor Jennifer Granholm signed the film package on Monday but Ms. Lockwood said it is more than just getting scripts and taking phone calls.
There are actual "boots on the ground" with executives looking at locations, she said. She declined to say what productions are in the state and where they are interested, saying she would allow Ms. Granholm to make the first major announcement. However, it was recently reported that executives had looked at possible locations at the now closed Southern Michigan Prison in Jackson.
Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw Twp.) said in a radio interview on Tuesday that the package was already showing results by the number of scripts that had been sent into the state.
Ms. Lockwood said normally the film office gets six scripts a year for consideration for possible locations.
Plus, she is going to a national conference in Los Angeles on shooting locations next week, and "I have meetings with people I couldn't get to talk to me last year."
She said she already had heard a joke that one executive in Los Angeles wanted to know where the Michigan booth would be at the show and was told by another executive: "Just look for the line."
The response has been "over the top," Ms. Lockwood said.
The package allows a 40 percent tax credit on productions filmed in the state, plus job training credits, tax credits for development of studios and equipment, the free use of state property for filming.
The state package is now considered the most generous that any state offers, and Ms. Lockwood said she has heard no indications of other states trying to match or beat Michigan's package. However, since most states have part-time legislatures and many of those have already or are close to adjourning, it might prove difficult for them to compete with Michigan right now, she said.
Asked if Ms. Granholm would soon be able to see George Clooney in the state (he was in Michigan in the 1990s for production of "Out of Sight"), Ms. Lockwood joked: "Me first!"