Jettisode 8 – Public Enemies and Texas Film Incentives
In Jettisode 8, Austin, Texas Actor / Director Jett Garner reviews the latest Michael Mann film “Public Enemies†and discusses the Texas Film Incentive controversy.
This is an episode that we’d really love to hear your thoughts on so please leave feedback. Is what happened actually censorship? Where do you draw the line in protecting a State’s “image” and curbing creative endeavor? Was the move helpful or harmful?
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.
——————————————————
Are you a Texas filmmaker (yes, actors are filmmakers, too!)? Was this post helpful? Receive more posts like this via email and RSS to stay current with Texas casting calls, crew calls and Texas film news . Sign up for our newsletter and RSS feed.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Great plug, Jett! And, no, the Jettisode was not actually sponsored by Sprint. If it were sponsored by Sprint we’d have a lot of fun, cool features added to the site that we are wanting to build out. Maybe they will sponsor us down the road.
As far as the film in question with the name of a town here in Texas with a certain event that took place in the 90’s, it is a tough call. I don’t pretend to know the full scope and really only a few, very few, people do. The missing piece of the puzzle is the script. Bob Hudgins has read it and is tasked with the duty, by the Texas government, to approve or deny scripts for tax incentive eligibility. From what I know, Bob Hudgins had to make a very difficult decision and one that I can respect.
If Bob had approved the film and the film was released (the film already has distribution in place) only to be seen by the Texas government, the powers that be, to “portray Texas or Texans in a negative light” the government would fire Bob on the spot and, legally, written in the incentives rules, they could pull the incentives package altogether. So, I just want to get it out there that this is not Bob Hudgins fault (he has received death threats – crazy!). He made the best of a bad situation.
As for the Texas legislative body, it could very well be felt that they are censoring what content can and cannot be granted incentive money here in Texas. I also want to let it be known that at no point did anyone in the Texas government deny the production company from filming in Texas, they only denied them the incentive money. It was ultimately the production company’s decision to not film in Texas. Yes, a big part of that decision was based on the rejection of incentive funds from Texas and the approval of funds from Louisiana.
Time will tell if the “portray Texas or Texans in a negative light” clause will hurt film production here in Texas. The clause is as gray as gray can get and that may scare some large productions away from Texas. In the grand scheme, probably 80 – 90% of films to be filmed in Texas will not involve a storyline based on actual events which took place in Texas – hopefully.
All said, it is a shame that said script based on a certain Texas city’s event in the 90’s was denied approval so closely to the passing of the new tax incentive legislation. The film will now be filmed in Louisiana and Louisiana will receive the $30 dollars in production funds that this film would have brought to Texas. The film will be released, probably with more people watching it due to the “controversy” then would have had there not been a controversy. And, at the time of release we will see how much liberty the filmmakers took with the script in reenacting the event.
Ultimately, any film based on factual events will take liberties retelling the tale. It will be interesting to see how future projects are handled.
Shawn Hunter
ShortFilmTexas.com