More on the Burn Notice perspective
Burn Notice will most likely be picked up for another season. And you know what, while I would hate to see them go, the move from Coconut Grove may be a great thing for them. New scenery and premises may keep the show in the air for years to come. When one door closes, another opens. They may get a second wind and fresh story lines and ideas by making the move to another area of the county.
As for figures, just in a nutshell here are some hard numbers (and independently verified by the Office of Film & Entertainment Incentive folks) from years One through Five. Six is not yet complete:
Number of Florida Workers from 2007 - 2012: 15,017
Number of total Hotel Nights from 2007 - 2012: 13,244
Florida Wages Paid from 2007 - 2012: $62,908,280
Florida Vendors Paid from 2007 - 2012: $46,328563
Incentive Reimbursement Amount: $35,605,599 (expenses that were approved for the incentive and made the cut)
Approved Florida Expenses: $109,236,843 (expenses that may not have qualified for the incentive but still have to be approved by the Film office and FOX)
So we all hope that a final agreement happens and that they stay in Coconut Grove, but if they don't, at least this money will remain in the county, that's if they take up Mayor Gimenez's offer and also if they do receive the go ahead for a seventh and maybe an eighth season.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:08 AM
YOU MAY NOT LIFT THE PHOTOS & TEXT. IT'S COPYRIGHTED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. YOU CAN HOWEVER SHARE A STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY USING THE LINKS HERE.
For linking to this one story, just click on the time it was posted & just this story will open for sharing - only through social media. Not copying and pasting.
8 Comments:
RE: people not attending the burn notice meeting - How can you have any respect - let alone pay the salaries, of 2 groups that don't do what they are paid to do. BID - seems the B stands for Business? CofC - seems the C stands for Commerce? Other than the grapevine has anybody ever told these groups and their employees to their face - at their meetings, etc. exactly what their purpose is? No. it's not my job, I lived in the Grove for 40 yrs; I now live, play and work in the villages of Delray Beach and Lake Worth where a LOT of ex-Grovites now live, work and play.
The BID's main job is to promote businesses in the Grove, and to that end, a waterfront of parks is just as much of an attraction--and a more durable positive-as the fleeting glimpse of an actor or actress eating at a restaurant. We need to take the long view here.
They should hire Sarnoff as an actor, playing a corrupt Gangster of course!
Yosser Hughes... classic name.
There is plenty of space in West Grove where studios can be made. the Publix that was promised years ago is apparently a ghost.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez should make the City of Miami “an offer they can’t refuse.” Offer to purchase the Dinner Key Expo Center and then turn it into a permanent Film Studio. Burn Notice can remain until they end their series. Create an RFP to offer an opportunity to FOX TV or another professional studio to improve the facility. Other filmmakers will wish to rent it in the future. City of Miami needs the money ASAP, MDC will earn the rent, Burn Notice will not need to move, Miami and Coconut Grove will continue to benefit financially and continue to receive great PR throughout the world and the film industry will finally feel truly welcomed and appreciated in South Florida.
Harry Emilio, What an EXCELLENT idea! Have you written the Mayor to suggest it?
It appears that people whose only knowledge and experience of the "moovie" biz is buying movie tickets are at it again.
First, the 15,017 number of Florida workers is very misleading. The Burn Notice crew is between 150 and 200 per season. there are maybe another 150 - 200 actors who have what are called 5 lines or less. There are your principal actors and guest stars that number at best 100 or so.
The remainder of those "Florida workers" are extras that are paid around $8.00 per hour for an 8 hour day. They usually work 10-12 hours for about $120 plus lunch. Out of that money their agent takes their percentage, and then they pay taxes.
That's not something that anyone can claims constitutes long-term employment, which is one of the hooks that was used to sell this tax incentive plan in yeas past.
Just for the fun of it, break out your calculator and put in the $62,908.280.00 that the show has paid in wages from 2007 - 2012, and then divide it by the 15,017 workers
who earned that money. The answer is the "average" salary that was generated by Burn Notice "employees."
A large number of the "vendors" that earned the $46,328,563.00 claimed in Tom's piece really aren't real Florida companies. They are out-of-state companies that created a Florida corporation in order to let the production company claim that they were "Florida" companies in order to collect the tax incentive money.
Don't believe me, the next time that you see Burn Notice equipment trucks, check out the names on the vehicles, and look at the tags.
The same goes for cameras, and lots of other stuff.
You think that 13,244 room nights in 6 years is a big deal? Do the math. No hotel would survive for a month if they had to depend on Burn Notice, or any other show.
It's good to have a show come to Miami to film, and yes, you get the "tourism" bump, but in real economic terms, out-of-state films companies that come here are no different than the circus that shows up every year. They come, they hire some local people, at the end of the day they take their film, AND THEIR PROFITS, back to California.
Like the circus, you often get left with an empty lot with the elephant shit to deal with.
I could go on, but I think you get the drift.
The almost $500 million dollars that has been given to film companies since 2004 was supposed to be an incentive to support and help grow the local film industry and infrastructure. That has not happened.
Think about the choices. $500 million for movies and TV shows - a lot of them crappy at best - or $500 million that could have gone for education, health care, and all the other problems that continue to plague Florida.
And lastly, Carlos Gimenez is not going to buy the Convention Center, and Harry Gottlieb is a moron whose 1 year stint as the "Film Ambassador" for the City of Miami was such a disaster that anyone who even think he's got anything of value to say on the film industry needs to have their head examined.
Al Crespo
PS: In my 28 years in the South Florida film industry, I personally brought in over $7 million in production dollars to Miami-Dade County, produced over 100 music videos, another 70-80 TV commercials, and a handful of corporate films.
A lot of folks agree with my assessment of what has happened to our industry as a result of these incentives, but I'm just the guy whose willing to stand up and say it in public.
Post a Comment
<< Home