SOURCE: Greater Cleveland Partnership | Laura DeMarco
June 24, 2024
Is there a major motion picture currently being filmed in the region? The Cleveland Film Commission cannot confirm any such thing. What they can say, however, is that when a movie is filmed in Greater Cleveland, the economic impact is wide-ranging and powerful.
GCP recently sat down with Greater Cleveland Film Commission President Bill Garvey to learn more about how the commission brings productions to the region, the $1 billion+ brought to the state in the last 15 years, and Cleveland’s emerging talent pool.
A recent scene from downtown.
How do you get a movie production to come to Cleveland?
The film commission drives production business to choose Northeast Ohio as it’s filming destination by tracking the 4,000 + projects in development at any one time globally and pursing the projects that are the best fit architecturally for our region. We look for storylines that could be told successfully here.
Once we identify the projects we target to pursue, we pitch the producer or studio and sign an NDA in order to gain access to the screenplay. We then go out into Northeast Ohio and photograph potential filming locations in order to put together a scout photo package that goes to the studio, producers, and director. We present our pitch along with the pictures to sell NE Ohio as the best choice destination for the project. That’s where it starts.
Can you share an example?
A movie entitled “Judas and the Black Messiah” filmed here in 2019 with a Chicago storyline revolving around the Black Panthers circa 1970.
We pitched Warner Brothers. They sent a lookbook: a package of images that represent the look of the movie and what tone they seek in their filming locations.
We put together research, we went out and scouted and photographed potential filming locations, put together a scout photo package and presented to the director, Shaka King, and producers. WB then narrowed down their options into two or three cities that they looked at in person.
When they came out, we showed them the range and richness of Cleveland architecture that would enhance the storytelling, serving as the best option for the project. Their decision to film here came after months of research, preparation, and dialogue with the film commission.
That’s how we attracted a $28 million movie to invest in Cleveland, spending at hundreds of local small business vendors and creating hundred of local jobs.
“Fast & Furious 8” was filmed in Cleveland in 2016.
What makes Cleveland attractive as a location?
The great thing about this region is that we can tell a lot of different stories. We do a great job of representing all other regions of, frankly, the world.
And beyond the versatility of architecture and topography, we’re 15 years into the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit. In those 15 years we’ve developed a veteran crew.
So, when we go up against the big boys in Georgia, the head of the pack, we do a great job of customer service. We are going out proactively pitching Cleveland as a place to bring this business in a way that a lot of other film commissions are not – and we’ve been successful at it.
That’s why we have a total production budget booked this year of $147 million — the best year we’ve ever had.
But ultimately, this is an incentive driven industry. That’s the reason $1.38 billion has been spent over the last 15 years in Ohio, because the tax incentive drives the business.
How important is the tax incentive?
We are only as good as our cap lets us be. Once that tax incentive cap is reached, projects will not look at Ohio. And we max it out every year.
Right now, it is $75 million, but there is a bill in the Senate right now, SB 283, to increase it to $100 million. Anything that raises the cap raises our return on investment. There is a 300% return on investment for that tax to the state of Ohio.
We are competing with 38 states and 106 countries that offer incentives, and we are in the middle of the pack cap wise. We not only compete against Georgia, but also states like Texas ($200M annual cap), Louisianna ($150M annual cap), New Mexico ($100M annual cap), New Jersey ($100M annual cap), and Pennsylvania ($100M annual cap), in additional to the traditional production states of California, New York, and Illinois, all with much higher annual caps.
This is new money flowing to invest in and create jobs in Ohio exclusively because Ohio delivers a tax credit. Tax credits are built into every motion picture and television show. Not a single movie or show you watch is not made without a tax credit. States without motion picture tax credit programs do not have a production industry.
“Fast & Furious 8” was filmed in Cleveland in 2016.
Where is the money on production being spent?
The tax credit is a 30% rebate on all taxable spending, everything from hospitality to staffing to local small business vendors.
And that’s not ripple effect or economic multipliers. I’m talking about direct return on investment. So, you have a 30% rebate. And that gets you a 3.33x multiplier on that rebate that goes into the pockets of Ohioans. All the vendors that work on these projects have to be registered in Ohio to get the tax incentive, which means they’re local vendors: mom and pops, locksmiths and plumbers and electricians and restaurants, it runs the gamut. There are hundreds of vendors that work on each project.
Has a homegrown talent pool emerged in the last 15 years?
Yes, there are some really good educational programs that have matured along with the local industry. Cleveland State, Tri-C, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Kent State, and Baldwin Wallace all have programs. All of these schools are doing a really great job of coaching people with different talents, different skill sets, focused on different parts of the business.
We’ve partnered with all of these schools, and we are also creating programs ourselves. We have taught at CMSD art schools for the past 3 years, a hands-on soup to nuts introduction to the business of film, from screenwriting through production and post-production visual effects.
It’s unique. There is no other film commission in the country running a high school training program like ours.
We also run another training program: a production assistant workshop geared towards college level and mid-career adults that focuses on motion picture industry paperwork training, to equip attendees with the skills to work as crew. We had 194 people going through that program this year, learning about the business of film.
“Fast & Furious 8” was filmed in Cleveland in 2016.
Let’s talk about numbers. What economic impact data can you share?
- Since 2009, the program has generated $1.38 billion in economic output in Ohio, with Northeast Ohio getting 60 to 70%.
- In the last round, Greater Cleveland got 60.87% of the total production budget approved by the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit Program.
- We have nine more projects that just applied. That $147 million doesn’t even include the nine new projects. The new projects that have just applied are an additional roughly $60 million.
- And, statewide, 7,092 full-time equivalent jobs have been created.
Beyond the money – and cool factor – what are the benefits to a movie being filmed in Cleveland?
The spotlight effect! I still get calls about the Avengers and Captain America and what we were able to accomplish. And that’s from industry people from around the country. That’s a big spotlight. That’s a billboard saying,’ hey, this is a good place to do business.’ That’s important: the spotlight effect, that buzz effect, it attracts more buzz and attracts more business.
Can you share an example of a recent successful project?
“White Noise” is a Netflix movie starring Adam Driver, directed by Noah Baumbach, which filmed here in 2021.
That one movie generated 36,000 hotel room nights. Why does one movie create that many? Well, the movie is spread out over time. And even though they hire a lot of local crew, they also bring in crew.
Over time you have a crew living in a hotel for a year straight. That one movie spent $106.6 million, all in Northeast Ohio. And it hired 921 crew. It worked with 256 vendors. It hired 3000 extras. That’s a major economic impact from one movie. And obviously this industry is much more than one movie.