Michigan's movie effort also produces disputes and corruption

Michigan can use all the jobs and economic investment it can get, and state officials believe they can secure some of it by trying to turn the Great Lakes State into the Hollywood of the Midwest.

To that end, Michigan has enacted a series of tax incentives designed to lure film producers to make movies in the state. The result of the incentives? Some movies, and no small amount of discord.

The results, in terms of actual projects attracted, are hard to quantify since the incentive only went into place in April 2008. In order to qualify, the project must spend at least $50,000 in the state (but can’t pay any single employee more than $2 million), and has to meet a bunch of other requirements as far as Michigan residents working on the project

If you qualify, you get a 40 percent refundable tax credit, across the board, on Michigan expenditures.

There have been some significant films made in Michigan, including the Tom Hanks Film “Road to Perdition” and Eminem’s “Eight Mile,” but they were made before the incentives went into effect. The Michigan Film Office reports a major uptick in Michigan-based films starting in 2008, but most of them are obscure works made by local production houses. The most significant was the Clint Eastwood film “Gran Torino.”

But the film incentives have produced other things as well – namely, corruption and political dispute.