The roller coaster ride known as the legislative process continues on Capitol Hill relative to the runaway production issue. An earlier reported effort to piggyback a tax credit for independent film and TV producers on the minimum wage bill (SHOOT spot. com.mentary, 11/12/99, p. 4) has fallen by the wayside.
Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) was one of the prime backers of the tax break that was designed to help combat the flight of production to foreign countries, particularly Canada, which offers a package of financial incentives to the filmmaking community. However, Weller and several key colleagues pledged to pursue the issue, albeit not on the immediate coattails of any legislation in the current session of Congress.
Weller, Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), who is chairman of the Entertainment Industry Task Force Committee, and Reps. James Rogan (R-Calif.) and Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) announced the formation of a group of lawmakers who will go on a fact-finding mission regarding runaway production. Based on the information and industry input they gather, this contingent will devise possible legislative remedies to the problem.
The group plans to conduct four field hearings next year, the first slated for January in Los Angeles. Lawmakers have already asked several industry representatives to testify at those public hearings. In fact, during its Legislative Action Day in October (SHOOT, 10/29/99, p. 1), the Association of Imaging Technology & Sound (ITS) was invited to offer testimony during each of the field hearings. The Association of Independent Commercial Producers also expects to testify at the proceedings.
In announcing their anti-runaway plans at a Los Angeles press conference, Weller, Foley, Rogan and McKeon were joined by an alliance of industry organizations, including the ITS; Film US, a group currently consisting of some 200 city and state film commissioners; the Screen Actors Guild; the Directors Guild of America; the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation; the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; and the Production Equipment Rental Association.
Adding Democrats to the Entertainment Task Force Committee will be one of the first tasks of the lawmakers’ group, as it is currently comprised entirely of Republicans. Support for runaway reform needs to come from both sides of the aisle if any relevant legislation is to gain passage.
The aforementioned tax break for filming linked to the minimum wage measure was scuttled rather quickly. Rep. Bill Archer (R-Texas), a lawmaker who wields considerable influence as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, opposed the tax incentive, saying that it hadn’t been reviewed by his committee and thus shouldn’t have been included in the wage bill. He and other Republican legislators also opposed the tax proposal out of concern that it could somehow benefit the pornographic film industry.
