Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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lot of big-budget movies would have considered coming here, but up until now we've not had the right infrastructure," he says. "The [Devens studio] is going to help create a permanent home for new TV series and feature films in Massachusetts." Earon's first order of business: help land a permanent television series. While many TV shows have been set in Boston—Cheers, St. Elsewhere, and the various legal dramedies of David E. Kelley—very few have been filmed in the city. (Spenser: For Hire, a 1980s detective series, is perhaps the most famous.) A TV show would provide steady employment for actors and crew members, which is critical to developing a sustainable industry, he says. "Right now it's all about job creation." Massachusetts is one of a handful of states with a competitive film tax incentive package, and it is, according to Earon, a highly desirable location for directors. "When I'm with a studio or large production company and they're talking about where to shoot their movie, there are other states with good incentive plans in place and good crew talent, but there are certain states where the director says no. But no one ever says no to Boston. They really like coming here." One reason for this is Massachusetts's cinematic versatility. The state's various landscapes and terrain make it a contender for movies set on the coast or in the mountains, in the bustling city or in a quaint fishing village. In recent years, Massachusetts has been a stand-in for Paris (The Pink Panther 2), New York City (The Women), and Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport (21). "This state has an authenticity to it that is a breath of fresh air from the manufactured aura of Los Angeles," says Lisa Strout, director of the Massachusetts Film Office. "There's a texture here and a rich character." "No one ever says no to Boston. They really like coming here."—BILL EARON Many Massachusetts natives making a living in the entertainment business elsewhere have already started to come home, Strout adds. After all, many actors from the region have returned to the state over and over to shoot here: Mark Wahlberg, Steve Carell, and of course Ben Affleck. But even nonnatives like Adam Sandler keep coming back. "In a certain way over the past decade, and markedly over the last few years, Hollywood has decentralized," Strout says. "But now it's the perfect time for someone to come back and work in their home state doing something that they love." Christy Scott Cashman agrees. "Boston is a FOLLOW THE MONEY A quick primer on how the tax credits work. MASSACHUSETTS PROVIDES filmmakers with a package of tax incentives, including a 25 percent production credit, a 25 percent payroll credit, and a sales tax exemption. Any project, from commercials to feature films, that spends more than $50,000 in the state qualifies for the payroll credit and sales tax exemption. (Spending more than 50 percent of the project's total budget or doing at least half of the principal photography in Massachusetts also makes the project eligible for the production credit.) Such credits benefit studios by lowering their costs on many fronts. But they've also allowed Massachusetts production companies to grow at a much greater rate than other industry groups between 2006 and 2012, says financier Bill Earon. There are no annual or project caps to the state's incentives, and no residency requirements, which are two components that keep Massachusetts competitive with about nine other states that have similar programs (37 states claim some kind of incentive program, but many of them are insignificant sales tax exemptions). Earon says that cities like Vancouver, which has had a similar incentive in place for many more years, are a model for Massachusetts. "They have a great infrastructure now because their incentive was in place earlier," he says. And with the construction of Chris Byers's film studio project underway, we can anticipate the rise of a parallel infrastructure. Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon shot Fever Pitch partly at Fenway Park. 114 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 110-117_BC_F_REELLIFE_Spring13.indd 114 2/12/13 12:05 PM