Northeast Ohio grows economic development through local film industry

Freezer Burn? Frostbite?

This is the thought that eluded Ohio resident and recent graduate of Case Western Reserve University Frances Harrison as she grasped for the code name of Captain America: The Winter Soldier when it held its open casting call in Cleveland in 2013.

On an unseasonably cold April morning, Harrison said she and her friends braved the long lines at Tri-C’s Cleveland campus with the hope of being chosen as an extra in Marvel’s next superhero blockbuster.

While they waited for their chance to be noticed, Hollywood’s keen gaze had already been

trained on Northeast Ohio as a filmmakers’ one-stop-shop destination variety pack.

Ivan Schwarz, President and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, said Ohio has the chameleon-like ability to become any place for any project.

“Urban, suburban, city, crossroads, covered bridges, quaint small towns—from Mansfield all the way up to [Lake Erie], Mingo Junction to Toledo, there is so much diversity in Northeast Ohio that there is really nothing you can’t do here” Schwarz said.

Tyler Davidson, fellow Ohioan turned LA producer, agreed. When his team at Low Spark Films scouts locations, he said although it doesn’t have to be written for the region, he has to be able to envision how the region can “serve the script.”

In a seamless transition, Ohio’s regional settings blend into the background, like in Davidson’s 2013 film The Kings of Summer, supposedly set in Staten Island, New York.

However, all of this becomes secondary to the state’s film incentive.

In 2009, Ohio established the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit, which allowed eligible productions spending a minimum of $300,000 on a single project in Ohio to apply for a “refundable, transferable tax credit of 30 percent on production cast and crew wages plus other eligible in-state spending,” according to the Ohio Developmental Services Agency website.

According to the study done by Cleveland State University, the total projected spending by 31 productions in “Ohio was $117.0 million, of which approximately $83.2 million was to be spent in Northeast Ohio (71%) and $33.8 million in the remainder of the state (29%).”

Through a lengthy application process, approved productions have the ability to get limited state funding for “goods and services purchased and consumed in Ohio,” which last year the state’s allocation budget totaled $40 million.

That may sound like a lot of money, but Schwarz said it isn’t enough.

“Without the film incentive, no one would bother looking at Cleveland, let alone the state of Ohio,” Schwarz said. “Right now [the fund’s] at $40 million. Unfortunately, I think we’re out of funds for the year, which doesn’t renew until July, 1 2018, but in the meantime, we are lobbying to raise the incentive to $100 million, which will help us not have to close for business.”

And closing for business is never good. Davidson said working in an industry with many budgetary restrictions, “the tax-credit component has really become essential to a point where they say a region doesn’t offer an incentive, I really can’t consider shooting there… It’s become something that maybe once was a nice bonus to something that’s [now] absolutely critical.”

While film incentives vary from state to state, Schwarz added the $40 million cap limits “what we can do, not what other states are doing [in regards to funding projects],” so competition isn’t a consideration for the incentive itself, although marketing the region is still one of the GCFC’s main priorities.

Schwarz said it’s not only about attracting potential projects to the region but also making sure filmmakers’ time spent here is pleasurable—that’s why you’ll see celebrities, like the cast of Davidson’s 2016 film My Blind Brother, at a Cav’s game or the Cleveland Museum of Art. A good experience means those people might film here again or tell their friends, Schwarz said, making it a conceivable destination for the industry.

Like the Northeast Ohio setting, the film industry has been able to seamlessly align with the economic goals of the region.

According to a 2015 study done by Cleveland State University, the credit originally projected to increase local spending by $100 million and create approximately 500 full-time equivalent jobs. Since 2009, however, the industry surpassed those projections with $400 million added to the local economy and 1,729 full-time equivalent jobs created.

“It’s another added value for the community,” Schwarz said. “Our goal is to create jobs and create wealth in this community. We’re an economic development agency for all intents and purposes, it’s just we do it through something cool like movies, but at the end of the day it all helps.”

Both Schwarz and Davidson take great responsibility in being ambassadors for Northeast Ohio and value the contributions they’re able to make by practicing their craft, employing local talent or attracting the talent to the region.

Both are also looking to the future to keep this momentum going.

Schwarz said in the next five years, he hopes to see a solid infrastructure put in place. This has already begun in April 2016 when Cleveland State University announced the state would be awarding the university $7.5 million to establish Ohio’s first film school.

He added the region needs to make staying desirable to those students, and they need to have viable job opportunities upon graduating.

Working as a costume designer, Harrison said growing the Ohio film industry to include local talent and trades like hers would be something to consider in her plans to live here long term.

“I did work as a costume designer on a [student] pilot a couple years ago,” Harrison said. “That was a cool thing I didn’t think I could do in Cleveland, but depending on the project, I feel big-budget movies bring in their costume designers from their studios back in L.A.”

Another added benefit would be creating a “brick-and-mortar” soundstage, Schwarz said, to give Ohio an added edge, as well as remind people living here a sustainable industry exists.

“Infrastructure, proper sound stages…I think it’s important we are globally competitive, regionally competitive or nationally competitive. And I want to make sure that we raise that incentive, so we can make those first two things happen in a big way,” Schwarz said.

And that is something Davidson can get behind. With a self-expressed love affair for Ohio—Davidson grew up in Chagrin Falls—he said as an independent film producer, seeing a regionalized approach to filmmaking while also telling personal, region-specific narratives is a positive direction for the industry.

“I love Northeast Ohio, and I want to live here and make movies,” Davidson said. “So, it makes sense that I would do everything that I could to help contribute to developing the industry here.”

When 2 LA film industry professionals make their way to Ohio to champion the local film scene and economy, you know something big is happening. Read more to find out: https://t.co/yfCL0DH7m0 #JMCRPP

— Christina Godfrey (@CA_Godfrey) December 5, 2017

Check out how Northeast Ohio is spurring economic growth in the region through the local film industry https://t.co/yfCL0DH7m0 #JMCRPP

— Christina Godfrey (@CA_Godfrey) December 5, 2017