One hundred and fifty years after the start of the Civil War, Virginia is offering big bucks to bring Abraham Lincoln back to the capital of the Old Dominion. Or at least Daniel Day-Lewis’s representation of Lincoln.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has set aside $500,000 from the state’s motion picture opportunity fund as an incentive for Steven Spielberg to film his Abraham Lincoln movie in Virginia.
The director was spotted last fall scouting locations for his $50 million film based on the book “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Day-Lewis is set to play Lincoln, and actress Sally Field was recently cast to play Mary Todd Lincoln.
With half a million set aside to entice the production to the state, the General Assembly last week approved an amendment to the two-year budget to replenish the motion picture fund with $1.5 million. That means more could be offered to the Lincoln picture, or used to attract other productions to the state.
The money is there, but the question remains: Will Lincoln come?
Anita Kumar of the Washington Post reports:
Has Spielberg actually agreed to film in Virginia or is the state still trying to woo him here?
We asked the offices of Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who serves as the state’s chief jobs creation officer, Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng and the state’s film office.
All of them refused to say. Legislators, including Landes, said even they had not been told whether the [movie] was going to film in Virginia.
Her story continues, noting that many legislators are not on board with funneling more money into the movie business:
“During our last budget debate, House Republicans said that it was important to focus on core government services and keep a sharp focus on priorities,’’ Del. Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) said. “Many of us in the House voted against expanding the motion picture tax credit because we did not think Virginia should be doling out even more taxpayer funds to wealthy California movie stars and producers at the same time we are cutting secondary education, health care for the poor, and borrowing over $600 million from the state retirement plan to ‘balance’ our budget.”
During its recent session, the General Assembly passed additional legislation to bolster the state’s war chest for attracting big-budget film productions — a 20 percent tax credit for films with expenses of at least $250,000.
One hundred and fifty years after the start of the Civil War, Virginia is offering big bucks to bring Abraham Lincoln back to the capital of the Old Dominion. Or at least Daniel Day-Lewis’s representation of Lincoln.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has set aside $500,000 from the state’s motion picture opportunity fund as an incentive for Steven Spielberg to film his Abraham Lincoln movie in Virginia.
The director was spotted last fall scouting locations for his $50 million film based on the book “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Day-Lewis is set to play Lincoln, and actress Sally Field was recently cast to play Mary Todd Lincoln.
With half a million set aside to entice the production to the state, the General Assembly last week approved an amendment to the two-year budget to replenish the motion picture fund with $1.5 million. That means more could be offered to the Lincoln picture, or used to attract other productions to the state.
The money is there, but the question remains: Will Lincoln come?
Anita Kumar of the Washington Post reports:
Has Spielberg actually agreed to film in Virginia or is the state still trying to woo him here?
We asked the offices of Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who serves as the state’s chief jobs creation officer, Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng and the state’s film office.
All of them refused to say. Legislators, including Landes, said even they had not been told whether the [movie] was going to film in Virginia.
Her story continues, noting that many legislators are not on board with funneling more money into the movie business:
“During our last budget debate, House Republicans said that it was important to focus on core government services and keep a sharp focus on priorities,’’ Del. Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) said. “Many of us in the House voted against expanding the motion picture tax credit because we did not think Virginia should be doling out even more taxpayer funds to wealthy California movie stars and producers at the same time we are cutting secondary education, health care for the poor, and borrowing over $600 million from the state retirement plan to ‘balance’ our budget.”
During its recent session, the General Assembly passed additional legislation to bolster the state’s war chest for attracting big-budget film productions — a 20 percent tax credit for films with expenses of at least $250,000.
What an idiotic statement.:
“…we did not think Virginia should be doling out even more taxpayer funds to wealthy California movie stars and producers …”
The incentive is trying to lure business to VA so VA can EARN more money in taxes. Are we going to stop luring businesses to our state because they are well run and profitable?
Are we going to just go after the “poor” businesses or something?