Filmmakers: Michigan has got the doe, now let's see the projects.
Julie Hinds of the Detroit Free Press reports that the Michigan Film Office has $58 million in grants for the fiscal year for qualifying film and digital media projects. Of that $8 million is a carry-over from last year that was unused.
That's $33 million more than the office had in the just-completed fiscal year, Hinds reports.
So far in 2012, 11 projects have gotten the green light for about $17 million in incentives.
Hinds writes:
It's been a tough stretch for the local film industry as the brisk flow of projects from Hollywood and elsewhere has slowed considerably under the state's revamped incentives program, which went from being uncapped to a $25-million cap for fiscal 2012. That amounted to less than a quarter of the $115 million awarded in tax credits in 2010.
A few high-profile projects, including "Black Sky," a tornado thriller, and the AMC Detroit cop pilot "Low Winter Sun," have come to metro Detroit for shooting this year. But momentum has slowed, and some potential projects have shifted gears.
