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November 29, 2005
Nice Harvest: Keeping it in Chicago
Harold Ramis talks about keeping regional production regional, with Chicago, not Toronto, doubling for Wichita in The Ice Harvest. "Focus Features wanted to film The Ice Harvest in Chicago-look-alike Toronto... The budget for a Chicago-based [production] was still $200,000 over Focus' ideal," reports Sally Duros in the Chicago Sun-Times. "I felt this movie could so easily be made in Chicago, I couldn't see how $200,000 would be a make-or-break number," Ramis tells Duros. "I knew if they dragged me away I would wind up getting passive aggressive. I also know that when you are shooting a movie, time is money. I was guaranteeing the price when I said I could make it in 40 days on that budget in Chicago." ... Brenda Sexton, managing director of the Illinois Film Office, said Chicago native Albert Berger's Bona Fide Productions was the first to put the homegrown film into play. A Latin School graduate, Berger grew up on the Gold Coast.
The Ice Harvest was the first film to commit to shooting in Illinois under the first round of the new tax credit, Sexton noted. Focus received a 25% tax credit based on wages paid -- at certain levels -- to each Illinois employee involved... Busch said the Teamsters, International Stage Technicians Local and the Wardrobe and Costume Local provided concessions equivalent to 15% of labor costs... While tax incentives are nice, Ramis said they are less important than how Illinois contributes to the filmmaking world on its own. "We keep waiting for the studios to come here. It's not even about U.S. vs. Canada," Ramis said. "The key is to show your competence, and that you are asking for a partnership, not to go hat in hand, employing a beggar's mentality. There would be more production here if films were being financed from here. We have the creative talent." What's needed, Ramis adds, is "a really tough guy to squeeze the money out of people."
Posted by pride at November 29, 2005 01:55 PM
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