BY JENN GODDU
Ups and downs are to be expected in the film industry, but 2001 stands
out because it was so distinctly divided between a single rise and fall.
Ron Ver Kuilen, managing director of the Illinois Film Office, refers to last year as "A Tale of Two Halves." Kit Woods, assistant executive director of the Screen Actors Guild Chicago branch, called it "The year that wasn’t." The $72 million in total revenue for the year 2001 was down 16 percent from $85.5 million in 2000.
January through June of 2001 were the strongest first six months of any year the state’s film industry has seen, Ver Kuilen said. "A lot of people made their year in the first half."
But by July many of the studios already had a number of extra projects in the can. A year’s worth of work had been crammed into the early part of the year in anticipation of the threatened strikes by the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild. "While there was no strike, I think the effect was virtually the same," said Rich Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office. "Studios having a large backlog of product meant they weren’t in a hurry to put anything into production." Woods agreed, saying in late January 2002, "We twiddled our thumbs. Just about everything wrapped before June 30th, so we did nothing before now."
Things were just starting to pick up again when the events of Sept. 11 caused another slowdown. The untook the industry and put it on the shelf, not only for us but for everybody," Ver Kuilen said.
Five projects that had been scouting Chicago locations were postponed in September and have not yet been rescheduled. One was Tick-Tock, an action thriller with Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Lopez, about an amnesiac suspected by the FBI in a series of bombings in Los Angeles. "People thought that the public didn’t want to see that," Ver Kuilen said.
Still labor strikes and terrorist attacks were not the only things marring the industry’s bottom line in 2001. There are other major problems, such as the phenomenon of runaway production, threatening the film industry in not only Illinois but also across the United States. "Films being made across our borders affects virtually every American city that serves as a production center," Moskal said.
Our region and other American film locations are finding they are being priced out of the market. Canada and Australia are particularly attractive to television and film producers right now because of favorable dollar exchange rates and government subsidies that can translate into hefty budget savings. "The problem, through no fault of anybody here, is that the dollar in spite of everything has remained so strong," Ver Kuilen said. "It’s difficult to sell when you have a product that is more expensive than other places."
The Chicago and Illinois Film Offices continue to market the city and state to the industry, banking on our strong reputation for being able to make things work and a high ranking in the national production community as far as film friendliness.
The selling points here are a good talent pool, labor organizations that make it easy for people to film, a solid infrastructure and strong city support, Ver Kuilen said. Still, "the hard sell is because we are a big urban center and we have expensive hotels and rental cars that cost more. It’s more expensive to shoot here than in Milwaukee or Minnesota or Omaha."
Another key value Moskal touts "is Chicago’s tremendous aesthetic and its distinctive locations and its unique architecture and lakefront opportunities. Chicago always looks good and that is truly a production value."
Selling Chicago or Illinois might become easier if industry coalitions succeed in convincing politicians that the film community needs and deserves attention in the form of wage rebates and tax credits.
"We’re trying on the government end to pass some wage tax legislation at both the state and federal level to make it cheaper to work here," Ver Kuilen said. "This industry does need help if they want this industry to stay in the United States."
On a national level last year, Senate Bill 1278–a wage-based tax credit legislation to curb runaway production–was introduced by Senator Blanche Lincoln in July. Democratic Reps. David Dreier and Charles Rangel introduced a companion tax credit bill, House Bill 3131, in the House of Representatives in October.
Previous attempts to win similar concessions have been unsuccessful but industry experts say something must be done to improve our competitiveness. Take our neighbor to the north. It is tough to match the cost savings gained through a beneficial exchange rate and federal and provincial incentives in Canada. There is federal legislation in place that gives a wage tax rebate of 11 percent. On top of that, the provinces offer an additional rebate from 11 to 35 percent.
"It’s a tough time," Ver Kuilen said. "State governments and federal governments are crying that they are poor. It’s a very tough time to go with your hand out and say 'can you help this industry that needs help.’"
Local members of the film community can help by being good ambassadors of the industry, Moskal said. "Ultimately you want to have the industry look good to whoever is coming across it," he said, be it residents or production teams flying in for a project.
Writing to state and federal representatives can also have an impact, Ver Kuilen said. "I assure you it would have an influence on how things are getting done because they respond to the people who put them in the position that they are in."
Moskal agreed, saying that people in the film community here can help to personalize the industry’s plight by making it clear that "it’s not all about well-paid celebrities and pampered directors and producers. It’s an industry that is in large part made up of Chicagoans who are just trying to make a living."
According to the Illinois Film Office, there were 14,096 jobs in the industry in 2001. That’s down from 16,172 in 2000. The total number of projects fell from 43 in 2000 to 40 last year. SAG shows 205 actors working in movies and television in the state in 2001. Woods describes that figure as "pretty dismal." Thirty people worked on experimental short films, 25 on student films, 21 on a low budget project, 40 on "What About Joan" and 89 on feature length films. In a surprising change, no experimental features or limited exhibition films were shot in Illinois last year. "That does not bode well because (it means) people are having a hard time raising money," Woods said.
Show business is just that, a business, Ver Kuilen said. As a result, this industry suffers through cycles each and every year. One determining factor is always the type of product the studios fancy at any given moment. Right now the "soup du jour" seems to be big studio pictures such as Terminator III or Aliens V but when the projects have big budgets there are less of them to go around, he said.
Chicago did have Ali in town with its $60 to $100 million budget in 2001. Other feature films in the state were Children on Their Birthdays, a drama with Tom Arnold, about an 11-year-old girl outwitting a con man and Joshua a Jon Purdy-helmed story about a possible second coming of Jesus starring Tony Goldwyn and Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham. Road to Perdition, a Dreamworks project about a 1930s hit man who goes on the run with his son while seeking vengeance for murder in his family, was one of the largest productions in terms of size Chicago has ever seen. It was also one of the more prestigious projects to shoot in the city, bringing with it four Academy Award-winners including star Tom Hanks and director Sam Mendes in his sophomore effort after American Beauty.
Independent projects such as Stolen Summer and its accompanying HBO documentary "Project Greenlight" can help too, Moskal said. "It reflects Chicago as a destination or a place of generation of lower budget films," he said. "'Project Greenlight’ has said a lot about Chicago’s ability to host low budget productions and to make that work financially…It showed that Chicago has a very capable independent film community that draws upon a crew base and a talent base."
Moskal believes independent film could be a possible growth area in Chicago in the future. Design, another 2001 project that was written and directed by Davidson Cole, may also help. Like Stolen Summer, it screened at this year’s Sundance and the buzz was favorable, Moskal said. "Them being well received at Sundance is once again a large indicator of Chicago’s growth in becoming a producer of films that are both shot in Chicago and made by Chicagoans increasing national awareness of Chicago as a production center."
Even having MTV’s "Real World" shooting in Chicago gives the industry a boost, Moskal said. "It’s always a nice plus to have what is obviously a very popular show and a well viewed show shot in Chicago."
On the 2001 down side, the cancellation of "What About Joan" in its second season was a "grave disappointment," Moskal said. If the show had stuck around it may have triggered a decision to tape another situation comedy here simultaneously. Still he says the experience may help Chicago win business in an otherwise untapped segment of the industry. "Despite the fact that the show was cancelled, I think it has put us on the map as a potential destination for half hour situation comedy."
Commercial production was also down in what Moskal described as "a very predictable response to the slowdown in the economy." Advertising agencies were expressing concerns over travel but this didn’t end up causing a corresponding rise in production volume. "Despite their interest in staying home I think the clients overall are producing less in the way of commercials these day."
Essanay Studio & Lighting Company Inc. which does television commercial production had "a particularly erratic year" said vice president Wayne Kubacki. "When all was said and done it was a pretty decent year but psychologically it was very up and down." He tries not to forecast more than a couple of weeks ahead but did say that so far the year is off to a good start with a high level of activity this January.
Film industry sources say it is difficult to predict how Chicago and the state will fare in 2002.
"I think we’re all working together, everybody in the industry, to try and get work to come in here," Woods said. "I wish I could say we have a lot of homegrown work but we don’t."
Ver Kuilen is "cautiously optimistic for 2002." But he said, "that’s the best we can do at this point because we’re in a very challenging market, a nice looking market but a challenging one."
Already here is a $10 million MGM project in town that started shooting mid-January. Barbershop features Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer and Sean Patrick Thomas. Otherwise, the beginning of the year is normally slower for Chicago, and preparations don’t begin in earnest for summer shooting until March and April.
"I’m without question optimistic," Moskal said. "I truly see this as a great year for people becoming that much more aware of what Chicago has to offer."
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