12-21-07
2007 Leaves a Lot of Open Questions
Looking back on PerformInk’s stories in 2007, we’re left with a lot of questions about 2008. Will film work be available with the writers’ strike and the threat of actors’ and directors’ strikes in Hollywood? Will the politicians in Springfield get over their petty squabbling and restore cuts to the Illinois Arts Council? Will Sondheim show up at his namesake theatre?
The strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) may be a harbinger of labor disputes throughout the year. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) and AFTRA and SAG television and film contracts expire June 30, and the same issues are on the table for all of the creative unions: residual compensation for Internet and other new media.
The DGA, which has a rather congenial history with producers in contract negotiations, might take the lead in making a deal that the writers and actors will likely follow. The Guild issued a statement Dec. 13 informing members that if the writers and producers can’t overcome their current impasse, the directors might be ready as early as mid-January to start their own negotiations “in the hope that our bargaining strength and fresh perspective can help achieve a good and fair outcome for all concerned,” wrote DGA president Michael Apted.
But residual payments for new media are a line-in-the-sand issue that might take even directors a month or two to hammer out. So look for the writers’ strike to last at least until February or March.
What does that mean for Illinois and Wisconsin?
Well, as we reported in our Oct. 26th issue, it means a short-term gain in production as studios and independents rush to get their films in the can by early spring. Then there will likely be nothing for a while, until a couple of months after the unions and producers all make nice. That likely means that production won’t come back until early fall, at the earliest.
When film does come back, Scott Robbe, executive director of Film Wisconsin, believes it will come back with a vengeance.
Robbe’s state is set to roll out their long-awaited tax incentives on Jan. 1, which gives filmmakers a 25 percent rebate on productions costs. Robbe says there is a “massive studio film” with a budget of over $100 million that has been scouting Wisconsin and is hoping to shoot before spring. That, along with a couple of other Hollywood films scouting and many indie films, keeps Robbe confident that Wisconsin will see $100 million in revenue in 2008, even with the strikes.
“Yes, the strikes will slow things down, the strikes will put things on hold, but I haven’t seen any letup on the planning of pictures,” Robbe said.
From Robbe’s point of view, it’s not just Wisconsin that will reap the rewards of filmmakers rushing to get back to work after the labor disputes are over. He has a vision for an I-94 regional filmmaking hub.
“Building the new film friendly third coast by collaboration and by a synergistic way of working together is going to land more major projects in the Midwest than you’ve ever seen before,” he said.
Robbe isn’t alone in his thinking. Earlier this year, Axiom payroll services opened a branch in Milwaukee, the first time the Midwest has had a film payroll company in a decade.
And if 2007 is any indication of what filmmaking may be like after the labor disputes, then Axiom will have a lot of work. The Dark Knight, of course, poured a great deal of money into the Chicago economy. But so did films like The Express, The Return and Witless Protection, to name a few. The numbers aren’t out yet, but indications are that 2007 should top 2006’s $65 million in film revenue.
But $65 million is peanuts when you’re Broadway in Chicago. According to a report commissioned by BiC and announced in January with great fanfare (which we reported on Feb. 2), Broadway in Chicago shows have an annual economic impact of $635 million. That includes hotels, restaurants and other tourist spending, as well as tickets to BiC shows, whose sales show no signs of slowing down.
But that’s just Broadway in Chicago. Over the summer, Americans for the Arts—in association with the Arts & Business Council of Chicago, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Illinois Arts Alliance—unveiled the results of its economic impact study, Arts and Economic Prosperity III. The study (which we reported on June 22) threw out some impressive numbers: $166.2 billion generated nationally every year from the arts; 5.7 million full-time equivalent annual jobs created; $1.09 billion generated from non-profit arts in the state of Illinois. Most impressive were how much money tourists spend on arts, and how much arts give back. Forty million people were cultural tourists in Chicago in 2006. But that includes people who live here and visit cultural institutions or buy tickets. Of that number, 40 percent (16 million) came from outside of Cook County. Those real tourists spent an average of $40.19 on non-event related items, compared to the $19.53 spent by locals.
Even more impressive was how much money arts gives back to the states: $30 billion annually. Ra Joy, executive director of the Illinois Arts Alliance, said that even more revenue for the state is generated in Illinois. In fact, the arts generate eight times more money than the state gives back to non-profits arts institutions. Joy wanted artists and advocates to contact their state politicians and tell them that more support for the arts will only generate more money for the state. It just makes sense.
But sense was not to be found in great abundance in Springfield this summer and fall. As fallout from the massive infighting Gov. Blagojovich is having with his own party, the Illinois Arts Council budget was slashed from $20.6 million to $16.2 million. In addition, Member Initiatives—discretionary funds each representative or senator can give to constituents—were eliminated for all Democratic representatives. Many of those initiative moneys were earmarked for arts organizations.
The IAA and artists all over the state spent much of September and October pleading with their state representatives to restore the money in a veto override. Alas, it was all for naught. The Illinois House voted to override the governor’s cuts, but State Senate president Emil Jones refused to call an override vote in the Senate, despite floods of phone calls from constituencies all over the state that were affected by the budget cuts.
As the override session ended Dec. 14, Joy called getting restoration of the $4 million cut from the IAC “a long shot” for Fiscal Year ’08. But, he said, “We’re guardedly optimistic that the funding will be restored in the governor’s FY09 budget” which starts in July.
“This is a very difficult situation,” said Joy. “These are historic cuts that are having a devastating impact to the arts sector. But the important thing to remember is that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle support the arts.” Indeed, the budget the legislature sent to the governor called for an increase in the IAC budget to $23.2 million.
Peter Handler is wondering if anybody will come get his money. Handler, program officer at the Driehaus Foundation, administers a fund to help theatres obtain Performing Arts Venue (PAV) licenses. The $660,000 fund, which we wrote about on Feb. 16, comes from the MacArthur Foundation, but is administered by Driehaus. Arts organizations can get up to $5,000 in architectural fees and $20,000 in build-out fees so they can upgrade their existing spaces or build new ones. The problem is, very few arts organizations have claimed the funds.
“While there is a need, we’re not getting the urgency of the requests that we thought we might,” Handler said. “It’s sort of embarrassing how little we’ve actually spent.”
To date, Driehaus has seven theatres receiving some funds: Oracle Theatre, Prop Thtr, Corn Productions, Profiles Theatre, Rivendell Theatre, Actors Workshop Theatre and the Feltre School Library Theatre. All have received less than $10,000 in funding.
Handler says that part of the problem is timing. When the idea first came up, a consultant hired by MacArthur identified 25 arts organizations that needed funding to help them get their licenses. In the year or so between idea and fund creation, many theatres went ahead and did the work themselves, and they aren’t eligible for retroactive funding.
Still, many of the 25 arts organizations first identified still haven’t upgraded their spaces. Driehaus has called them, but hasn’t received any phone calls back.
“I suppose they rightly have some trepidation about engaging in any process with the city,” said Handler. Or, perhaps, they have more than $20,000 worth of work and can’t find the rest of the money.
Part of the fund’s mission is not just to fork over cash, but to help coordinate arts organizations and city agencies. They are also committed to help find tradesmen and contractors.
And Handler said the money isn’t exclusive to theatres. Any arts organization that needs money to receive their license is eligible. So, if that’s you, call Driehaus at 312/641-5772.
he House was clearly the “theatre in the news” this year, with their one year plus long run—in three different productions—of The Sparrow, culminating in a commercial run that earned the actors some real money. House also was the recipient of the League of Chicago Theatre’s first Emerging Theatre Award, which got them a bit of cash and a marketing mentorship with Broadway in Chicago. That relationship had to have helped with their commercial run, as BiC director of sales and marketing Eileen LeCario is the wife of Tony D’Angelo, who co-produced the run at the Apollo.
But The House was not the only theatre to make a transfer to the Apollo. Porchlight took their production of Ragtime from Theatre Building Chicago to the Apollo for an extended 11 weeks. The production—the most successful in Porchlight’s history—won plaudits from the Jeff Committee as well, winning four Jeff Awards, including musical production, director, musical director and supporting actor.
The Jeffs also honored Steppenwolf’s August: Osage County, clearly the play of 2007, with six awards. The production, which finally opened on Broadway after a 19-day stagehands’ strike, will likely garner Tony nominations for its actors—certainly Deanna Dunagan and Amy Morton. Charles Isherwood gave the production a rave review in the New York Times Dec. 5th. “It is, flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years,” Isherwood wrote.
The other news coming out of the Jeff Committee in 2007 is that they have partnered with HMS Media to create a year-long documentary on Chicago theatre that will, hopefully, appear on PBS stations.
Other big news this year included The Reader sale and subsequent redesign. With that came the sad acknowledgement that the newspaper business has changed and no longer do alternative weeklies need to find copy to fill the spaces that advertising sales created.
The smoking ban hit Chicago theatres this summer with a lot of protest about not being able to light up on stage. Alas, it was all smoke, but no fire, as theatres have adjusted to the ban with little effort or fanfare.
The Dramatists Guild rolled into town in May with a weekend conference and promises to be responsive to all of its members, not just the ones who live in New York. The Guild has revamped its Web site, though what it can do we still don’t know, as the webmaster still hadn’t returned calls as of press time. The Guild also appointed regional reps, and Douglas Post has had two meetings for Chicago members of the Guild.
In August, a major storm damaged homes and highways…and theatre companies. Most of the damage was minor and few shows were cancelled.
Spaces were in the news in other ways, too. Artistic Home got, then lost, a new space (8/3 & 9/28 issues) and are still looking for a permanent home. American Theater Company started plans to build a three-story space in Logan Square (10/12 issue). The Morse Theatre broke ground in Rogers Park (10/12 issue) and the Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts opened in Fairfield, Iowa this fall (10/12 and 6/22 issues) and is expected to hire many Chicago actors—especially for the summer season.
And, of course, we can’t end a year in review without looking at the state of affairs between the two on-camera acting unions, AFTRA and SAG. At last report, the two unions were still not talking about the upcoming TV and film negotiations, with both sides accusing the other of trashing Phase I—the agreement that has tied the two unions together since 1981. SAG executive director Doug Allen did point out that the unions ARE talking about other joint ventures, including the study with commercial advertisers over how to handle new media. (More on my interview with Allen and the commercials contract in January.) But on Dec. 14, AFTRA issued a statement that it would go ahead and start its own wages and working conditions committee. The W&W is where the unions hammer out their positions and is usually the first step in the negotiation process. From AFTRA’s statement, it seems more certain that the two unions will negotiate the film and TV contracts separately. Stay tuned for more.