Justin Jouvenal, The Examiner
Apr 5, 2006 9:00 AM (7 days ago)
SAN FRANCISCO - There were no lights or cameras, but plenty of action for San Francisco’s film industry Tuesday.

The Board of Supervisors approved a rebate program for filmmakers shooting in San Francisco as a way to revive The City’s movie industry, which was once a blockbuster but in recent years has been a “Gigli”-style flop.

The San Francisco film industry as well as The City’s Labor Council and Chamber of Commerce backed the measure, saying San Francisco was losing business to cities such as Vancouver, where it is cheaper to shoot and because the cities offer incentive packages to lure filmmakers.

The industry peaked in 1996 at $461 million but has been on a steep decline, with no feature film productions in 2004 and only two in 2005, according to the Film Commission.

The Film Rebate Ordinance would refund city taxes and fees if a feature shoots at least 65 percent of its film in San Francisco. Small-scale productions would qualify for the rebate if they film 55 percent of their principal photography in San Francisco. The City’s Budget Analyst said a qualifying $70 million film could expect to see a refund of nearly $300,000.

“San Francisco must do more than rely on its good looks and the occasional San Francisco story line to ensure its film industry succeeds,” said Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who sponsored the ordinance.

The original ordinance called for a $3 million cap on the rebate per film, but the board pared that back to $1.8 million after several supervisors expressed concerns about losing city revenue and having to cut back critical city programs. Supervisor Chris Daly, who has opposed similar tax breaks for the biotech and clean energy industries, even put out a tongue-in-cheek press release calling for “voodoo economics” tax breaks for all San Francisco industries.
“In the past, this city and the lion’s share of city taxpayers have been burned by these tax breaks,” Daly said on a serious note.

City Controller Ed Harrington said the tax breaks would likely have a small impact on The City’s film industry because it is so expensive to shoot in San Francisco.

“A lot of [cities and states] give incentive programs. [Filmmakers] can get a better deal in many other places. From strictly a dollars and cents perspective, it doesn’t make sense to locate here,” Harrington said. “But to the extent that someone may not be making a decision just based on economics … [the tax break] could make a difference.”

IN OTHER ACTION
Budget supplementals approved: The Board of Supervisors approved four new budget supplementals totaling nearly $50 million. Road repaving will get $15 million, park improvements will get $10.4 million, affordable housing projects will get $20 million and primary health care clinics will get $1.8 million.

Full board OKs smoking ban: The Board of Supervisors approved a ban on smoking at transit stops. The board was slated to take up a ban on smoking at golf courses, but the item had to be referred back to the committee for technical reasons.
Examiner