During the past week, I have seen up close just what happens when Hollywood comes to town. Being booted out of my office for a week seems a small price to pay for allowing a major motion picture to be filmed in our state. The benefits to South Carolina far outweigh any slight inconvenience or blocked street.

In 2006, South Carolina took a bold step in developing knowledge based industry jobs with the passage of the SC Motion Picture Incentive Act. The Act is comprehensive. It was designed to recruit new dollars to our economy and create good high paying job opportunities for South Carolinians in the motion picture and television industries.

As important, the Act also rewards film producers for spending money with our South Carolina businesses or investing in South Carolina businesses that support these industries. Finally, the Act created collaborative training opportunities with our institutes of higher education, creating South Carolina graduates to participate in one of America’s top three exports… the entertainment industry.

The South Carolina Motion Picture Act was an immediate success. The SC Film Commission recruited over $170 million in production budgets to our state within one year. Producers spent about one-third of those dollars, over $60 million while here, creating jobs for our residents and opportunities for South Carolina small businesses. Six feature films were shot in rural and urban areas throughout our state. “Army Wives,” South Carolina’s first-ever television series, started filming in the Lowcountry.

Communities as diverse as Boiling Springs, Aiken, Florence, Chester and Columbia all hosted productions and enjoyed the revenues each spent in their hometowns. It seemed South Carolina had found an industry that would not only diversify our economy but benefit all of the state.

This, however, has since changed. The SC Department of Commerce found a loophole in the SC Motion Picture Incentive Act and reduced the incentives at the same time our competitors, other states, were creating their own incentives. This resulted in South Carolina film and television production revenues dropping over 65 percent the next year.

The film industry wondered that, if the Department of Commerce could change the incentives after only nine months, what would they do in the future. How can they count on South Carolina if we won’t enforce our own legislation?

With every month that passes, South Carolina is missing golden opportunities. It’s time to fix the problem and restore the original incentives. I support the efforts to pass legislation that would repair the problem. House Bill H.4815 restores the Legislature’s intent and improves upon the original Act by increasing the incentives for hiring South Carolinians and creating industry apprenticeships to broaden our citizens’ economic opportunities.

The State must look at operating similarly to the way we are handling our Retirement Systems funds by diversifying its economic portfolio. Relying upon a few market segments leaves us dependent upon the success of those markets. Diversifying our economic base, as well as the jobs that we create, will not only help South Carolina weather economic uncertainties, it will secure employment opportunities for future South Carolinians.

The film industry offers that diversity. It offers good high paying jobs in a knowledge based economy and it offers South Carolina participation in one of America’s leading exports. It also showcases South Carolina’s natural beauty. People from all over the world see movies that are filmed in our state and that free promotion adds greatly to our tourism coffers. The residual benefit is immeasurable.

I support the passage of Bill H.4815 and once again, turning the spotlight on South Carolina. Lights, camera, action!

Converse Chellis is the State Treasurer for South Carolina. He also serves as Chairman of the State Board of Financial Institutions and as one of five members serving on the State’s Budget and Control Board. His office was recently used as the set of “Nailed,” a major Hollywood feature being filmed in Columbia.

_________________________________________

This post is part of The Palmetto Scoop’s ongoing Sunday Guest Post Series where South Carolina’s leaders make weekly contributions about important political issues. Our thanks go out to Converse Chellis and his staff for taking part.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Sunday Guest Post Series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.